Palomar Mountain News

So many great times in store for your son or daughter at camp this summer on Palomar.

Base Camp, Adventure Camp, Horse Camp, Camp Unplugged – sign up for a week or more.

Click for the Palomar Camp flyer with all the details.

Maybe your kids will be there the same time as our grandkids!  Oh, even more fun!!!

Bonnie Phelps

Are you sooooooo ready to relax, listening to an evening of music with Dutch and Bruce?  Family, friends, good food and great music.  Get there early for a table out on the patio.  Let me know if you’d like to carpool.     Bonnie Phelps

Here are the details from Denise:

Wynola Pizza & Bistro has
asked The Smith Mountain
Boys to play music this Friday
night, June 12, 2020!!

Friday, June 12, 2020
5 pm – 8 pm – New Time!!!!
Wynola Pizza and Bistro
Santa Ysabel (Julian), CA
760-765-1004

We hope you can come out and enjoy the music, great food, and friends!!!

Would you like to go camping in a tent or with your RV?  How about staying at a cabin at Lake Henshaw?  This is one of the few lakes open in Southern Cal!

You can go fishing, take a picnic, there is free parking, a restaurant with delicious food!

Here is the info right from Janice Mendenhall:

Open Friday Saturday and Sunday from 7 to 7

Omen Monday and Thursday from 8 to noon (longer hours soon!

Closed Tuesday and Wednesday

If you are a guest on Tuesday or Wednesday, a gate code will be provided so you can go down to the lake to fish or picnic.

Lake Henshaw Resort 760-782-3501

Lake Henshaw Café 760-782-9180 is open 8 am until 7 pm daily for dine in and take out.

Hooray for Henshaw!  Let’s go!

Bonnie Phelps

The trails in the State Park on Palomar are open for hiking.  Several questions about  what is open, came up. I drove into the State Park to double check.  The park is open.  Pay $10.00 at the entrance, drive in, park in their parking lots and hike the 20 + miles of trails. About half of the lot spaces are blocked off so you might avoid weekends.  No camping allowed, just hiking.

Click for great info on State Park trails and other trails you might explore eventually at Fry Creek and the Observatory Campground.  I also drove by those Forest Service campgrounds and they are still closed.  I did meet a nice couple heading out on their hike.  They said they were up to boost their immune system and explained they are out as much as possible in their quest for that herd immunity, getting exercise and a good dose of Vitamin D!

Hooray for the free Vitamin D we give away along with big smiles on Palomar Mountain!

Bonnie Phelps

Thinking about it, our grandkid’s Woodpecker Firewood Stand is the only business open 24/7 on Palomar! This mountain-made stand has been continually stocked and frequented since Fall of 2017.

These past few months especially, it is so nice to see someone pull up to the stand.  I love to go out, welcome the customers and hear their story.  During the last storm, I recognized Steve, a property appraiser.  He was appraising a home and said he remembered the Woodpecker Firewood Stand from his last appraisal up here.  He was glad the kids had the stand stocked with dry wood as he hadn’t been able to find firewood for sale in the city.

Mike Pique is a frequent customer.  He even hopped on over on Easter Sunday when the ‘Woodpeckers’  happened to be in their car, just pulling out.  Fun times!

A nice couple came up from San Clemente to see property the other day.  Keeping their distance, they just had to go home with some Woodpecker Firewood.

Yes, these hard-working kids have had extra time to build up quite an inventory stocked away in their sheds.  They are pleased to be of service, appreciate your business and would be tickled pink for you to stop by for a pic at their photo booth, post and like them on Facebook.  Thank you so much!

Considering selling your home, ranch, cabin or lot or land?

There are a lot of folks out there longing for a weekend retreat away from the craziness of the cities.  Some folks have also realized how effective it was to work from home.  I’ve talked to some who had their kids in public school, but now appreciate how much less time it takes to home-school and have enjoyed extra time with their kids.  People are realizing now for many jobs, good internet is all they need, so they are looking to make a move away from the cities. Seeking a lifestyle change for the good, these folks are pretty envious of what we have up here on Palomar.

Folks are wanting to get their family back to some old-fashioned values and enjoy time together on this beautiful mountain.

I’ve realized over the past month or so, I averaged a showing a day but so little for sale!!!  We just opened escrow for my last active cabin listing with several backups on the file.  Cash buyers are open to fixers. Plus, historically low interest rates are available so it is a great time to list and make a move!

