Snow Day Road Trips

(Note: The transcript is auto generated by our recording software. It does a good but imperfect so please blame any typos on the robot!)

AJ: Welcome back to all in San Diego. We're sure you know that there are some places you can go to enjoy some snow after does a short drive from San Diego, but we think you'll be surprised by how many options you have.

Sara: Bonnie from fam Diego is here to give you all the details of the places you can go, how to know when the snow is actually happening and how to enjoy your cold weather adventures. 

AJ: Join us as we go all in on San Diego, snow trips. Bonnie. Welcome back again. 

Bonnie: Hello. 

AJ: There've been a handful of episodes of all in San Diego, where I've been blown away by the options. In other words, I know there's a lot of good taco shops. I did not know there were a lot of pools you can pay to use. I know there are a lot of good family parks. I didn't know that there were speakeasies all over San Diego.

This is going to be one of those, uh, you know, you asked me where I'm going to go to snow near San Diego. I'm saying I'm going to go to big bear, like everywhere else, but there's a lot more options.

Bonnie: There are. Yeah, we're going to go all over Southern California mountains here with this episode. 

Sara: And I know we've all been there before. We've talked about this once before, I think AIG, where you're you get the whole family together. You've got all the gear that you can scrape together as a San Diego, which isn't much, it might be galoshes and a pair of like really thin gloves and you get in the car and we're going to go see snow and you drive into.

And you find one little dirty patch of snow. Everybody gathers around and takes a picture. Yeah. So we could all use a little help in this department.

Bonnie: Yeah. Well, the thing about the snow in San Diego is that you, you have to listen to the weather reports. And as soon as you hear them mentioned about impending snow, you've got to get your go bag ready. You know, you has to be in the car and as soon as it starts snowing, you better be on the road before everybody else, or it's going to melt and you're going to miss it and just be too frustrated with all the traffic and when to turn it on and go. 

AJ: Oh, so we're like tornado chasers out here. We need to be ready to head right out of the gear in the car. 

Bonnie: Yeah. 

AJ: Okay. That's your first tip? That's valuable. Okay. Well with that in mind, before you start telling us where to go, tell us what we should have in the car as part of that emergency gear bag.

Bonnie: Oh, yeah, definitely mittens and hats and check to make sure your kids mittens still fit from last year and there's snow boots. My, my son stole my mittens. Recently because his didn't fit anymore. So I was left there, handing The snow and I was freezing. So it makes sure everything fits before you go. 

Sara: The target dollar bins are usually pretty good about having, some of those mittens in those bins, the months leading up to where we would have snow in San Diego. 

Bonnie: Yeah, grab a bunch of those stash them in your car. we've even used like really thick athletic socks on our hands and we didn't have any mittens. So, you know, if all else fails, grab a pair of socks. 

Sara: That's awesome. That's amazing. All the people on the east coast are laughing at us so hard right now.

Bonnie: This is how Southern Californians do stuff. 

AJ: So the obvious stuff is the warmest clothes. You have the warmest gloves. You have the mittens. If you've got them just be ready to, to stay as warm as you can, when you get to the snow. Okay. We've got that. It's in our car. Where might we end up?

Bonnie: Well, before you do that, there's a few other things you should have in your car. You should have some chains. You might not know if you have to chain up? or not. So you need those 

AJ: E. 

Bonnie: flashlights radios and you should really print. You're mapped itinerary because cell phone service might not be the best out there.

And if you're relying on your, Google maps for directions, you know, you might miss your turn. So, I don't want to go back to the old school way of saying, you know, bring the Thomas guide, which most people probably don't know what the Thomas or MapQuest does anybody know what map quizzes anymore. Um, 

AJ: Yes. Yes. We may not all have done the Thomas Guy, but we've all used. MapQuest is a verb. All right, let me MapQuest it and I'll get to you.

Bonnie: Print it out, print it out, take it with you. obviously bring a, uh, one of those cell phone battery chargers and Casey, you know, your cell phone runs out of battery power, food and water, obvious things. You got to prepare for emergencies. You don't plan to be there longer than you. You were, but maybe something happens and you.

get stuck.

So be prepared. also I like to put off. Thermos of water in the car and grabbed some little, Um,

hot cocoa packets. You can mix them up for the ride back home. You can not save your money. You don't have to go into town and buy the expensive, hot cocoa, just bring your own. And that's kind of a fun way to end the day. 

