Sunday, December 24, 2017

Visiting The Past #Christmas

Small-town California

Spent yesterday in Oak Glen. 

Everything closes at 5pm, though, so we ran out of time for all browsing. And a couple places weren't open. It's better to get the experience during Apple Picking Time (Sept. - Nov.), but this was the soonest we were available. I think 6 used to be closing because we never had a problem fitting it all in when I went in the past.

I hadn't been in 20 years and Tech Guy never before. My father grew up near there, in Yucaipa/Beaumont, so my parents were taking me from young kids years. Since it's at 5000 feet, you have real seasons. Autumn leaves, crisp air, and the scents of rural life and so much baking. I introduced Tech Guy to a cherry strudel he might've proposed to, lol. 

Law's was closed for the winter, or we would've had the most amazing apple pie.

Thankfully, Mrs. Law, who is now 100, wrote a cookbook! Which includes the pie recipe from the restaurant, and she signed it for me. She still sews aprons in the gift shop below on most days. She moves a bit slow, but no walker or cane. Wonderful to see she was still kickin'.

20 years changes every place, so it was a bittersweet trip for me. None of the family I went with is around anymore, so I have no one to reminisce with and discuss all the changes.

A couple shops I loved to roam are no longer there, one of them a place my grandmother adored to browse antiques. Which weren't old to her since she was born in 1910! The owners passed a few years ago. The kids didn't want to keep it open, and now it's storage space for the new restaurant across the street. There used to be a cider mill where that is now where you could watch the full press process in progress and buy the results. Another shopkeeper told us a man that won the lotto bought both properties. We tried to eat at the steakhouse, but it was going to be an hour+ wait. Since it's the only place in town to eat at night...not a surprise. But we were hungry!

Tech Guy enjoyed it enough to want to go back, which is all I wanted. He fell in love with homemade almond brittle. And the strudel. And the cheese shop.

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