Debugging at Big Bear, California

Big Bear, CA - After many days of hard work, long hours and sleepless nights, the nicheGrafix family finally decided to go up to Big Bear for a fresh air and a tour of the city. Travelling along the zigzag road, we slowly went up the mountains up to 7,000 ft. high reaching the lake in less than two hours from Orange County. Regular routes were closed due to a parade of "miners and cowboys". It would have been nice to cover the event and take pictures but we decided it was time to relax, debug and make this trip a family one instead of business. The re-routing of roads took us deeper into town and saw some nice and expensive houses in the village. Because most the restaurants were blocked by the parade, we ended up eating at Sizzler, a common restaurant in Southern California. Imagine going up to Big Bear and eat at Sizzler which can be found a couple of miles away from our home in Orange County.

After eating, opposite the restaurant is family of bears carved from wood and the family had a chance to take some photos. Some of the houses we've seen have wooden bears right in front of their homes or porches so I guess they may have bought it from there. We went back to Big Bear Blvd. and were happy that the parade was over and the road was open to traffic. We went to Pine Knot Landing and bought ourselves tickets to Miss Liberty Tour Boat. With Big Bear out of snow for the summer, the next best thing is to tour the lake.

We boarded the ship and sailed along the lake as we look at million dollar homes, some of which are owned by famous people or loved ones of famous people. As we sail, the history of Big Bear is narrated by one of the staff. The Miss Liberty boat has two levels, an open deck above and the air conditioned level below where restrooms are located and a snack bar as well. The hour and a half trip was enjoyable and is a good way of debugging your mind with work stuff and a perfect getaway from the city. Also seen during the tour is Boulder Bay where big rocks are seen along the bay and up the mountain. One of six solar observatories can be viewed on the way back and the only log cabin left in the city is actually the ticket booth for Miss Liberty as explained by the narrator. After the boat tour, we finally went to the Village, a shopping district in downtown Big Bear. From there, just before it gets dark, we decided to travel back to Orange County and get ready for another busy week. It was a trip worth the travel and you don't have to spent too much to get a fresh air away from the city. We can't wait to be back in winter.