AJ: I never take bodies on. I feel like such a horrible parent.

Sara: Oh, you bring a hot cocoa for the ride home. I'm lucky. Get in the car, get ourselves all loaded up to go in the first place. Forget hot chocolate. 

Bonnie: Doesn't 

always happen, may on be on my list, but it may not always happen. 

Sara: Okay. 

Bonnie: other basic needs. You need to bring, if you have little kids and you still have one of those, uh, those little travel potties bring that you never know where The bathrooms are. for older kids, especially boys, I have two boys, there's these things called, um, PE bags.

And it's just like a plastic bag that you can pee in. If worst comes to worse, you know, like we're talking emergency here. 

AJ: I'm not a big snow guy. I don't have a lot of experience with this, but I, I used to do our fundraising where I would live in a crane in December, and it was very cold. And I learned that you could go to Dick's or afford to go to the camping section. And they have these little disposable pouches where once you open them up, they start getting warm and you put those in your, your gloves or your shoes.

And they actually, they're amazing. And you get a bag of them for not very much money.

Sara: You mean, you can put them in your oven, mitts or your tube socks. 

Bonnie: and something else you might not think about. I have blue eyes and they're very sensitive. My husband makes fun of me for it all the time. I'm always wearing sunglasses, the snow, you wouldn't think, but the snow can be pretty bright. So I always bring sunglasses to the. 

AJ: Okay. an exhaustive list, but you'll be glad you have all this stuff when you get there.

Bonnie: Yeah, you will be God bring some cash to, um, at, you might need it for some of the parking fees. If you'd go to some of the state parks or the county parks. So bring like $3, $5, bring a little bit of cash with you. 

Sara: I love it full on survival kit, right there. Snow survival kit for us Southern Californians.

AJ: A lot of things I wouldn't have thought of in that last, 

Sara: all right, so now we are ready for the snow. What's your first favorite?

Bonnie: Well, we're going to do this geographically. So we're going to go from the closest to the furthest. So the closest place that you can find snow. On a good day, driving his product 45 minutes away to call yamaka. And, uh, could you mock around she'll state park when it's snowing? There's probably going to be a lot more traffic.

So it's probably going to take you longer than 45 minutes. So maybe an hour depends on time of day and how many other people are going out there, but that's the closest place you can go to find snow from San Diego. 

AJ: I'll tell you what, if that was a jeopardy question? I would not have guessed that I would've figured Juul. I don't think it's so very rarely, but it wouldn't have thought to call you make.

Bonnie: Yeah. Yeah. it does snow out there yet. Julian is kind of the place where most people think to go when it snows. Oh let's go to Julian, but there's so many other places you can go. There is a few of these little mountain towns I'm going to go through. About five or six of them and all these will mountain towns.

You can go to the state parks, there's a county park. So there's not really a, like a ski resort at these places. It's just kind of a, a little mountain park that you can pull over. You can pull over legally on some of the sides of the road. Um, you can find small parking lots, but the best place to go to all of these little mountain towns I'm going to talk about is to go to the state park.

So the county parks go to the ranger of the visitors center. You do have to pay a fee, but they have bathrooms there. They have parking there. They have really well established trails there. So you're not going to, you know, stumble on some rocks or fall down into, you know, a ravine or something that sells, snowed

Sara: Oh my gosh.

Bonnie: So I would suggest going to the state parks visitors centers. When you go to these little mountains. Okay. So can we mocker Rancho state park or the visitor center? and here you're going to find lots of smaller parks as you go up there. Whatever you find, just kind of pull over. It's not too crowded or if it's too crowded, just keep driving and I'm sure you're going to find another little place to pull over and find your own little patch of snow up there.

If you go up to the lake, lake Cuyamaca, there's a sloping hill kind of by the Lakeside, and that might be a good place for some sledding. It's pretty wide flat open space with a little in-class. Um, I'm not sure you're going to be getting ups to some, some good speeds, but you know, it's going to be fun for the kids to kind of scoot down on their own. 

Sara: Maybe it's better. We're not experienced letters, you know, so maybe it's better if we don't pick up too much speed.

AJ: about my snow activity level. I'm not a skier, I'm not a snowboarder. Give me the disc that I can go down about a 20 feet foot slope. And I've had a good time snowball fight. We call it a day.

Bonnie: There you go. 

