It’s only two days till Christmas, and I finished all my Christmas tree touch-ups yesterday night. Are you guys all set for Christmas? I think I am. I am just scratching off my Christmas bucket list tasks one by one.
After living in Wisconsin for almost four years, I got addicted to the white Christmas. I mean, if there is no snow, I don’t feel like Christmas. We moved to LA last year, and you know there is no sign of snow here. Hence we decided to visit a big bear lake for one day. I wanted to enjoy the Christmas town feel, and winter Sports was a bonus. I must say Christmas at the big bear lake was just magical, like one of those Christmas movies.
Christmas at the big bear lake
Due to the cold, I felt super lazy and woke up late Saturday morning, so we started our drive around 11 am, and due to all the traffic, we reached there by 2:30 pm. We head to the village to grab some lunch and hot apple cider. It was a fantastic feeling to see so many people roaming around town, and the majority of them were tourists. I was excited to see Christmas decorations in the Big bear village and visit Santa. As Santa is available till 4 pm, we grab the opportunity and meet Mr & Mrs. Claus and took a picture with them. I love the set up of a Santa house.
After lunch, we head to the snow summit ski resort.
The snow summit resort
The snow summit is a fun place to explore some winter sports. If you haven’t tried any winter sport earlier, then you can take the lesson for the ski or snowboarding. If you are afraid of it, then go for snow tubing. I wanted to do snow tubing at snow summit, but it was closed when we reached there. They sell the last ticket at 3:30 pm because it closes at 5 pm. Although the summit is open for ski & snowboarding till 8:30 pm.
The bear mountain is another place for ski & snowboarding. Both locations provide ski & snowboard gears for rent.
Big bear snow play
The snow Tubing places will be close by 5 pm, but big bear snow play provides exclusive night tubing during weekends and holidays. We called them before heading to the site. They close regular snow tubing at 4 pm and then again open from 5 pm to 9 pm just for weekends & holidays. It was a super crowded and long queue. It took almost 40 mins for us to get one ride. I would suggest avoiding the weekend if you can because there was so much rush.
Christmas light in Big bear village
You can stroll in the village, viewing Christmas light along the sides of the road. We started walking from welcome to big bear village sign from Pine knot avenue. During the walk, we enjoyed some local flavors of ice cream & coffee. There are plenty of options for food as well. At the corner of Pine knot avenue and Village Drive, there is a huge Christmas tree decorated with lots of lights and ornaments. Make a turn on the right and follow the crowd on Village drive. You will feel the Christmas vibes for sure.
While you are taking a walk, I will advise you to check out the restaurant for dinner. Because the restaurant gets crowded from 6 pm and wait can be as long as an hour. I wanted to try momos; hence we put down our names in the Himalayan restaurant and it was 30 mins waiting. We continued exploring the town, and by the time we finished, our table was ready. It was a wise thing to add our name to the waitlist.
Winter sports
Alpine slide at a magic mountain is another popular activity among tourists. Another unique thing to do in winter is Fat tire biking. You can ride a bike in the snow, isn’t it fun? Big bear has something for all ages.