Zannee’s Blog at BargainsLA.com

This Mothers Day Weekend hubby and I finally got away for some R & R We settled on Big Bear Lake and a comfortable B & B called the Switzerland Haus.

Located right at the foot of Snow Summit, we knew it would be quiet since there was no skiing going on. Price packages for a weekend getaways were very fair at $269 for two nights, including $40 dinner gift card at Peppercorns and two rather fabulous breakfasts. We had a lovely large room complete with king sleigh bed with canopy, TV, balcony and a private bath.

For daytime entertainment, we opted to go off road into Holcomb Valley for a couple of days.  During the 1860s, Holcomb Valley was the richest gold mining area of Southern California supporting some 10,000 residents. Belleville the largest town in Holcomb Valley almost overtook San Bernardino as the county seat.

We have a 4WD Subaru Forester and cruised around the back area investigating points of interest, picnicking etc. On the second day we picked up a pamphlet at the Discovery Ranger station which gave us all the info for a self guided tour through the area with locations of old mining shafts and equipment, cabin remains, saloons, and more were visited and we got plenty of hiking in as we investigated the area.

The last few miles of the road were very rough with boulders, large rocks, gullys and streams, narrow rocky roads with steep drop offs and hair pin turns. Our little Subaru did just fine!

We did get a big surprise when we ran into 2 dozen Toyota off road vehicles blocking our route. In the middle of nowhere they came spilling down off the mountain on to our rocky path from what looked like a washed out road. The surprised looks on their faces when they saw us in our little Subaru was funny enough but when they caused a traffic jam, we started laughing out load. Of course we didn’t know a convention of Toyota Trail Teams was in town.

As we made our way back to town we saw several caravans of Toyota FJ Cruisers heading back up the mountain. Also on mountain down route was the remains of Lucky Baldwin’s Gold Mine. Though we stopped to look, the die hard off Roaders didn’t.

We had two outstanding meals. One at Madlon’s in Big Bear City. Their Frisee Salad with candied walnuts, grapes, strawberries was scrumptidilicious as was their cinnamon rolls. Our dinner at Peppercorns in Big Bear Village was superb and I highly recommend the warm Spinach Salad with seared Ahi Tuna. Hubby had their Roast pork tenderloin with Dijon cream sauce and garlic potatoes. OMG… both were killer! Their wine list is excellent too. We walked the district and goofed around in the local stores and then slept very soundly in our quiet mountain retreat.

On our way back into town we stopped in Yucaipa to visit the dozens of antique stores that used to be there. Bad economic times have seen most of these close up. One store, Sandlin’s Antiques had their prices marked down super low at wholesale or less (40%-60% off) on everything from Victorian and Federal to Arts and Crafts home furnishings. If you are into antiques, I’d go before they are all gone. (31491 Outer Highway 10, Redlands, CA 92373, 909. 794.4311. Off the 10 Fwy at Yucaipa Blvd.)