Skip to main content

Big Bear Recap

I am a few weeks late, but to be honest, I'm not really sure what happened to those few weeks that passed! I really didn't want this trip to go missed on this blog. It was probably one of my favorite vacations we've taken! It was kind of funny how it developed....

Ryan was supposed to be moving out to Riverside, California for his last 5 month school. We decided I would accompany him on the trip out there (he wasn't going to need a car). But Riverside, CA isn't exactly the romance/travel capital of the world ;) So we were going to make a detour and spend a few days in San Diego (probably one of our favorite cities ever)

Instead.....we discovered Big Bear. It's a mountain town located in the San Bernadino Forest, about 7000 ft above LA, and 30 degrees cooler. We found a cabin to rent on turnkey.com, and the plans were in the making!

Well, Ryan's CA school got moved. So we adjusted with the plans -- and it worked out perfectly! Instead of a "goodbye" trip...it was just a simple "Veterans Day Weekend trip"!

It was 4 days of bliss. We had warm fires, cooked delicious meals, hiked, scouted out nature, ran, hot tubbed, and played some brutal matches of scrabble... It was exactly what we needed, and we decided there will be more vacations akin to this in our future!

I'll let the pictures explain....



A strong sense of peace overcomes you, when waking up to these types of mornings.....
Fueling up with a delicious breakfast of blackberry lemon bread, toasted on a cast-iron......

And heading out for a hike!

Taking a moment to find one's balance
To be honest, this part made me shriek and cry. Every time we get to the peak of our hike...Ryan makes me face my fear of heights and stand on a rock. My stomach was in my throat the whole time!! 

Sometimes you find yourself between a rock and a hard place....;)

One can run for ever, when you have views like this!!


And then we rewarded ourselves with delicious eats like this.....

It is our tradition since the night we got engaged, that when on vacation in a quarters with a kitchen....we always try to find the means to do a proper seafood boil! Clams, potatoes, shrimp, scallops, and this time we tried crayfish (which we did not love the crayfish...but we tried them!)

Cheers!!
 
  

After dinners, we would cuddle up by the fire, watch a movie, play rummy, or soak in the hot tub.....




It was tough to say goodbye to these views and such clear water!...


And sunsets like this one....


But we will most certainly be back!!






Comments

Unknown said…
What a wonderful place! I think you two are so much like us in so many ways!!!!

Awesome..
Marlys said…
Those views were awesome and sounds like the perfect get-away! Glad you found Bear Mountain and the cabin is perfect!
Lisa's Yarns said…
Wow, those pictures are amazing! What a beautiful get away. Sounds like the perfect way for you two to relax after the hectic year you have had! I tried crayfish this year too and also was not a fan. Bleh. But hey, at least we tried, right?

I watched a Hallmark Holiday movie last month that was set in Big Bear and it made me think of you guys! I would love to do a getaway like this some day when I am married!
Marlys said…
BTW, if I had to stand on a rock like that, my stomach would not only be in my mouth, but the contents of it would be spewing down the rock! I hope you can conquer your fear of heights, as I think it's too late for me. I can climb a ladder and clean the windows now without freezing solid so I have made some progress!

Popular posts from this blog

Currently - May edition

   I haven't blogged much - but the last time I did one of these, Maddy was 9 months old. It's really fun looking back on the things that were "stressors" to me at that time. Prior to that - my currently post was a pregnancy edition.  So here goes May 2022. Maddy is almost a 15-month old and summer has set ablaze here in Tucson.   Reading :  I really wish I had a better answer for this one, but I have not been the best about reading lately. The only book I'm reading is "How to talk to your kids so they'll listen and listen so they'll talk". It is really good. Most of the book is geared more to school-aged kids, in my opinion. But it highlights some great communication skills with children to help them trust you as a parent to be open and honest. Eating: All the smoothies. It has been getting really hot here - and every day when we get home from our stroller run I make a smoothie for Maddy with whole milk, Fage, and fruit - and then a smoothie for...

A weekend of the great outdoors

As I am preparing for my return to the real world tomorrow, I feel a strong sense of dread. As I won't have a weekend or free week for a long while! Instead of focusing on that.......I'm sharing a few snapshots from our awesome weekend! This weekend we were in Big Lake, AZ -- which is about 20 miles from the New Mexico border (just 5 1/2 hours from our house). (last weekend we were in Parker Canyon...which I will blog about another day) We camped from Friday-Monday, which was the perfect length of time. The temperatures were a great escape from hot Tucson. In fact...it was VERY cold at night. It was in the low 30's at night, 60's during the day. The trout fishing was incredible. Here's a few snapshots: Home Sweet Home for the weekend! Look at the giant tree I cut down!!! Wow!! (Okay, this was posed...) But...Ryan did teach me how to use a wood-saw! There were tons of dead/fallen trees lying around. So we cut all our firewood for the weekend! I felt very ...

Good things

I must say there are many good things I have to be happy about right now! I am in my psychiatric-mental health nursing rotation right now. I originally chose nursing as my major beause from the time I was like 12 I wanted to be a psych nurse. I love it so far. The clinicals are incredible. I am finding I am more organized and ahead of things in this class than I ever have been! Now, if I could be this motived with Critical Care and my Capstone this summer......:) Ryan and I got an entire day together yesterday!!!! This is rare. My spring break kind of sucked. He would leave at about 6 a.m., and not return until 8 p.m. The poor guy is spread too thin! So I cherish a day like yesterday! Which consisted of............. Spring Training baseball!!!!!! Diamondbacks vs. Oakland Atheletics. It was nearly a close-out. 10-1. We met his bosses wife at the game and she insisted we ditch our seats & sit in the seats in front of them that they had purchased . So we were FRONT ROW BEHIND HO...