Since most of my weekends in December are open, I am trying to make sure we spend at least one day each week on an adventure. Today's experience was up to the mountain to Big Bear. Big Bear is just about a two-hour drive from Orange County. You can wake up early in the morning, catch a couple of waves down at the beach, and then find yourself skiing or snowboarding down the mountain in the afternoon. There are not too many places on Earth where you can do that!
The drive up was pleasant, minus the usual SoCal traffic. I love driving up the winding mountain roads with views that go on forever. It is always interesting too to see the change in vegetation as you rise in elevation. We went from sea level to 6,752 feet. Our ears were popping as we drove higher and higher.
Our first stop was the Big Bear Discovery Center. If you ever get the chance to visit Big Bear, this should be your first stop. All the information you could ever need for the area including hiking trails, bird watching, off-road destinations, and excursions can be found here. Also, permits are required to park at specific hiking starting points, and they can be purchased here.
After checking out all the exhibits in the Discovery Center, we drove around Big Bear Lake and headed to the central part of town. We drove past Big Bear Snow Play area and were sad all our winter snow gear was back at home in Las Vegas. The ski runs are also visible from here, and even though it was mostly human-made snow, you could see lots of people were having a great time on the slopes.
We reached the Village where all the tourist shop and eat. As we were walking around, I could not help but chuckle inside at all the different degrees of winter wear everyone was sporting. Even though I have lived most of my life in the desert, I do pretty well in the chilly weather. The temperature that morning was around 40 degrees. I had on sweatpants, a short sleeved shirt, and a sweater. I thought the weather felt fantastic. My kids were dressed in their everyday winter attire of boots, sweats, and hoodie or jacket, while the hubby had on jeans, t-shirt, and hoodie. Everyone else was dressed like we were in a full-on ski resort. I saw people with puffy winter coats, knee-high fuzzy boots, scarfs around their faces, beanies, ear muffs, ski pants, and mittens. My hubby swore he saw a girl standing, decked out in full winter battle and her teeth were still chattering! It was not even cold enough to snow yet. Hence the human-made snow on the slopes. I have no idea what these people would do in a real winter town like Banff or Whistler!
We stopped to eat at the Teddy Bear Restaurant. The kids wanted pancakes, and my son was deciding if the kids' portion was significant enough to satisfy his hunger. The kind waitress told him the pancakes were sized about yeh big which led him to order a short stack over the kid's menu. He even wanted to order a double short stack, but I told him his eyes are much larger than his stomach. When the pancakes finally arrived, they were MASSIVE! He barely ate half of one pancake, and he had two on his plate. As you can tell, we had to bring home two take away boxes.
Big Bear was a fun day trip out of urban life. It is always good for the soul to reconnect with nature, and for me, it is the pine trees and fresh mountain air I crave.
