There seems to be a by-law in Big Bear that there must be one carved wooden bear for at least every other house. (This guy was one of my favorites.)
The place we stayed was no exception, with this waving bear on the back deck. The hubs got a high-five, while I got a punch in the face. Nice.
We hiked every day, and the weather was pretty perfect.
Rita was a total trooper! She charged up the hills and along the trails!
We were rewarded with a beautiful view the day we hiked up to where the trail met up with the Pacific Crest Trail (which runs all the way from the border of Mexico to the border of Canada).
There were lots of pretty wild flowers!
We gave some hitch-hikers a ride. (There were THOUSANDS of lady bugs cruising around. I've never seen anything like it!)
Pretty sure Rita's fave thing about the trip was all the "dunking". Every day after our hike, she'd go for a dunk in the lake, or play a bit of fetch. (She doesn't like to swim, but LOVES to dunk.)
Lest you think we were on-the-go all the time... there was also a bit of this:
We also did a lot of reading and relaxing, and we enjoyed some beautiful sunsets!
All in all, our familial unit had a lovely time on our getaway.
By the end of it all, Rita was exhausted!
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| (Actually, the funny thing about this pic is that it's from day one!) |
Do you have a vacation planned with your pet any time soon?
(How about without the pet?)
Thanks to BlogPaws for hosting Wordless Wednesday! Stop by their site to check out all of the other blogs in the hop.
That looks like a fabulous trip. You are so good about getting away for healthy outdoor time! We've got nothing special planned yet. Ho-hum, we are so boring!
ReplyDeleteWe do love to have a getaway to look forward to! :) The hubs especially, cuz his job stresses him out so much - he needs a break every now and then, so we shoot for once/quarter.
DeleteThat is a beautiful location and sounds like a great place to visit. I'm glad Rita got used to the stairs quickly and I don't know who looks like they had more fun - you guys or Rita. Those bears are adorable!
ReplyDeleteBoy, I'm not sure either... Rita can be a "stop and sniff" girl when we're here walking at home, but, man, she loved that hiking. We kept saying "she's setting a furious pace." She was charging along! (Which was great on the uphills since she helped pull me up.) :)
DeleteThat looks wonderful. Hiking and swimming, perfect way to spend the day.
ReplyDeleteRita wishes she could "dunk" every time we go for a walk! Unfortunately... for most walks that means trying to dunk in a puddle on the street. :)
DeleteThat sounds like my kind of vacation! So glad you had good weather.
ReplyDeleteThis is our favorite kind of vacation - hike in the a.m., come home and nap/read in the afternoon, have a cocktail and watch the sunset in the evening. :) And the weather was awesome! Nice during the day, and then cool at night so we could sleep good.
DeleteGreat photos of your getaway! So glad Rita got to go along.
ReplyDeleteWish she could go along on our next trip! (Still stressing about that....)
DeleteWe were hoping to do some camping this summer but we are afraid that Mr Bailey is not up to it
ReplyDeletehugs
Mr Bailey, Hazel & Mabel
Oh, I'm sorry to hear that!
DeleteThat sounds like the perfect getaway, with a little bit of everything! My trip to Blogpaws was my vacation for the year. The dogs and Dad prefer to stay home!
ReplyDeleteThat's nice that you got to go to BP! Looked like a good time.
DeleteHi Rita we just had a "vacation" in Myrtle Beach wish you were there. Looks like a super time you had! Love Dolly
ReplyDeletePeeS: We've got a carved tree in our dog park good thing it's not a bear!
DeleteI've never been to Myrtle Beach - sure looks pretty there.
DeleteOoo, a carved tree?? I bet that's a hit with the pups for leaving pee-mail!
now I totally long to go there! Great story in pictures! I've always wanted one of those bears. They cost so much though
ReplyDeleteOne house had a MASSIVE one. I mean - like 2 stories tall. I can't even imagine what that one must have cost!
DeleteAnd it was standing and roaring - it was actually kinda terrifying.... :)
DeleteLooks like an awesome little getaway!
ReplyDeleteIt was! I'm sure we'll go again some time.
DeleteWhat a lovely spot!
ReplyDeleteThe bears make me think of Marineland, FL where we kept seeing manatee mailbox holders and sculptures. :)
Hmmm. Manatee sculptures. I'm assuming there's less variety in the manatee "stances" than there was with the bears.
DeleteOMG, I lived in Big Bear *MANY* years ago. There were two bears facing each other at the city gates and the HS kids used to dress them as a prank.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it. And thanks for the memories!
No way! Lived there?! That's wild. :)
DeleteOMGosh, that sunset is spectacular! So was "a bit of this." Looks like everyone had a pawsome good time. 🍹
ReplyDeleteThere were a couple of good ones, but that sunset was the best one.
DeleteThere were also a coupla good cocktails. :) Those 2 were the best.
I was reading really fast, and I thought this sentence said, "Our rental house had 3 levels, so there were lots of BEARS." hahahaha
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos! Looks like it was a fabulous trip!!
Hahaha. That would have been interesting... (Only 1 bear at the house!)
DeleteYou took some great pictures of your getaway. Those carved bears are so neat! Good thing they're carved and not real. ;)
ReplyDeleteYes, especially since there was one that was HUGE and growling. It was actually kinda scary... Not sure what that says about the home owner that that was the bear they picked. :)
DeleteI love that final photo of Rita! Looks like a wonderful trip. We will be taking Ruby on a trip to South Dakota this summer with us. She's never been east, but never west!
ReplyDeleteWe (well, me and my siblings - not me and the hubs) went to So D last year. It was a good trip - but Rita didn't come along. That would have been crazy since we saw a LOT of prairie dogs!
DeleteWhat a perfect vacation! I absolutely adore lady bugs and I would have been in heaven to see such a swarm. I wonder if that was an unusual thing, or if it happens often in that particular area!
ReplyDeleteJean from Welcome to the Menagerie
I need to google that and see if that was a normal thing or what. I'd never seen/hear of anything like it! 1000s of them!!
DeleteLooks like you all had a fantastic time. I have some friends in Lake Arrowhead (it's close to Big Bear) and they have a carved deer in their front yard. It survived the big fire a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteThe fire situation is scary in those areas. But we'd like to check out Arrowhead next time.
Deletehello pooch smooches its dennis the vizsla dog hay that luks like a nice playse to git away too it reeminds me of how tucker and trixie yoozed to deskribe the mithikal land of noo york with trees and layks and stuf!!! it luks like rita had a fine time too eeven if yoo did almost git eeten by lady bugs!!! ok bye
ReplyDeleteOoo, upstate New York? I've always wanted to go to the Finger Lakes region there. Some day!
DeleteIt sounds like a wonderful getaway. I'm impressed with Rita on those stairs. Our trip would have been all over right there - no way would Shyla climb those stairs, much less three flights of them!
ReplyDeleteI was amazed at how brave Rita was on the stairs. The stairs in the house were also open like that, and she had to climb up to the loft every night with us to go to bed. She's really come a long way! (And I realized... there were actually 4 flights of stairs, cuz the house had the game room, the main floor and the loft, plus there was another flight of stairs to actually get down to the lake.) And it blew me away when she went out on the dock in the dark one night. She was super brave on this trip!
DeleteLooks like a great get-away place. Hope you had a blast.
ReplyDeleteGosh Big Bear Lake looks amazing!!
ReplyDeleteSo many fun places to go and explore and the photos are just excellent!
Lots of licks, your new friend Morrie :)