Big Bear In Winter

Big Bear in Winter is Beautiful. Only a smattering of snow on the ground but covered on the ski slopes. Perfect. The temperature was great, too. We cruised into town and got settled in our cabin, trying to find a place to put everything. The cabin is not very big; cozy is the word for it. We turned on the water and the water heater, got the furnace working and even built a fire.

We found a great Nepalese/Indian restaurant in The Village and went there for dinner. Excellent food and service. I ate too much of course. That will be a place we return to every time we come up. We don’t see too much ethnic variety in either Bullhead City or PingTung so we always look for something new when we get the opportunity.

We also shopped at the Stupididiotic shop that caters to my mentality. So many cool things but we settled on an extendable battery-operated rotating marshmallow roasting fork. It provided hours of entertainment (the fork that is): little things for little minds.

Since we came with the idea of skiing, we went to the Summit and purchased ski passes for the next day including lessons for Hsien-Ling and Johnny: two, two hour lessons each with beginner lift passes. Regular pass for me. I thought I had all my own equipment so we rented skis, boots and poles for them. We had to return after 2:30 to pick them up for use the next day unless we wanted to do it in the morning. Upon our return and the discovery that I couldn’t use my ski equipment, we got everything for all of us, save my poles which were the only thing I had that was usable. Dan at the equipment rental was extremely helpful in finding me more modern equipment and explaining to me how much more control I would have (as though I might have ever had some control) with the new parabolic design without telling me how archaic my old equipment was. And he was right, I actually amazed myself. He even came to our rescue when we turned in the equipment the next day and wanted to charge us for the second day even though we thought we were only picking them up early. Thank you Dan.

Johnny didn’t want to learn to ski. He would have rather stayed in the cabin and watched videos all day. I had to offer a bribe to the one (he or his mom) who skied the better at the end of the day. He tried to make a deal with his mom to win without the lesson but she wouldn’t go for it. But after the first lesson he was hooked. Said his instructor told him I should buy him some goggles, wolfed down a huge hamburger and a half them picked out the most expensive pair of goggles in captivity and raced back to his second lesson.

Hsien-Ling, on the other hand was set to be a career student and record holder of the come-back-until-you-learn-to-ski-guarantee. Her second lesson turned out to be one-on-one with a Chinese speaking instructor and she actually passed. She was too sore to go on the beginners’ lift one more time with me but swore she could actually ski. It had started to snow by the time Johnny had finished his second lesson so we called it a day as I had no chains and was wary of what the roads would look like if we waited too long. Yupper, I’m a flatlander.

The next day we built a big fire, rested our (my) sore muscles and played UNO almost the entire day. I lost so much that only in the last game was I able to regain my $2.00 I.O.U. It started to snow that evening, and had actually snowed about 2 inches earlier. We thought about making a dash for the border (home) but didn’t want to pack the car in the dark so we waited until morning.


This is what we got for waiting


Our Street
So instead of packing in the dark, we packed in the snow. And Johnny got to have a real snowball fight. We didn’t have to dig out the driveway (good thing because the snow shovel fell apart) but the CHP was requiring chains so we went down the street and bought them. We could have made it without them but….. now we have them.

He Who Dies With the Most Toys

The Grate Has Seen Better Days

It has been said that “He who dies with the most toys, wins.” It has also been said that “He who dies with the most toys is still dead.”

Did you ever wonder if all the toys that you have accumulated still work? I thought I had a lot of toys but now have my doubts. My family and I came up to Big Bear for the week before our winter vacation was over. It was a chance to let my wife and son take skiing lessons (while I shooshed down the slopes). I signed them up for lessons, two each at two hours, and then arranged for equipment rentals. I had bought a pair of skis, poles and boots at a garage sale that I thought would work for my wife, Hsien-Ling, but thought it better to rent a set for her first time. We found out the boots didn’t fit anyway but would worry about the skis and poles later. As for me, I was all set. I thought.

When we were trying everything on before going to sign up, (when we found out Hsien-Ling’s boots wouldn’t fit), I broke one of the straps on my boots. That was one out of two. Since all the straps were the same vintage and made out of the same plastic…. Hmmmmm. Ok, I’ll rent boots, no sense buying a set at peak retail to use once every other year. But then the rentals didn’t fit my skis. The shop wouldn’t adjust the bindings because of their age, and new bindings would be about $300. At least I don’t have to rent poles. Maybe I can sell them all at a garage sale. That is more than I could do with the tent that I tried to put up last month and found that the top was rotten.

And Now We Have Chains

So how many other toys that adorn my garage are of the same quality? As the fable goes: A lump of gold and a gold-painted-rock are of the same value if you only want to look at them. So I think: “He who dies with the most toys, probably never had enough time to use them all.”