A Weekend in Big Bear

So this weekend my wife and I escaped off to Big Bear. I did some research and found a cute little Bed & Breakfast called the Knickerbocker Mansion. Not only is it a B&B, but it also has its own bistro that serves quite the wonderful upscale dinners on Saturday nights (Friday nights is casual dining). You can read more about it at their website, but I highly recommend it. Two cute little details - they had two home-made mint truffles for us waiting on our bed when we arrived (which were delicious), and there was a cute rubber ducky waiting on the edge of our shower/tub.

While we were there, we went on an off-roading tour which made any ride at a theme park feel like childs play. We were told it was an "educational tour" and not an "e-ticket ride." Well it was more like a Z-ticket ride, but we spoke with the owner of the company and he made things right, so we will try them again, albeit with a different driver.

We also went to our first Ocktober Fest. While we did not ourselves participate in the Chicken Dance, or any of the other traditional dances the event is known for, both my wife and I did have one German beer a piece and that was plenty. It was actually a lot of fun and everybody was having a good time even before they got intoxicated.

Two other places we ate that I highly recommend if you want good food in Big Bear are Get the Burger and The Mandoline. Fantastic! If you are a fan of In & Out, you will LOVE Get the Burger. Just be sure to order it "Raccoon Style," which means they put a special spicy sauce in the beef patty and they carmelize the onions. The other place we went - where we actually had dinner one day and lunch a couple days later was The Mandoline. Fantastic food. Fantastic desserts. I wish this place was in Orange County and not all the way in Big Bear. You can see the menu for both Get the Burger and The Mandoline here.

All-in-all, a wonderful trip. Now we need to go back after the snow has fallen and we can do some serious snowboarding and skiing!