Sara: And I think the most amazing thing too, as San Diego, anytime you go, and there's like a sledding quote-unquote sledding involved, it's like at a, like on a beach floaty, we don't even have sleds. It's just like a pool, a pool floaty. 

Bonnie: So there's not really a lot of options here as far as if you want to spend the night or where to eat. so bring your food for this one gas up before you go. there's a little place in Descanso called Veronica's kitchen. You can eat that before you go out there. Alpine, our VA has outlet. Mall has some food options too, but as far as when you're actually in a Korean market area, there's not a lot of options for, for services. 

Sara: Okay.

Bonnie: So next, we're going to cruise out east, going to Mount like Guna. So Mount Laguna is towards the edge of the Cleveland national forest just before it turns into the desert. Um, it's just a little bit past pine valley, if you know where that is off the eight. Um, and so this is one of the places that actually gets the most snowfall in the county.

It's at about 6,000 feet in elevation. 

AJ: Bonnie, what should we be bookmarking as far as, how am I ever going to know if there's snow and mountain Laguna? I don't feel like they report that on our local TV newscasts or on my iPhone, whether cast.

Bonnie: Yeah.

this one, actually, if you go to, the Facebook page for it, the Laguna mountain lodge has snow up. And a lot of these other places, if you go to the website or the county park website of the state park website, they usually have a, um, a live cam that you can log into or they have a snow report. So you kind of have to go to these individual, places on their websites to find out specifically when it's. 

AJ: Well, that could be a good thing, right? Because the barrier to entry now is taking the time to do that and then to check these every day and not everyone's going to do that. So it gives you a leg up if you're just a little bit of aggressive about it.

Bonnie: That's true. If you're packed and ready to go. Yeah, you could be. So mountain Laguna, you actually need to buy a $5 it's called an adventure pass. So some of the parks in Cleveland national forest require you to have an adventure past $5 day pass. You can buy a $30 a year pass. Um,

and so you need that to kind of go into the park area and park anywhere in there.

So that's good to know. I'm not sure if they. If they check it or patrol it or how they do that, but that is something that's required when you, uh, when you go out there, you can buy it from the Guna mountain lodge or from the ranger station out there. 

AJ: All right. That's where your cash comes in again.

Bonnie: Exactly. Uh, there's also a visitor center there, the mountain Laguna, or sorry, the Laguna mountain visitors center. Um, there's some really cute, easy little nature trails from there. So if there's snowed in, you're going to be able to see the trails easier so you can stay on the trails and know where to go.

There's bathrooms there. There's picnic tables there. So that's kind of a good spot to go to the visitor center there in mountain. If you want to stay out there that Laguna mountain lodge is a place to go. There's also this little tiny house community out there that you wouldn't think of. It's called the tiny house block. Probably not ideal for families, but you know, maybe for couples, if you're looking for a little night getaway, you can stay at these really funky little tiny houses out. 

Sara: Oh, my gosh. I just realized. I just realized a friend posted about that. I think it was over the summer. Um, but I wondered where those tiny houses were. 

Bonnie: Yeah, mountain can know there's a little collection of them. Um,

it's just like this little tiny house village, I guess. And you can book the individual tiny houses. So if you want that experience, that might be kind of fun for a night before you get too cramped in there. 

Sara: Yeah, I think she did it with her daughter and her daughter got to choose a best friend to come along. So it was just the three of them. And I thought, what a cute little, you know, girls, girls night away in a tiny house. It's something that they'll remember for.

Bonnie: Yeah, that's.

AJ: Yeah, I'm actually looking at the lodge itself online right now. And it really looks like it's something out of a hallmark movie or whatever. It's just, it's exactly what you're probably picturing in your head. A cute little cozy lodge with a charming little general store. And that's the kind of place you would want to go to if you're going to do a, uh, you know, get away for the weekend and the style of really cute. 

Bonnie: Yeah, and up there where you're going to eat your want to go to the pine house cafe. It's been around since 1942. It's the cutest place. And it feels like you're in just like you said, just like a cozy log cabin. It's got a big stone fireplace. It's got polished wood. Beams inside it's the owners are so sweet.

The food is amazing. Um, so that's the plate. That's probably one of the only places to eat there, but that is a really good option to eat out there. 

Sara: Okay. 

Bonnie: Okay, so now we're going to cruise up to Julian. So Julian is kind of the place where most people think to go. And you guys did an episode recently about Julian. So that might be a good one to go back and listen to, um, maybe on your drive out there to see where to go, where to eat, but as far as where to go play in the snow, you actually have a lot of options out here.

