My Town Monday: Tea Time in Julian, CA

Yesterday, my friend Christina, our BFF daughters and I headed about 50 miles northeast to Julian, CA for a tea party. We've been planning this day trip for a while now, but life kept getting in the way. When we set off this morning, we almost couldn't believe we'd managed to pull it off. Our reservation was for 11:30 a.m. And, yes, you definitely want to make a reservation. Here's the phone number: 866-765-0832

Here's an outside shot of the Julian Tea and Cottage Arts, 2124 Third Street, Julian, CA. This house was built in 1898 for Clarence King, the son of one of our famous gold miners, George Valentine King.

Here's the motely crew. Christina and I shared a bottomless pot of Yorkshire Gold tea while the girls sipped on Mango Ceylon black tea. We munched on a variety of finger sandwiches (my fave was the chicken curry), scones with cream and apricot marmelade or lemon curd, shortbread cookies and toffees.


The house is crammed with all kinds of items for sale (kitchen knickknacks, stationery supplies, tea paraphernalia, etc). I bought a box of PG Tips Special Blend tea bags, which I cracked open at breakfast time.

Of course, no trip to Julian is complete without a visit to the Julian Book House at 2230 Main Street. I picked up two mysteries by Rex Stout: TOO MANY COOKS and THE MOUNTAIN CAT MURDERS, pubbed 1938, 1939 respectively. I also picked up the owner's business card. Although primarily a rare and used bookstore, they'll often stock new books by local authors. I'll give him a call this week. Especially because I SO DON'T DO MYSTERIES takes place about 35 miles east of the bookstore at the Wild Animal Park.

On the way back home, we stopped at Dudley's Bakery in Santa Ysabel where I picked up a couple of loaves of bread and an apple-peach pie. The latter purchase thrilled Mr. Summy no end.

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Happy Monday!