For Sofia's 3rd birthday we decided to head to the mountain and have some family fun in the snow! She hadn't been in over a year so she barley remembered, and it was Beckham's first time, so we were all very excited.
We got a gorgeous wooden cabin by the lake with amazing views and just waking up there, surrounded by snow, the sound of nature, fresh crisp air and a cozy fireplace, it was magical.
We woke up early, saw the sunrise, cooked breakfast... our mornings were slow, lazy, and perfect. After breakfast we walked over to The Tea & Coffee Exchange a super cute local coffee shop, our way to support local businesses since we cooked the majority of our food. And it was an awesome morning walk with the double stroller.
On Saturday we went to Alpine Slide, a recreation area for the whole family with:
The world-famous Alpine slide where you take a chairlift ride to the top and from there, you navigate your own individually controlled sleds down.
Snow Play & Tubing; there’s a very big hill and it’s so fun, they also have a magic carpet so getting to the top of the hill is easy, and covered in plexiglass. They also offer night slides on some days so make sure you check out the availability, def worth it!
Go-karts it includes four double-perfectionist for parents & the minis, they have 5.5 horsepower Honda motors and an assortment of safety features that include professional safety restraints.
Mineshaft Coaster, a thrilling mountain coaster that takes you through the mountain scenery up and then you control the speed down a mile long track! Features such as steep descents, dips, twists, hairpin turns, tunnels and 360-degree corkscrews! The first and only mountain coaster in California!
Soaring Eagle, takes riders up backwards 100 feet vertical and 500 feet long to the launch tower before you are catapulted forward at speeds up to 28 mph back to the base!
Note that kids have to be 36 inches to ride ANYTHING so if you have smaller kids know they won’t be able to get in any of the activities, not even tubing. So if you have a baby like me, just know that of course one adult will always have to wait outside.
In the summer, everything is open and instead of tubing there is a cool water slide.
IT GETS BUSY!!!! If you go on a weekend like us and don't want to wait in line for hours (not exaggerating) do this: go BEFORE they open, stand in line for a few minutes so you are the first one there. Have one of you stand in line for the Snow Play + another of you stand in line for the Mineshaft Coaster. When you get to the ticket purchase, each of you will need to sign a waver too (the waver works for all the park), but then one of you can buy tickets for the coaster and the other for the snow play and alpine slide (both lines get hours of wait later in the day). The go kart & golf ticket line never gets too crowded so you can add that later.
They have also implemented new cleaning and disinfecting procedures as well as social distancing practices and require face masks for adults.
On Sunday after our walk, we went down to the lake (if your cabin is not lake-front I still recommend you going) saw some beautiful animals and it was so peaceful and beautiful. After, we went to a different tubing fun play area, the Grizzly Ridge Tube Park, we had pre-purchased tickets so please do the same as it gets sold-out due to reduced operating capacities. I recommend you purchasing a parking ticket too if you don't want to walk long with kids.
PS. If you are thinking on skiing, due to Covid you also have to book your tickets in advanced, so make sure you do here since they are limited as well. And yes you can of course also put your kids in ski lessons too.
At 4-5pm it got dark so we were back in the cabin, took bubble baths, put the fire place on, cooked dinner and watched a movie! One night, we ordered from Oakside Restaurant which was delicious, just make sure to order ahead because they take a bit when busy.
We had SO much fun that we decided to go back two weeks later after a big snowstorm! Look how much more snow there was, definitely drive safe and prepared: 4wd and/or chains required. This second time, we stayed at a different cabin and it actually felt like we were somewhere else! This cabin had a game room with ping pong, pool table & foosball. So fun. And a big fireplace and living area, so cozy and cute too. And we ended up repeating all the activities because it was just SO fun. Plus, we added sledding and off roading!
But there's much more to do in BB like:
Big Bear Funplex with indoor rides (40679 Big Bear Blvd)
Alpine Zoo (43285 Goldmine Dr)
Historical Museum (Greenway Dr)
San Bernadino National Forrest (602 S Tippecanoe Ave)
Bowling Barn (40625 Lakeview Dr)
Zipline Tours (4169 Big Bear Blvd)
And cayak, boats and canoes in the lake in the summer!