Yucaipa and Oak Glen, CA



Our first stop after leaving Palm Springs was just up the road about 50 miles to the west on I-10 in the city of Yucaipa.   We stayed at the Yucaipa Regional County Park which cost $35 for full hookups which I thought was a bit steep for a County park, but it was definitely a nice park.  We had a large site with lots of grass.   Dog thought she was in heaven after 5 months of living on a gravel lot!   Palm Springs is on the east side of the mountains and it is definitely desert but as soon as you go through Banning Pass to the west everything is green again.   My body was just sucking in the green.  Flowers were blooming throughout the park which coupled with the green grass .. made me feel like I was almost in heaven!  :-)
We took a day trip up to Big Bear, saw the lake and checked out the shopping in the little town.  I probably liked the winding drive through the mountain roads to get there best of all though.  The next morning we visited Oak Glen which is a cute little town about 10 miles to the east of Yucaipa where they have apple and cherry orchards.  I was hoping they would be in bloom but it was a little bit too early.   This town has many shops, stores and restaurants mostly related to apples.   Dog ran into a Goat while shopping in this town earlier in the year!  A must - stop here for me is Mom’s Country Orchards.  The gals there will keep you busy tasting probably 40 different kinds of jams, jellies and preserves.  Their Mitsu apples are great and we love the Multigrain Sourdough bread.  Dog loves this place cause she gets treats and pets.  I have to say the gal here is one of the most welcoming shop keepers of any place I have been (for real) and for that reason alone I will keep going back and checking out what they have.