more mountain fun

sunday morning in big bear started with this:

could it BE any more perfect?  piles of perfectly cooked bacon, plus fluffy scrambled eggs and toasted english muffins.  it was lovely.

then it was time to get cleaned up, packed up and clear out of the house.  everyone scurried to pick up trash and make sure we left the house nice and tidy - or, like the girl scouts a couple of us are, even cleaner than we found it.  i said goodbye to the house mascot, and then off we went.

i'd seen a bunch of these crosses all around town, and got a closer look when we drove past the church.  yeeeaaaaahhhhh.

so anyway...it was a beautiful morning up in the mountains.

i like how bears are incorporated into everything up here, even the radio stations.

maybe we'll get back up here in about six months, when the mountain will hopefully be covered in beautiful, white snow.

in the meantime, this was our destination - something for the kids to enjoy.

they got a preview of things to come as we paid our admission in the little cabin at the entrance.

gotta love the photo ops, amirite?

i couldn't help but feel sad for this bobcat, who was clearly unhappy as he paced back and forth across his cage.

'murrica.

it's a small zoo, with just enough animals to entertain the kids.

this is the main attraction, although the two stars of the show were hiding way back in the corner, practically out of sight.

we'd only spent an hour there, but the combo of late night/early morning/full belly from breakfast/high altitude had the bean pooped out.  i felt like this, too.

we made two more stops before heading back down the mountain - the first, for some lunch:

and the second, to take a peek at g-wan's recently sold cabin.  it'd been in the family for about 30 years, and i'm fairly certain that the hub was feeling rather nostalgic as he gazed at it from the car.

as was i, as i reminisced about celebrating our 6-month dating anniversary with a trip up here to big bear so many years ago.  so much has happened since then...and i wonder what's in store for us in the future.  whatever it is, i'm sure it'll be fantastic - how could it not, right?