2020 Big Bear Trip

We decided to head to Big bear for a few days. Trying to take advantage of David working from home and decided to go during the week.

At this point in the pandemic everything was shut down again for two weeks. Since there wasn't a lot open, I felt one of the most important things was to try to find an airbnb that had toddler friendly rooms and activities. I found the Huckleberry Cabin. It was perfect. It had a kids room with bunkbeds, a play kitchen and a box full of toys for entertainment. We never felt bored in the house. It wasn't right in Big Bear but honestly it was better. Big bear was so congested with tourist we couldn't wait to go back to our peaceful little Airbnb in Green Valley lake, and Big Bear was only a 20 min drive and a 20 min drive to Santas Village.

Unfortunately there wasn't any snow when we got there. But Leo still got to see snow when we went snow tubing. First we tried a place in Big bear called Snow Play. It was so disappointing. It was so packed, no direction from the employees on where to go, employees yelling at everyone, and just not a kid friendly crowd. Will prob never go back again. The only positive was a fun ride down.. after waiting 30 min in a disorganized line.

The next day we tried a smaller snow tubing location (Snowdrift) closer to our airbnb and less crowded. We had so much fun. No crazy lines or crowds. We got to go up and down as many time as we wanted. There was a 2 hour limit ( unless you pay more) but 2 hours was plenty of time. It was my first time snow tubing as well! I was scared at first. Our fearless 2 year old was NOT scared and wanted to go the big hill all by himself.

The next day we went to Santa's Village. This place so cute and perfect for toddlers. I don't think I would recommend for older kids (8+) The restaurants weren't open but we got to go into the candy shop and a cafe for hot cocoa. We saw a magic show with a magician named Wacco. Leo thought it was blippi's brother and became obsessed. We got to go on a short train ride and saw Santa. We got there right as they opened and got to see Santa right away without a reservation. Santa may have been wearing a face shield, but he was still my favorite Santa we've seen so far. Hopefully next year we'll be able to enjoy the restaurants too!