Our first *real* family vacation...SO FUN!!! We headed up to Big Bear Lake for a weekend of hiking and relaxing in nature. I mean we stayed in a cabin, so it wasn't TOTALLY in nature, but we were at least in the woods. Friday morning Brant took the kids to daycare, the dog to the kennel, and he headed to work for a short day. I got busy packing and loading the car, then picked up the kids and Brant and we were on our way.
The drive is only 160miles, but in Southern California traffic, on a Friday afternoon, that translated into 4 1/2 hours. YIKES!!! The kids were troopers...Rhett slept for quite a ways and then he and Ellie entertained each other. The drive up the mountain was super windy, and of course felt like it took forever. There are 3 roads up to Big Bear. One was closed, as they're expanding a bridge or some such thing. We took the second route, and it was INSANE...you are literally hanging off of a cliff. Mountain, 2 lanes, cliff. That's it. No room for error. It's actually called the Rim of the World Byway. It was beautiful. Breathtaking.
So finally we get to the cabin - it's so cute! If you ask Ellie what her favorite part of the trip was, she'll tell you exploring the cabin when we first got there.
We unloaded and headed to dinner - almost 5 hours of driving will make you HUNGRY! We found a BBQ restaurant and headed in that direction. The name of the place was "B's Backyard BBQ". This is important...the fact that it was called B's. It was right on the lake and had a great view.
As we're walking up to the restaurant, I notice that the health inspection grade, posted in the window, was a B. I say "Brant - there's a B in the window" Brant (who is up ahead with Ellie) says "Of course there's a B in the window. It's called B's Backyard BBQ". And with that he walks in. I follow, and once we get inside it is quite clear this is not a place we should eat. At least to me... The hostess wasn't standing right there, so Brant grabs a menu to look at and it's sticky...gross! At this point I try again to tell him that the health inspection grade is a B. But we're like ships passing in the night...he has no idea why I keep telling him this, and I don't want to make a big scene, but come on - it's NOT hard to get an A on a health inspection. Finally, I ask him to walk outside and look at something and he see's the paper posted in the window. That became the joke of the trip - at every other restaurant we saw the A posted in the window and of course made mention...
Dinner Friday night was at a cute little Italian restaurant. Rhett tried his first jarred baby food, and the poor guy hated it. He made the worse faces and shivered...I felt so bad for him. He's used to homemade veggie and fruit purees with cereal, and I don't think the preservatives in the jarred stuff went over very well.
Saturday morning we got up and headed out for a hike. This was to be Ellie's first hike - at least where she wasn't in the backpack. She is such a princess...she wanted to wear her tiara on the hike and after much discussion, was convinced to wear her hat instead.
Ellie did a great job on the hike. She learned that going slow is a big advantage, and how to plant your foot and transfer your weight instead of jumping around like a fly on a hot rock. She was a trooper...the hike wasn't supposed to be that long, but the trail was hard to follow so it wound up being much longer than anticipated. After the hike, we drove around the far side of the lake - here's a view of the snow on the mountains.
We had lunch, headed back to the cabin and enjoyed the oversized bath tub, and then all took naps. After naps it was time to walk into The Village and enjoy some Mexican food.
After dinner we headed to the candy/ice cream shop, then heard some pretty good live music - a band playing Johnny Cash. And poor Ellie endured her first (and definitely not her last) experience being embarrassed by her parents. It was FANTASTIC! The band was playing in a bar, so we stood outside and sang and danced. No one was out there, but nonetheless, Ellie was practically dying of embarrassment. Poor girl...
Sunday we woke up to 35degrees, 25mph winds, and snow flurries! So fun - we wished we could just stay in the cabin all day and spend another night. But alas, we reluctantly packed up...
On the drive home there was much discussion of the next time we visit Big Bear Lake...hopefully that will happen soon!
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