A Snowy Cabin Getaway

 Back in September when our anniversary trip to Lake Arrowhead was cut short because of a nearby fire, the cabin's owner offered to let us come back again, paying only the cleaning fee. At the time, I thought a winter snow getaway sounded fun. Plus, Violet last year had talked about wanting to take a similar trip.

I scheduled the weekend, and it worked out that it meant we were gone two weekends in a row. Cora again didn't want to come, and in the end, Violet wanted to stay home too. 

Stace and I were a little sad - we'll miss the days of every trip being a family trip - but we made the best of it. 

We were blessed with the most perfect timing, weather wise. A late winter storm hit, dumping snow and actually delaying our trip by a day, as it was still snowing heavily Friday evening. We instead drove up Saturday morning, and stayed through Monday - ideal! Missed the Friday evening traffic, and got to have more of a full vacation day to start the trip rather than the tailend of a late evening.

This was the gorgeous scene that greeted us when we got to the cabin! Even the trees were coated in white!

Plus, it wasn't really cold - in the upper 40s, low 50s, so we didn't have to bundle up much.

We went back to Lake Arrowhead Village, with Stace representing Dean's company.

We looked in the shops, got a coffee, enjoyed the Saturday.

The cabin owner recommended Lou and Eddie's pizza, and wow, definitely worth it! Really tasty fancy pizza and beer.

We'd forgotten tea and coffee, so stopped at the grocery store - you can see how much snow had fallen based on the plowed piles in the parking lot! (See the Jeep on the left side?)

We got back to the cabin and took an early evening walk in the very quiet neighborhood, soaking up the wintry views.

Then we enjoyed a couple of movies - the cabin has a large collection of DVDs.

On Sunday, after a nice breakfast at the cabin, we went into Big Bear. We took a nature walk and found clean snow to play in.

The nature center had this grizzly bear pelt/head! Apparently it was one of the last in the area (they've been extinct from California for decades) and was kept by a local family and then gifted to the nature center.

We saw a bit of living nature too - see the coyote?

We'd worked up an appetite, so we went back to the busy part of town and found a late lunch.

Stace wanted to head back to the ski resort we went to a few years ago with the girls, on their big skiing day. We walked around, and then went back to town to get a coffee before heading home.

Yep, it was warm enough to have our treat outside, despite the snow on the ground! The drive back to the cabin took a while, due to all the people heading down the mountain on a Sunday evening, but it was so pretty, we didn't mind. 

Another DVD in the cabin topped off our lovely weekend away. 

Back to Big Bear!

The girls and I did something totally spontaneous over Spring Break. Our friend Jeff invited us to join them - the next day - on a short trip to the mountains to get in one more day of skiing. 

Stace couldn't drop work that quickly, but he was happy for the girls to ski again, so he was fine with us going. So, on Wednesday, Jeff and Jenn booked a house and we packed up and left!

The house we rented in Big Bear was amazing - since it was still available, and midweek, we got a great deal. It had a loft with some games for the kids, a hot tub on the deck and a SAUNA inside! I never knew I needed a sauna, but now, it will be on my list of must-haves in any rental house. 

(The night that Jeff and Jenn and I enjoyed the hot tub, it was of course chilly when we got out, and it was LOVELY to warm up in the sauna after our cold walk indoors!)
 

We had some wildlife, too - a child left the sunroof open in Jenn's car, and in the morning we saw raccoon prints on the outsides of the cars, and a mess of a leftover jam sandwich on a seat! This little guy was still hanging out across the street.

We also spotted a coyote on the street, and pretty Stellars Jays.

Jeff took Cora and the boys to Snow Valley, a different ski resort than the one we went to in March. This one was less fancy, and less expensive. The snow is now all man-made, since it's been a while since it snowed for real (and it's in the 60s in the day!).

Violet didn't want to go skiing, but then, for the last few months, she hasn't wanted to do much of anything that brings her out of the house. We tried to have her go, but she then got sick at the rental place, so I went and picked her up.

Cora really enjoyed her day. She and Zach were up and down the runs, all day long, since it was so empty on an April Thursday.

Here's Cora and Dylan. 

