Top of the World

Today was still a little cloudy and cool for the beach or the pool here, so we decided to go exploring.
First we drove to Skyforest, CA just past Hortensia's Mexican Cafe where we ate last night.
There is an arboretum at a place called Heap's Peak, where we saw lots of local trees and flowers. They have a grove of Sequoia trees

that is just 85 years old, but grows almost as tall as the redwoods we saw near San Francisco. We had some nice vistas as we walked the mile or so loop through the mountainside trail.

Too bad you aren't allowed to play in the snow.

Next we drove on to Running Springs, where a little town is situated. There ar a lot of thrift type stores there, and also a woodworkers store where custom wood furniture is made.

What's wrong with this pool table he's trying to sell (besides the $14,000 price tag?)

We ate at the Old Country Coffee Shop, which has the most extensive menu I've ever seen at a coffee shop, We made good choices, and left well fed and ready for more adventures.

Next we moved further east on CA Hwy 18, through Arrowbear (the name comes from being halfway between Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake). There is a well-known summer music camp there, although we didn't see it on the main road.

We were climbing the entire time, and passed the 6,000 feet altitude along this road.

We kept going up past to 7,000 feet and eventually reached 7,112 feet, just shy of a mile and a half above sea level! The views from the "Rim of the World" Highway were cloudy (we were actually above the clouds at times) but incredible.

Finally we reached the snow skiing areas near Big Bear Lake,

which is another in the string of man-made lakes in these mountains. It is at an even lower water level (about 10 feet below full) than Lake Arrowhead.

Tourism seems to be suffering, with many businesses closed and for sale, along with about 1/3 of the private homes and lots.
We found some shops that were open and played with the many bear decorations and sculptures displayed in town. These people are into their bears!

Sam liked this old and tiny car,

and I liked the brewery!

We walked through town to the lake and saw the effect of the low water level up close.

By the time we started back, after loading up on ice cream and souvenirs, the clouds had lifted and we had beautiful views of the lake,

mountains and valleys.
We stopped on the way and hiked up to some rock formations Sarah and Sam thought looked interesting.

A little farther back we had the clearest view yet of the mountains and valleys.

I shot a panorama too.

We made it home without a single bear sighting

but there's always tomorrow, our last day here. Who knows?