BIG BEAR, CALIFORNIA

During the months of May, June, and July I qualified to take myself and Albert on a 4 day-3 night, all expense paid trip to Big Bear, CA with the Saladmaster crew. It was a bitter sweet trip... Albert and I definitely needed some time to ourselves; however, that meant we had to leave Rufus behind. Thank goodness he has a loving Aunt Shelley and Grandma Knudsen that watched him while we were away.
After an 8 hr. bus ride we arrived ready for fun! We stayed at the Best Western Big Bear Chateau and met up with other Saladmaster friends. That night we had a pizza party by the pool, which was too cold to swim in, so played freeze tag and Frisbee in the grassy area next to the pool. On the other hand, the jacuzzi was delightful and we spent quite a bit of time relaxing in it's bubbly water!
The next morning the bus took us to to the marina to board the Big Bear Queen for our tour around the lake.

This is the Saladmaster crew from AZ!

One of the first sights we saw as we circled the lake was the Big Bear Solar Observatory. If you'd like to read more about it check it out at http://www.bbso.njit.edu/.

There were hundreds of multimillion dollar homes just like these along the lake front. Albert and I had fun deciding which one we would buy when we became rich and famous.

Of course Big Bear Lake is a man-made lake because of the Eastwood Dam. The fountain is pretty but is really meant to aerate the water.

We even made a pit stop at the S.S. Relief (with much gratitude from many of the passengers). The S.S. Relief is a floating port-a-potty, if you will, that they tote in periodically to dump. Vanna there is my friend Renae with whom I work.
After the grand tour of the lake our group divided. Some went to the spa, others shopping, we went to the Alpine Slide at Magic Mountain. There they had water slides, a dry luge, and arcade that kept us entertained for hours. After realizing how sunburned we were getting, we walked to a local Italian restaurant where we enjoyed pizza and salad. Needless to say, we were pooped when we got back to the hotel that evening. But that's not all!!! We revived ourselves with a shower and went cosmic bowling that night! Crazy, I know.

The next day, Albert and I decided to take it easy and go see a movie since we hadn't seen one in the theater in awhile. We decided on "The Dark Knight," which most of you know is phenomenal. After the movie we browsed a few shops for souvenirs then took a taxi back to the hotel. That night Tracy & Tiana (my bosses) treated us to fancy dinner at the Evergreen, a restaurant that overlooks the lake.

This is my manager, Valerie, and I being silly after dinner!

It was a much needed vacation and a good experience for the two of us. I'm grateful I was able to get to know those I work with a little better too. Rufus had fun with his Aunt, Grandma, and cousins swimming and playing hard the whole day long. May be he's the one that really got the vacation?