There's a few, uh, parks. There's the just Martin park that William heist park, um, even going a little bit further north of Julian, about 25 minutes north to the Volkan mountain wilderness preserve. So those are all, some good options. They've got parking. A couple of those actually have playgrounds, um, which they have lots of wide open spaces to, uh, Have snowball fights to build snowman and make your snow angels right there.

So those are some good options. If you go to the just Martin park, which is the one closest to the downtown part of Julian, there's a really good hill behind the playground. That's really good for, um, tubing and sledding.

Sara: That's awesome. The great thing about Julian too, is if you head all the way out there and there isn't as much snow as you anticipated, you still get to go cruise around the town. So it's not a wasted day and you're not going to feel like you're out of luck. 

Bonnie: Exactly. And you can always get some pie. So that's always a win when you go to Julian. I will say though, when you go to Julian, because that's the place where most people think of to go and. Probably the most popular place. And a lot of people don't really take care of their things. For example, they leave broken bits of sleds laying around and it kind of gets trashed a few days after it snows.

So please be respectful. Take your things back. If you see any garbage or any other broken sled pieces that aren't yours. Pick them up and take them with you. Um, you know, you always want to leave a place better than when you found it. So 

Sara: Only your footprints in the snow. 

Bonnie: Exactly. if you want to stay in Julianne, there's a ton of, Airbnbs. So just find an Airbnb, you can find a cute little cabin or cottage there. There's a few lodges and BnBs in town might not be the best for kids, but, you know, there's, there's plenty of Airbnb. So, um, that's your option to stay out there. 

Sara: one of my favorite tips from our Julianne episode was, Eva said, oh, where's the best pie. Just find the place with the shortest line because they're all 

good. I was like, that's 

AJ: it's all good. 

Yeah. 

Bonnie: If you don't want to wait for the lines to, you can also go out to why NOLA and Santa Isabel. There's some pie companies out there that aren't as crowded and you still get the same pie. And you can get mom's pie, Julian pie company. Deadlies they're all out there. So you skip the line and it's probably on your way back home anyways. Okay. So now we're going to cruise on to Palomar mountain. So Palomar is about an hour a day. Ne you're going to go through valley center. and once you're going out to valley center, you're going to be on the 76 east. And then there's a little road that you're going to turn north on called south grade road.

This is a super windy twisty turny curvy road. So if you have motion sickness, this may not be the one for you, but it might also be a good option because there might not be as many people. 

Sara: This is the one that we did with my family. It was kind of at the height of COVID and the very beginning, when we were all struggling to find things to do that were outdoors, we went and we looked for snow at Palomar mountain and it was awesome. just, like you said with the first stop, Bonnie CUI, maca, you just kind of drive along. You might see a spot on the side of the road or a little parking lot. Pull over, check it out, go to the next one. Um, this is a really fun one for families. 

Bonnie: Yeah. that's a good one. Cause there are so many options. You're not all going to be. Cramped and crowded into one snow space because there's so many wide open spaces and, and things to go. So if you, if it's too crowded somewhere, it just keep going. You're going to find another place to go. A good place to go out here.

As the state park, there is a $10 entrance fee. Um, it does have a smaller parking lot, but there are bathrooms there's trails. so that's a good place to go, but make sure you fill out before you go out there. Cause there are no gas stations on the way. Something that's really cute out here too. Is this, little natural artesian spring water? Do you guys know about this or did you go there Sarah? When you went out there? 

Sara: No. 

Bonnie: So it's, you'll miss it. If you're not looking for it, it's just kind of east, there's a general store out there. It's just kind of east of the general store.

And it's this, old stone water fountain, but it's from a fresh spring there in Palomar. You can fill up your water bottle and it's literally just fresh water from the mountain. Yeah. 

Sara: Oh, I wish we saw that the kids would have thought that was so cool. 

Bonnie: So when you're out there, there is a, a place that you can stay and you should, if you're able to book one of these, it's called the Bailey's Palomar resort. It's over a hundred years old and they've owned the Baileys as a family. And they've owned this land since 18.

88. Um, they have since built some glamping, yurts they're fully furnished and heated. There's some really cool safari tents with bathrooms and kitchen. They have tiny cabins, they have regular cabins. There's also a hotel. So That would be just a super cool experience to spend the weekend out there.

