Okay, last weekend I went to Big Bear but this is a picture of Big Bear from the time before last when I had the pleasure of getting the toothache from hell and had to come down the mountain and get a root canal. After $800 (with insurance!) and 3 visits to the dentist to get the crown from hell, finally glued in my mouth, I was ready for another trip to the mountain.
My friends Anna and Brad had just moved up to get away from LA for a while so I thought I would visit them and my sister, niece, her friend and my brother in law were going to meet me there for some camping. We were lucky enough to get a campsite after someone canceled. I got a rental car and headed up Saturday morning. I only got lost once! When I finally arrived, they were heading out to cruise the lake. I jumped in and we ended up shopping! After all, eating and shopping are what my family does best. What else are you going to do in Vegas or Phoenix when it is hotter than hell! I digress. I did manage to buy some sunglasses as I forgot mine at home and a hat and 4 tops. Hey, they were on sale! We then headed back to the campsite and I called Anna to see if they were into coming over. She grabbed some veggies and the goods to make smores and headed over. We had ribs and all the fixins and it rocked. I love smores! I decided to go stay the night at Anna & Brads and donate my tent to Mandy and her friend Seth, since the bonehead forgot to bring his tent, hello, camping! I got the tour of Anna's new digs, nice place, cozy, and though I did miss out on the lumpy ground and noisy neighboring campers, I managed to slept like a baby. The next morning I headed back to camp, had some breakfast and gave Mandy her belated birthday presents (all camping stuff) and she went back to Vegas to write some papers. That straight A student! (so proud) Danette, Jay and I got it together and went on a 2 hour hike. It was gorgeous and at the top you could see the snow capped mountains in the distance and the almost over full lake below. Breathtaking, and to think that a few miles down the mountain you can't see through all the San Bernadino smog! Nasty. Danette walked down as she has had 3 knee surgeries and Jay and I ran down. I beefed around a corner and am still sporting the bruises! After such a great hike, we went to get some Mexican food and share a pitcher of margaritas, before heading back to camp. (Very tasty) When we got back to camp, there was no camp! Our camp had been replaced with strangers and strangers tents. After deciding that, no we didn't eat some mushrooms and loose a day, we headed to the camping office to find out what the hell happened to our stuff. The woman at the gate called for someone to come escort us to our stuff. The guy who we shall call Mr. Hassler, though it is Hausser, was a major dick. He told us that we were supposed to check out at 2:00 and that they had our stuff and we needed to follow him to get it and inventory it. WHAT! After Jay got pissed and told him it was bullshit, Danette called the reservation number that she booked the campsite on, since Mr. Hassler was not interested in being helpful or trying to find out what happened. Long story short, Hassler got called by the reservation place and was told that they screwed up. He then came back to us and said that some lady left and said that they were checking out and to go ahead and rent the site. Right, my 18 year old niece (lady) left and told them that we were all gone. I told Mr Hassler that now he was talking out of his ass, she knew her mother was going nowhere and that you would think that they would notice the parked car with the parking permit that read 5/30 on it that they gave us, not to mention 2 tents, 2 coolers and piles of camping gear, hello, common sense people! He changed his tune and was offering to give us another site for free but we were so worn out arguing with the idiot that we were just going to go home. I did manage to get in a dig, as he was so nasty. It not only told him that he needed better people skills, (but then that is probably why he was up in the mountains) and that I better not find my pink frilly panties missing when I unpacked. That one got under his skin and he deserved it, Mr. Macho, I don't have to listen to you , I own this mountain. Screw you dude!
I was going to go home but the sun was in my face and I didn't much feel like driving off a cliff on the way down so I called Anna and Brad and went back to their place. We rented movies, had popcorn, smoked and I spent another cozy night. We got up and walked around their neighborhood. I made them breakfast and then headed home. I missed the holiday traffic and got home in one piece. The end.