Big Bear Lake, Monday

Well, I don't usually come down to California in October, but I didn't get a chance to spend quality time with my nephew Ian over the summer. It's almost a tradition that I spend at least one full day with him every time I visit.

But I was just winding down from a project at the start of October and I had to get my taxes done. (Yes, I filed an extension and, apparently, I can't extend the extension.) So, instead of taking two days to drive down to Bay Area, I did it in one day. Troy had always driven it straight in a single day; I figured it was worth trying.

I left home at 3am. Yup,... 3... A... M.... Well, I tried to sleep most of the day on Saturday. I could only sleep an hour and a half each time. But my sleep is off anyway. I've been sleeping in the daytime and working at night. And it was too late to try to change my sleep cycle.

It's 13 hours if I drive straight, but with a stop for lunch, three 15-to-20-minute naps, and bathroom breaks, it took me 15 hours. I think I hit the traffic of people coming back into town at the end of the weekend, but it wasn't too bad.

I went to bed at 8:30pm. I woke up at 3:30am, although my alarm was set for 4:30am. I think I was wound up about the trip to Big Bear Lake.

Snow Lake Lodge at Big Bear Lake was a last-minute reservation. The only ones that RCI had in California were San Francisco, South Lake Tahoe, San Diego, and Big Bear Lake. Ian and I already had a photography day in SF. I was just in South Lake Tahoe this summer. And between San Diego and Big Bear Lake, the latter sounded more interesting.

Big Bear Lake is a lake at 7,000 feet above sea level. Rocky mountain. Pine trees. Dangerous switchbacks. Very much like Lake Tahoe, but different in a way. It's still more rustic, more quaint. I think it's what Lake Tahoe was like twenty-some years ago and without casinos.

We stopped by Blondie's Grille about 10 miles to the timeshare condo. The service was very friendly, but the food left a lot to be desired. Ian's burger was burnt dry. My fish and chips had very little stale fish, wrapped too thick and too bland corn dog batter. The lettuce in the chef salad was on the soggy side.

Dinner was much better. We went to the Boo Bear Restaurant. Their clam chowder tasted like Ivar's, my fries were crisper, the BLTA sandwich was decent (although the avocado was starting to get dark), Ian was happy with his corndog, and the "muddy" dessert was a nice ending. The final bill was a tad expensive though for basic entrees like that.

The timeshare condo doesn't have wi-fi, so we'll be heading to internet cafes during the week to upload these entries and to download emails.

Well, we'll have quite a week. Tomorrow (Tuesday), a pirate ship cruise and a visit to a solar observatory. On Wednesday, fishing and a trip to an internet cafe. On Thursday, geocaching. On Friday, who knows? Maybe we'll do more geocaching or more fishing.