Cora tried some jumps - why not, it's her second time on skis! Once, she hurt her knee, and took some time to rest (and eat lunch). But she did land one once!

Cora took this from the top of the mountain - beautiful! It was surprising to see so much snow on some of the mountains, 

Meanwhile, Violet felt better after lying down for a while, and we three ladies went out for a wild burro hunt. Jenn's friend had told her about the wild burros, descendants from burro races in the 1950s.

Later, we enjoyed a charcuterie board in the backyard by the fire pit.

When everyone got home, Cora and the boys needed to relax - they were exhausted! We later played a little pre-dinner Trivial Pursuit.

We made a few stops on our way home Friday - a park with a zip line, a little nature walk and a part of Big Bear Lake with a cool-looking island.

It was a great couple of days! More memorable than sitting at home would have been. And we're happy Cora was able to ski again.

Family and the Zoo

We chose this mid-March weekend so we could celebrate the birthdays of both Melanie and Grandpa. 

With the recent passing of Dodger legend Tommy Lasorda, Mom, Melanie and I all went in together to get this official Lasorda jersey as a gift for Dad.

The group!

Violet's one goal of our weekend away was to play Telestrations with the family. It was a lot of fun, with lots of laughs.

Violet made a birthday cake, which we enjoyed Saturday night (and Sunday morning before we left).
 

Beautiful Big Bear Lake

On Sunday, after packing up and leaving Sugarloaf, we went to the Big Bear Alpine Zoo. Lots of neat animals, including foxes, bears, coyotes, wolves, snow leopards and mountain lions.

After the zoo, we said goodbye to the family, and went into cute Big Bear Village for a walk around the shops before heading home. It was a great weekend away!

Fun on the Slopes

We got up and out bright and early Saturday for Stace and the girls to have a skiing adventure at Big Bear Snow Summit. Stace hadn't skiied in decades, so he signed up for an adult lesson with Cora, while Violet took part in a kids lesson.
 

Following Friday evening's storm, it was a gorgeous day, and we overheard experienced skiiers say these were the best conditions they'd ever seen at Big Bear. 

Cora loved it all, while Stace enjoyed the skiing, but was in physical pain during the lesson from trying to follow the instructor's directions. Apparently his hips and knees aren't designed to point THAT way anymore.

Who's that masked gal?

We were incredibly blessed with good friends lending us skiing gear - pants, coats, helmets, gloves, etc. Cora here is sporting my friend Jen's vintage Burton coat.

Two thumb's up from the girl who wasn't sure she wanted to ski at all!

Stace absolutely loved this day of creating memories with his girls. He thanked me over and over for arranging it. So happy he (and the girls) had such a fun time together.

Oh, I was there, too! I read in the car for a while, and then came out to watch as Stace decided he was done with his lesson a little early. We had lunch together - pretty darn good food, too - and then they went down the hill a few more times before we went back to the cabin to rest.

SNOW!!!

A year ago, we had plans for a Big Bear weekend with my parents, and the Stay-at-Home order forced us to cancel them.

Fast forward a year, and we finally made our snowy cabin vacation happen. 

We could not have been more fortunate with the weather - it's been a fairly dry winter, but we got rain Wednesday through Friday, which meant snow in the mountains.

It even meant snow while we drove, necessitating putting on chains on our two-week drive car. Never done that before! There was a big, wide pullout area with Caltrans workers directing traffic, as everyone without all-wheel drive was forced to chain up.

Here was our approach to the town of Sugarloaf, a neighborhood near Big Bear.

Our rental house was lovely and spacious, and the girls rushed out on the balcony to play in the fresh snow. They'd never seen snow falling before, so we really enjoyed ourselves.

We decided to take a walk several blocks to the little corner general store we'd seen as we drove into town, as an excuse to be out in the snow.

(The forecast called for clearing skies overnight, so we knew this would be our only shot at being actually out while it was snowing.)

The girls were marveling at the icicles, and Violet found this giant one, perfect for a pretend light saber.

We bought a few snacks in the store, and it was snowing harder when we left.
 

Ha! For a SoCal family like us, this was a very memorable evening. Look at Violet's glasses!