AJ: That sounds like about my speed. Lots of options of places for me to stay probably all different price points. I love it. 

Bonnie: There's also the lodge on Palomar. It's kind of like a BNB. Um, but without the breakfast. So it's just the B just the bed, Um,

might not be the best place for families, but you know, again, it's an option. If you're, if you're going out there with, as you know, you and your spouse or something, that might be a good option to stay at the lodge on pallet. 

Sara: Another place with no food. 

AJ: you know, when I hear logic, I picture myself waking up two big stacks of pancakes and lumberjack breakfast. And I, I guess not you're on your own.

Sara: Sausage links

AJ: Yeah. Don't pack a lunch, man.

Bonnie: Got it. Bring your own, bring your own little, uh, one burner stove and some pancake mix. 

Sara: too cute. Using the natural spring water to make the pancake mix.

AJ: So natural.

Sara: Get the full experience. 

Bonnie: The best pancakes. 

Sara: These poor places are going to be listening to this episode, screaming like we have food. It's not like come out here and star. 

Bonnie: There is always food. Yes. There's always food on the way, or just keep diving and you'll, you'll find something. so if you want to stay somewhere else too, you can always head to Paula. There's the Harris resort. There's Pella casino resort. There's the Welk resort. So there's a lot of, kind of, uh, you know, more fancy options.

If lodges and BnBs are. Okay, so next we're going to go up a little further to Idlewild. So it's almost to Palm Springs. So you're going to go to the Mount. San has siento state park. permits are required. They're free. You can get a free day use permit from the ranger station. There's a bunch of hiking trails out there.

So this is another good place just for some snowball flights, making some snowmen. you might find a couple of little Hills or inclines for sledding, but it's probably just going to be more of the experience of walking in. A winter Wonderland per se, and having a snowball fight out there. 

It's the cutest. And there's actually so many good restaurants. You can even find sushi out there. There's a crepe place. There's um, Idlewild pizza company is really good for Telus pizzeria. There's Mexican. There's a ton of food options are not a well, 

Sara: the only place on our list so far where you won't start. 

Bonnie: So far, if you want to say, uh, the silver Pines lodge is a super cute place. It's like what your typical, what you think of when you think of a typical cozy lodge style, it's got the big fireplace, um, there's kitchenettes and most of the rooms, they have cabins. So this is a really cute little place, but there's also a ton of Airbnbs here. 

Sara: Tons of Airbnbs and rentals. When we went there a few years back, we stayed at just an adorable cabin and there were plenty to choose from there. They're so quaint. And those like everything that you would think of when you think of a cute little mountain town cat,

Bonnie: So we're going to now go to a place where you don't think it's no. But it actually does in Palm Springs. So you can take the Palm Springs, aerial tram and go up to the top. There's an adventure center up there. They even rent snow shoes. You can go cross country skiing up there. They have a really great restaurant up at the top.

So this is a really cool, definitely a unique, so Cal snow mountain experience. 

Sara: I had no idea that there was snow in Palm Springs. 

Is that a well-known thing? Ha did you know that.

AJ: I didn't know that. And my mom, uh, posts up at an RV park in Palm Springs for a couple of months out of the winter. I may have to go do a visit and check this out. Although you said, just go up the arrow tram, like it's not. A big ball of terror and death. I'm looking at this thing right now. 

Bonnie: Have you ever 

done? 

AJ: don't know.

I'm not a fan of Heights and this is not look, 

Bonnie: That's a good thing to mention. If you're afraid of Heights, this is not the place for you To go

AJ: yeah. 

Sara: To stay on the ground in one of those glamping tents that are heated and everything.

AJ: Yes

No, I did. I never heard of it. And I actually, my mom stays out in Palm desert for a part of the air part of the winter. She's out there right now. So this may be the one from this episode. I actually go check out. That sounds very cool.

Bonnie: Yeah, you should. It's really cool. The aerial tram is really cool. And then the restaurant at the top is a really good restaurant. They've got a lot of good hot dishes and you wouldn't think it, but they actually have a lot of good fish dishes, a lot of salmon. I mean, you wouldn't think of getting salmon at the top of the mountain. But they have a full-on 

Sara: Palm Springs. 

Bonnie: Exactly. 

Sara: That's a little hidden gem right there. I bet a lot of people don't know about that one.

