Big Bear Lake – California | May 2018
Just a two hour drive east of Los Angeles is Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino National Forest. A well-known vacation escape for Angelenos, I hadn’t been to Big Bear since high school. During that time, I had only been to Big Bear during the winter to snowboard, so when our friends invited us on a weekend getaway, we were excited to experience Big Bear during the springtime.
We had been experiencing some overcast mornings recently in LA. It’s what Southern Californians like to call “May Gray” or “June Gloom”. So on the drive up the mountain to Big Bear, there was a beautiful fog spread over the trees, which was a magical way to enter the forest (see more on my Instagram stories).
Once we reached Big Bear Lake, the weather was perfect – sunny but with a chill in the air. We checked into the AirBnB and had lunch in Big Bear’s central square “The Village” while we waited for our friends to arrive. After lunch, we walked along the tree-lined streets with an ice cream cone in hand and stopped in front of a coffee shop where a string quartet was performing. It took us a second as we thought, “this song sounds familiar” only to realize that it was the song that I walked down to during our wedding ceremony. So of course we pretended we were reliving our wedding ceremony, using the sidewalk as our aisle. Yes, we looked like dorks to those passing by but it was a great way to start off the weekend.
Once our friends arrived, we popped open a bottle of champagne, which was one of the bottles we had left from our wedding, and had a nice home-cooked meal of baby back ribs with roasted sweet potatoes and cauliflower.
The next day, we prepared a picnic lunch and rented a pontoon on the lake. It was an absolutely gorgeous day to be out on the water. The Frenchman took his pontoon driving very seriously and took us around the lake, searching for the perfect spot to lunch. We had brought a picnic on the pontoon which was a salad with sardines and avocado, bread with cheese and salami, and wine. It was pretty difficult prepping the salad without a table (note to self: need to have a table on the boat), but the hard work probably made the lunch taste even better 😉
After a day at the lake, we spent the evening relaxing with a dinner at a nearby restaurant, The Captain’s Anchorage, which is rumoured to have a ghost of a man named George. Our table was just 15 feet away from where George committed suicide. A bit spooky, yet entertaining, and I’m not going to lie, I felt a chill on my legs while we were eating.
To end the night, the boys finished their babyfoot (aka foosball) tournament and we were introduced to the board game, Settlers of Catan. Have you played this? I am hooked! I wanted to play all night, but no one else seemed wanted to forgo their sleep for another round.
On our last morning, we took our time waking up and had the best breakfast consisting of what we like to call “all you can fridge” and ended up being quite the delicious meal of leftover ribs, avocado toast, scrambled eggs and mushrooms and a dutch baby with apples.
Until next time Big Bear!
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