Little Dog - Big Bear

 Big Bear, CA - September 1st - 3rd, 2016

  

 

 

I made a vital decision today.  I have concluded that I need to be OK with making posts that are not in chronological order.  You see, I am burdened by the fact that I never finished typing up our memories for the big cross country camper trip which ended over two years ago.  Even worse, I have written about an inspiring day that happened in Turkey over 3 years ago that I never posted, and only because I didn't get it in before our LAST trip.  And here I am now, wanting to record today's memories while they are still so fresh, and those old unwritten logs are holding me back. 

 

Today I decided that was stupid.

 

I hereby give myself permission to write anything I want, anytime I want.  Yep.   March can come before January.  2016 can be released before 2014.  Dessert can come before dinner.  In fact...I can even write about the future if I get the notion.  The whole point of doing this is so that my memories are preserved for those days when I am really old (way older than 40). By then, my memories will be all out of order anyway.  I loved the time I got a Christmas card from our sweet elderly neighbor that wished us a happy 1999 (it was 2002).  Since when have we been rule followers anyway? 
 

So here it is. This year, for our big trip, we decided to fly out west instead of driving cross country.  I would say it was a hard decision, but that would be a lie.  The truck's arthritis just won't tolerate that drive across the desert again.  It would be cruel. But flying out had some significant advantages:

• The kids got to experience flying for the first time (all love the flight, all hate the 4 hours in a seat that doesn't recline).
• We saved ourselves at least a week and a half of driving through our least favorite parts of the country (sorry Arkansas!).
• Renting a shiny car in Vegas meant that we didn't have to worry about breaking down in our truck.  Breaking down is not usually a big deal for us because Tom can fix anything.  But it is a little more complicated when breaking down also means the loss of your home. Until we get a new truck...we wanted to take that out of the vacation equation.

 

We headed straight from the airport to my cousin Allan and Trish's house in Riverside, CA where we stayed a few days while we got our camping setup put together.  The kids have been anxious to get there for months to see their cousins Skylar and Evan.   The girls had done a custom grip tape board for Skylar's birthday and they couldn't wait to give it to her.  Once we had our camping setup purchased and packed in the back of the car we headed up to Big Bear.  This little car has to hold all five of our bodies plus all of our necessities (tent, cooler, stove, mattresses, sleeping bags, clothes, food, etc.).  I spend my time in the front seat with clutter under my feet and junk in my lap.  I swore it wouldn't all fit.  I was wrong.  It did.  We found some space in the glove box.

 

Tailing Allan's Chevy van up the mountain became a silent rivalry of coolness.  His 1970's van was significantly more hip than our shiny, new and recently rented sedan.  Even so, our perfectly air-conditioned Altima was a real contender as it provided a notably cooler experience.   But let's be serious.  Based on all the thumbs up that Allan got from total strangers around every bend...he wins. 

 

 

We had the campground mostly to ourselves and settled in for three nights of cherished time.  The camping was mellow and beautiful.  The kids played 1001 rounds of UNO with no signs of stopping.  Allan's groovy little Boston Terrier, Burt Reynolds, was thankfully along for the experience.  I don't think he slept or ate for the first two days as he worried himself to death over us.  Every time a person would set foot out of his view he would become a nervous ball of whimpering energy.  He was clearly not okay with us meandering through the forest like we were.  I think he was exasperated by the fact that we didn't understand the necessity of staying in a pack.  Poor Trish spent every waking moment trying to convince Burt not to make any weak whimpering noises that would tempt the local coyote population.  The hours ticked by, like adorable little bell tolls, with Trish hushing the little guy.  "Sssshhh Burt!  The coyotes are gonna git ya!" 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

So much time in the forest, but naturally, we didn't waste any opportunity to stop at every skate park we passed.  Unstoppable Skyler sported a big beautiful black eye the entire trip.  She rightfully earned that one by, most likely, fracturing her nose at a skate park the day before our adventure.  Her only regret was that she earned that shiner AFTER her school photos had already been taken.  Such a cool kid.  Big Bear ended out with a romp in the lakefront parking lot where Ivy finally let Tom coax her onto a skateboard (thanks Sky!).   Allan and Sky experimented with a little hammock kite skating, which works, but was admittedly a little underwhelming from a spectator standpoint.  Big Bear was a great way to start out our adventure with some of our favorite people on the planet. 

 

 

 

 But... let's be honest.  Despite the ease of flying out and the brand new car, I felt serious nostalgia for our old truck and camper.  I miss the kids sitting at the table in there. I miss rolling into a place at dark,  putting them to bed, and letting the sunrise show us where we spent the night.  And on a serious basic level, I miss its closets and drawers and all that space.  All that sweet, sweet space.   Packing up this little car each day is like Tetris...except suspiciously stinky. Something is starting to smell in there...and we are not sure what it is.  I think it might be us.