Snow Day

Violet is always wanting to go somewhere, get out in nature, and she was hoping to get to the snow this year. Here, the trick is actually having a snow trip is getting snow, and then having the roads opened without chain restrictions.

We had a big storm last week, with the local higher mountains measuring snow in the feet.

We thought of going Monday after Vi got out of school, and she worked extra hard on Sunday evening to get ahead in her online work. But Stace stayed home with a bad back, so we delayed our trip a day.

Our timing was divine - the CHP took down the roadblocks later on Tuesday, so I believe we would have been unable to get to the top of Mt. Pinos on Monday. (On the weekends, so many people come up from L.A. that they don't even let non-local-residents past Frazier Park, the town nearest the 5.)

On this Tuesday afternoon, we had the place practically to ourselves! At home, we were having a heatwave, with temps in the 80s, but here, the snow was deep, with temps in the 50s. 

Violet went wandering, and started creating...

a different type of snowman.

Look how deep! That's a fire pit in the center. Walking was a great workout, as we sunk two feet deep every couple of steps.

Violet was very appreciative of our snow day together. It really is pretty up here.

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. 

Snow Day

 Violet has been wanting to get up to the snow, and Stace and I are more than happy to accommodate either of our girls when they actually desire to leave the house and do something cool. 

With Violet's interesting school schedule, it worked well on Monday for Stace to come home early, and the three of us headed to Wrightwood. Going on a weekday meant we missed all the traffic up and down the mountain from, well, people like us.

Violet did some sledding, and we had a great day.

The snow was SO deep! At least compared to what we are used to when playing in snow. Walking was a challenge - Vi definitely earned some time on her PE log!

On our way back, we stopped at a Chinese place in Saugus I'd heard good things about and picked up dinner to bring home. I had to take a photo for Cora - D&D.

Snow Day

The last few years, our girls have been very happy to stay home. Neither enjoy large crowds or long car rides, and many places we used to go regularly we just haven't been going anymore.

So, when Violet said she wanted to go out and see the snow, I really wanted to make it happen! 

For weeks, it wasn't advisable to go up to the mountains, because there was just too much snow and the residents were struggling to get out themselves. Then, the roads were cleared but not the "parking areas" for us "snow bunnies."

But this past weekend, we hit the sweet spot, and drove out to Wrightwood into a Winter Wonderland.

Behind us, those slopes belong to Mountain High Ski Resort. We were across the canyon and main road, up near a (closed) campground it might be nice to return to in the summer.

We were able to take a nice snowy walk, and found plenty of snow to throw and make snow creatures. Violet hadn't wanted to sled, so we didn't get the sleds down from the upper shelves, but no need.  We had plenty of fun, smiles and laughs just as it was.

(See Violet's hand on Stace's head? His head was cold in this pic!)
 

Violet created a snow ostrich.

To end our afternoon, we had dinner at a restaurant in town and wandered through some of the shops. It was an altogether lovely day out! 

(And no, Cora didn't want to come.)

Tidbits

Christina invited us to join her at a local brewery, where her friend's husband was playing in a band. 

It's always nice to get out and about and enjoy a brew with friends, now that the kids are old enough to leave home. (Truth be told, they love it when we go out and are bummed when we return!)

Need better cameras on our phones, but we had a lovely view the other evening on one of my typical walks - snow in the distance!

A better view of it - look how thick it was! Our mountains got 7 feet or so!

Fun seeing this little guy/gal in the canyon where I walk...

...and a mallard pair in a normally dry stream bed. 
 

Snow, Downpours and Rainbows

It's not very often we see snow flurries on our weather app! Sadly, we didn't get any snow at our house, only rain and a bit of hail. But nearby, lots of our friends and family did get flurries!

The snow level fell pretty low, where the lower hills got a dusting that "stuck" for a couple of days. This is a hill above Sylmar, near Granada Hills when I was taking Cora to Logan's house for D&D. 

I believe this was a heavy hail on the wood chips near the mall.

Incredibly, we got about seven inches of rain in 24 hours. Good thing we have all those usually dry river beds around town. Definitely don't want to be hearing about water restrictions or drought this year! We've received way more than our 17 inch yearly average of rain, and the season isn't over yet.

Stace, Violet and I went on a drive and spotted this snow in Placerita Canyon - this is by the Waterfall Trail. Would have been pretty cool to hike back there but it was super muddy and COLD, obviously!

Placerita Canyon

We've spotted some gorgeous rainbows lately!