Bonnie: Yeah. I almost didn't want to share it cause we're planning to go out there in January. So hopefully it's not too crowded. 

AJ: Oh, you overestimate the size of our audience. We're taking a flood Palm Springs. I mean, I wish, I think you're good.

Sara: Well, we don't know what happened. We can't even handle the influx of all in San Diego listeners. This is wild 

Bonnie: You never 

know. I don't know. So as far as where to stay here, there's, I mean, it's Palm Springs is right there, so you're just going to stay from any, any option. You can get an Airbnb house with your own private pool in the backyard. You can get a motel, a hotel, you can get a fancy resort. So you have tons of options right there in Palm Springs. 

Sara: Perfect.

Bonnie: Okay. so the next few places we're going to go, we're going to leave these cute little mountain towns, and we're going to go to the bigger resorts, the ski resorts that, uh, get lots of snow. There's. Uh, there's lots of skiing. There's lots of snowboarding. Um, you can take the, the gondolas up to the top of the mountain and ski down or board down, But. a lot of these places, uh, have more than just skiing and snowboard. 

So we're the first place we're going to go. That's the closest of these ski resorts is called mountain high in Wrightwood. Um, it's just north of Rancho Cucamonga. Um, it's it says it's the most visited resort in Southern California. I have not been there, but it sounds really cool. Um, there's a, uh, snow play area.

They have their it's called Yetis snow play. They've got two beams. Sledding. They've got a big field where kids can just have fun playing in the snow safely. you know, that's where you're going to make your snowmen and have your snowball fights.

Sara: No, that's cool. Cause when I think about places like that, like mountain high, I mean, living in Southern California, you always hear it. That's where all the skiers and snowboarders go. I didn't realize that they have. Like a play area for kids. I would have probably been intimidated to go somewhere like that.

Would've thought it was just for people who like rip, rip down on snowboards all day. 

Bonnie: Yeah. no, it's great. Yeah. I mean, it's good for the whole family. If you've got teams, you know, send them up to the slopes and little kids can go to the snow play area so that the snow play is only open for kids 36 inches tall and under. So it's really perfect for little kids because they're not going to be.

You know, bombarded or brushed passed by older kids running around, um, kids over 36 inches tall can go on the sledding hill. There's two bean. Uh, you can even ride the gondola up to the top and back down again. So, Um, and this one allows double tubing. So you can snow tube with the parents. um,

so some places only allows single snow tubes, but this is one where the parents and the kids can go to. 

AJ: I like it. It's like a dog park. There's a little kid section, the kid's section. Keep them separated.

Bonnie: A little puppies and the big dogs, Um, for this one, it's good to know that tickets are required for everyone on the snow. So you can't just show up and walk around and get the experience. So if you're going to go there and step foot on the snow, you do have to buy it to get so a lot of these ski resorts have a lot of food options, a lot of lodging options. So, um, you know, you're, you're not going to starve up here. 

so the next we're going to go to running Springs and this is probably another one that a lot of people don't know about, or you've never heard about. It's just about 30 minutes west of big bear. Um, and they actually have a designated snow tubing park. It's called snowdrift snow tubing park. It's so Cal's largest and oldest snow tubing park. Um,

so this is a really good one to go. If you just want to do snow. 

Sara: Never heard of that place either. This is awesome.

AJ: And I'm into it. 

Bonnie: Um, so if you do want to go skiing out here, there is about five minutes down the road. They do have a ski mountain it's called snow valley mountain resort. So it's just a few minutes east of this snowdrift snow tubing park. So you can drop the older kids off. You can drop the skiers, the boarders off at the snow valley mountain resort.

And then you can take the little kids down to this. No tubing. 

It's lots of restaurants out here, lots of Airbnbs. Um, you can either go to lake Arrowhead, which is to the west, or you can stay in big bear to the east, but there's also a couple of little neighborhoods down there, um, that you can stay at too. Uh, there's a place called green valley.

There's a place called running spring. So if you just look at those on your Airbnb map and you'll find a ton of houses to rent there too. So you don't have to actually stay in big bear or like Arrowhead. So it's a smaller, probably a quieter neighborhood to stay in. 

Sara: That might be cool too. If you always stay in big bear or you always stay in Arrowhead, it might be fun to explore a different different.

Bonnie: Yeah, totally. And you're still right there too. So if you want to go to those certain places or restaurants in big bear, you still can because you're 30 minutes. All right. So our final stop on our so Cal uh, mountain towns, we're going to go to big bear. This is the one that's probably the most popular.

