She'll be coming round the mountain

When Thatboy and I were staying with his parents for Christmas, TBIL invited us to join him and his family on a trip up to visit TBIL's grandfather. Only problem? Thatmom, Thatbrother, TFIL, and TMIL were not invited. So we declined. It turns out, he only wanted us to come so Thatboy could share in the driving. Nice, right? Anyway, Thatboy was disappointed because there's snow where TBIL's grandfather lives. Because he was sad, I promised him I would take him to the snow when we got home.

I booked us a cabin outside of Arrowhead and we were on our way. We sent out invitations to friends and family, but since the Chargers made the playoffs, we ended up going on our own. (NOW who's sorry they backed out? Although super sad face for the Chargers).

When we arrived, our cabin was still being "cleaned" (although apparently cleaning does not involve making the bed or emptying the food from the fridge), so we headed into the town of Running Springs. With a stop on the way to check out the snow!

There are going to be a lot of pictures of Thatdog in the snow. Because he just looks SO cute in the snow! This was his first experience with snow, and he wasn't the biggest fan. First, it's super slippery. And second, when it's soft, it disappears right below his feet. He doesn't like that AT ALL.

This is the town of Running Springs. Exciting, no?



We were starving from our short drive, and so we decided to partake in the local food scene.



Neo's IS the local food scene. Serving pizza, Italian, Mexican, and Chinese. All under one roof! It's like Running Spring's very own Epcot.

I was intrigued by the idea of chorizo pizza, especially because chorizo is my current "oh my god I must have it" ingredient of the moment. Thatboy wanted to go with his classic pepperoni and cheese. So we went halvsies. And he still ate a good portion of my half. Must be nice to have hollow legs.



Pizza in hand, we headed back to what was to be our home sweet cabin for the next few nights.



As I mentioned, the master bed wasn't made, but because I am queen of the prepareders, I had brought our own sheets and towels with us so we could ensure we were sleeping on something not disgusting.



Check out our fireplace! Which we put to good use. I'm currently typing this while sitting in front of a roaring blaze. Not too roaring though - we do have fire issues in California, and the cabin is made of wood.



We settled in for a night of lasagna, beer, movies, and highly competitive games of Uno and Ziggity. We were going to play War, but neither of us could remember exactly how it was played.

This morning we awoke and headed up to Big Bear for the day. Although it was definitely much closer to not being morning by the time we arrived.




We did a little shopping, stopping to get Thatdog some treats and TMD some boots. Poor allergic TMD!

After walking around for a bit, Thatboy decided the 5 pancakes he had eaten for breakfast had worn off, and he was hungry. So we stopped for lunch at The Peppercorn Grille. Thatboy and I weren't expecting much, because - as I put it "where's the nearest competion? LA?"



We were pleasantly surprised. Thatboy was very pleased with his chicken satay wrap. But he was very impressed with those potato wedges. "It's like they just cut the potato a couple of minutes ago and then roasted in perfectly. They are so good and fresh!"



I went with the special of the day - a turkey sandwich with avocado, provolone, and a black cherry aioli. Thatboy was a little doubtful about the aioli, but I loved the sweetness compared to the turkey.



Around this time, the weather dropped about 15 degrees to "definitely below freezing" and so we decided it was time to head back. But of course we had to make a stop at Sugar Pine Bakery.



I had read this place was worth the stop - so of course I made us stop. Especially since it was on our way back from Big Bear to the cabin. The plan was to pick up some goodies for tonight and tomorrow morning. Like this cinnamon roll brioche - which is going to go fabulously with our eggs...although I'm beginning to suspect that French Toast might be more in order.



And Thatboy, who doesn't like peanut butter and chocolate together, picked out this peanut butter chocolate brownie for dessert tonight. When I reminded him he didn't like peanut butter and chocolate his response was "I know, but that looks SO good." He devoured the whole thing tonight, and loved every bite.



I wanted a cupcake (naturally) and asked whether their pumpkin or red velvet were better. I was told the pumpkin was phenomenal, so that's what I got. It was supposed to have cream cheese frosting, but in my opinion, the frosting tasted more like marshmallow - which was a nice change. And I am definitely a fan of the gummy bear on top of cupcakes. And the colored sugar. I keep meaning to pick some up because I really think that colored sugar makes a cupcake.



Even though we were only picking up treats for later, Thatboy couldn't resist grabbing a whoopie pie for the road.



Or should I say, the parking lot. We didn't get very far before he devoured it.



After we were all sugared up, we saw a bunch of people pulled over to the side of the road, enjoying the snow and hills Big Bear has to offer.



And since we happened to have a sled in our trunk, we joined in the fun!







Thatdog started feeling a little jealous, and wanted in on the action.



But he refused to get on the sled. Well, that's a half-truth. He got on the sled, but would jump off as soon as it started moving. He was not a fan. So we figured out another way to get him involved.







Side note - how frickin' adorable is Thatdog in his winter wear?



"PLEASE no more pictures. I just want to run and enjoy myself!"



As we headed out of Big Bear, it started to snow. Which I tried to capture on film, but those pesky snowflakes just don't show up on film. Like vampires.







We headed back to the cabin for more movies, lasagna, wine, and some fabulous hot chocolate (which I'm sipping on now - with a fair amount of marshmallows drowning in it)