Vacation Days 3-5: Big Bear-Skiing Adventure

We're back! We survived skiing, all limbs are still intact...totally sore, but they're still there. Our adventure began Wednesday as we headed up the mountain to go skiing. We got to a point and then everyone had to stop and put chains on. Peter thought it was going to be a manly job so he was eager to attempt it. Little did he know, these were not the same kind that he has had previous experience with. So here he is draping the chains over the tire...like the instructions say.
I wandered around and there were people there with jackets and such, they were the chains crew people. They helped people get the chains on their cars. So one comes over and asks if we need help. I said yes. They looked at the chains and said they looked a little small for the tires. They then proceeded to tell us that since we had 4 wheel drive we could go without chains. They also claimed that all tires are snow tires too...I wasn't buying that one, but they said we could go with 4 wheel drive, so we did.

It took us awhile to get up the mountain. Everyone was wearing chains or driving 4 wheel drive cars. We saw a snow plow a couple of times as well. Once we got to the top we found our motel...well after we drove past it, we did eventually turn around and find it. We stopped by IHOP for dinner. There was one other guest there and once he left we were the only ones there. The place was empty!!! When we got back in the car it was 19 degrees outside....brrrrr! We went to the motel and went to sleep.

Thursday morning we headed to Bear Mountain. We signed up for skiing lessons. Peter had never skied before so these were essential for him. I have gone 6 or 7 times each with 2-3 days each time. Though I haven't been on the slopes for two years so I was all up for lessons as well. Well we were late to the group lessons so we either had to wait until 12:45 for the next lesson, or we could pay more and get a 1 hour private lesson. We chose that option. So Gaila was our instructor. She mainly worked with Peter, which was fine with me, but I got some pointers too. Here's Peter getting some instruction. I think they were playing "follow the leader." Peter is in the purple jacket with the orange beenie.

After our one hour private lesson we went inside to get a drink. As I was keeper of the camera (less likely to fall and squish camera) this was one of the first shots of me.After this we headed back out for our 12:45 group lesson. We were taken up the ski lift and had to ski one at a time down to where there were three instructors waiting to split us into groups. I had the choice to go with three other ladies or go by myself with my own private instructor for one hour instead of two. I chose the one hour option and really got a lot out of it. My instructor said they're not supposed to take students on chair lift #6, so I was thrilled to give it a try when he asked if I wanted to go on it. It went much higher into the mountain and had some fun hills. I had a blast coming down and learning different ways to keep my skis parallel and turn without making the wedge. It really was fun. After my lesson was over, I went on a few more lifts and then met Peter when his lesson was done. We got some more to drink and then headed out to have some fun on our own. We went up lift #7 a few times-this was what Peter was comfortable with. Here's some fun shots we took of each other.

Here's the view from one of the lifts

At one point I handed over the camera to Peter. He rode up lift #7 and I went up #6. Peter waited at the top of his and as I came down, my route eventually met up with his. So here's some fun shots.

Here I come!

When we left Thursday we were exhausted and very sore. I think we gave our calves a major workout. We had no problem going to sleep that night.

This morning we got up, checked out and headed into town to visit some shops before we headed home. We stopped at Grizzly Bear Belly Deli for breakfast/lunch.

We wandered around a couple of stores and then headed home.

We saw a lot of bears this trip...I loved it!

Views from the car on our way down the mountain.

We had a great time visiting the snow. Though we are thrilled to be back home. Look what was awaiting us when we got back to sunny San Diego.

Our rose bloomed!