Everybody has probably been there at least once or twice, or maybe you go there every year for skiing. Um, they have a snow tubing park there it's at the top of snow summit is called the. Grizzly Ridge to park. And this is one where they've got these high speed tubing lanes. They have three of them and, uh, you just kind of shoot down these, uh, these inclined snow tubing lanes all the way down to the bottom. So it's not just like you're climbing up the mountain on your own. You actually ride this little magic carpet up to the top again in your tube. And you use your lane and you just zipped it. 

AJ: So it sounds almost like a really good water slide 

Bonnie: Yeah, like

a frozen water side.

Sara: They're like, we're going to help you make zero efforts. We're going to take you up on a magic carpet. You're just going to zip down. That sounds perfect. 

Bonnie: Yeah, they make it really easy. Um, you do have, when you, you have to book your time slot at a time and so you get an hour and a half time slot and you can tube down as many times as you want in your hour and a half times. 

 So as far as where to stay, you know, big bear, there's a ton of places. There's hotels, there's motels, there's lodges, Airbnbs. There's lots of food nearby. So, um, you know, there's, there's a lot of options there. Oh, one thing, uh, Asia, you're talking about speakeasies, there's actually a speakeasy there. In big bear.

Um, it's right at the bottom of chair two. And it's an outdoor speakeasy tucked in right along the side of the slope. 

AJ: Wow. 

Sara: so you finished skiing and you just, you make your way into the speakeasy. 

Bonnie: exactly. Yeah. Go have a drink. Kick your feet up. Watch the, watch everyone coming down the middle. 

Sara: Oh, my gosh. I love that. Cause I don't ski, but my husband does. I'll send the kids to ski school. He'll go skiing and I'll just be like disappear into the speakeasy for an afternoon. 

Bonnie: That sounds perfect. You mentioned the good thing too. A lot of these ski resorts actually have kids programs, so you can send your kid up for a half day or a full day of lesson. And then you go to the speakeasy or you take some runs down yourself. So, um, you know, these big scaries are, it's had a lot for everyone. 

AJ: All right. Check their websites for the details on those. Wow. I started this episode by saying I have no idea where the snow is now. I have lots of ideas, lots of options, depending on what level activity you want, what kind of food options you want, how far you want to drive. Remember? Bonnie said, you need to find these places individually on Facebook or on their websites.

So, you know, the best time to jump in the car and head out to them. It's part of the secret is timing it out with the snow is good, but once you've, uh, once you do that and packed your car, you can be good to go. 

Bonnie: Yeah, so that the timeframes for snow here is really December through March. So, Um,

that those are the times when you want to be, be tuned in to those websites and Facebook pages. And when you hear about rain or snow forecasted, Um,

pick one of these places, you want to go check out their, their live cams and see if it's snowing or what the snow reports are.

And. 

AJ: Well body where to end this episode with a congratulations, because I can officially tell you now that your Balbo park episode was the most listened to episode of 20 20, 1 of all in San Diego. Yes. And I imagine this will be a front runner for 2020 twos, uh, most listened to because you're awesome. And that's why everyone should be following you on Instagram at fam Diego, the adventure.

She goes, you hear how prepared she is for everything. My gosh, this is the person you need to be following. If you want to take your family anywhere. You don't follow her. You're going to end up out of the desert. No hot chocolate, no mittens going to be a freaking nightmare from your car. It's a complete shit show.

Follow her. And you'll, you'll be happy to it's at fam Diego. That's at fam Diego fighter. They're on Instagram. She does house with the best info for your family, uh, adventures in dining, et cetera. And she's awesome, Bonnie. Thanks for taking 

Bonnie: you guys so much. It's always so fun to see you guys. 

AJ: Thanks for joining us for another episode, you know, we're into a new year and we got so many great, awesome kind reviews in 2021. And we really appreciate those.

Sara: We could use some really kind awesome reviews in 2022. How about you be the first. 

AJ: That's right. We're looking for our first reviews of the year. Just go to the podcast app. If you're on an iPhone or if you're on your computer, go to iTunes, they let you leave a nice little review. It only takes a second. and we'll appreciate it a lot because it does make a big difference for the podcast.

Sara: Yeah, we want to keep doing all in San Diego and that's the best way to get the word out about what we're doing here. And we'd really appreciate it. Thanks guys.