Considering selling or buying? Let’s connect!

Bonnie-on-a-Roll!

Meet Alma and Daniel with their oldest grandson, Joe.
We were out front when they drove by, slowed down, backed up and pulled in. Joe explained he had his grandparents out for a drive and wondered where there was a public restroom. Well, he made the perfect stop! We even had a table reserved for their picnic!
Alma is a charming story-teller. She was born in Los Angeles in 1926 so that makes her 94 years young! She has such happy memories of coming up to Palomar many times over the years. You see, her father was part of the crew that built the South Grade! Fernando C. Ulloa, was born in 1902. He was a Mexican immigrant during the Mexican revolution. In 1911 his family immigrated to El Paso. Eventually he found his way to this area and had a job working with the WPA. There ware so many men working to build the road. The goal was to have it built for the mirror to come up for the Observatory. It was exciting times!
Alma and her husband, Daniel Boone (yes, Daniel Boone), were “poor as church mice” when they married. Daniel retired after a career working for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and later for Hughes Aircraft. Alma invested thirty years teaching history and Spanish to many fortunate kids as she would have been a favorite teacher. They had three sons, and their chauffeur for the day, Joe is the oldest grandson.
They settled in San Diego. Alma really should write up her delightful memories of what San Diego was like when there were so many dirt roads and the “center of the county was at 5th and Broadway”.
I’ve met so many nice people on their drives up to Palomar the past few months. These folks were extra-special.

Bonnie Phelps

From: Doug Anderson

Growing up at the Observatory, I knew a very interesting man, a former resident Donald Gordon.  Click for some history of Donald Gordon written by a neighbor of his in El Cajon back in the 1960’s.

Mr. Gordon had 160 acres on what was known as Morgan Hill.  He lived out west of the Upper French Valley on Palomar.  Mr. Gordon built and flew the first airplane west of the Mississippi!

We would ride our motor bikes over to see him on occasion. He lived in a water tank with a pump organ. He was always building something. One time over there he was laying out and hand making a chain sprocket to gear down a motorcycle. He had no electricity, he was using a hand crank drill press to drill the holes, then hand filing the teeth, unbelievable! He was stone deaf so we couldn’t communicate very well. He has mention at the museum in Valley Center, and I remember seeing his airplane motor that he donated to the San Diego Air and Space museum. I saw the engine before the Air and Space burned down in 1968, I don’t know if it was destroyed. I think it was a Wright Brothers engine.

I so loved his hand crank drill press that I now own one! Kids love to turn the crank and see it drill stuff.

Enjoy,
Doug Anderson

San Diego Air and Space Museum Donald Gordon

Donald Gordon Personal Papers

Donald Gordon by neighbor Hazel Sperry

Doug and Greg Anderson, Then and Now

Doug Anderson’s Life on Palomar

Every year the Palomar Mountain Planning Organization (PMPO) produces a newsletter. It is a LOT of work from lots of folks with all sorts of info from all the boards that contribute to the workings of the Mountain. Until now, after printing, volunteers would gather and have a fun day with an assembly line, collating, folding, labeling, stamping and getting over 500 newsletters in the mail to you.  This year it was a party of one.  Mike Pique volunteered to process our newsletters from his deck, enjoying his view while listening to tunes from his retro-style radio.  THANKS Mike!

Click for a pdf of the PMPO_2020_Newsletter

In addition, Mike mailed 340 to off-mountain addresses today. 237 post office box holders will get one tomorrow.

Do you have a change of address since last year?

Are you new to the mountain and would like to have a newsletter via mail?

Would you rather get it electronically from now on?

Please send your contact info to newsletter@pmpoinfo.com with your preferences and you’ll be all set.

Keep reading for a note from board member, Michael Walsh:

Hi Mike,

A hearty Thank You to both you and to Susan Humason for all the hard work that went in to getting the PMPO Newsletter completed, and launched! I know several others helped and of course thanks to the authors of the articles, but I also know this would never have happened if you hadn’t personally stepped up (once again!) and shown the leadership and the commitment that we very much appreciate, but don’t say often enough. The PMPO Board and the Palomar Community is very fortunate to have you, thanks again for another job very well done!

Best regards,

Michael Walsh