Labor Day Weekend. Some consider this the grand finale of their summer. Good.
Little does the world who visits southern California know, the weather actually gets “summertime good” in September and October, right when the vacationers all go home.
I went into negative PTO at my new job and took Friday off, to turn this into a 4-day weekend. Great, because Mia rented a cabin in Big Bear. We pictured cooling off from the hot sun in the chilly, clean lake water and going on comfortable hikes in shaded forests and cooking big meals (something difficult on the boat). Well we knew that picture wasn’t happening as soon as the Flash Flood Warnings were stretched past the weekday into our weekend. No big deal, we made the best of it. On the drive up the A/C in my truck wouldn’t work – so it was holiday traffic through the worst parts (south and east) of Los Angeles, about 96 degrees out, with the sun broiling the freeway pavement and us while we were soaking my cloth seats with sweat and breathing in exhaust.
Fortunately about an hour later it was pouring that flash flood rain on us, as we weaved up and through the a seemingly empty mountain village and crisp mountain air. Nice transition.
Little driveways, big dinners, big breakfasts, foosball matches, chilling out near the fireplace, and feeling very disconnected from the usual holiday congestion that was going on down at the beaches, this was perfect. Saturday’s weather kept us inside. On Sunday we walked through the neighborhood about a mile to the Big Bear Zoo – which was humorously small, but also kind of awesome to see bears and wolves, foxes, bobcats and eagles up close. As much as we wanted to get on the lake, it just wasn’t very hot. Also I didn’t want to rent a tin fishing boat, a 13-person pontoon, or a jetski at $250 per person rate. I wanted to rent a 14-18’ sailboat- I check every marina website and made some calls that confirmed, “Nobody rents sailboats on the lake”. I really wanted to go sailing!
On Monday the weather was beautiful in Big Bear and we were back in the auto-heated truck and down the mountain into Los Angeles again. All we wanted was to jump in the water to cool off. We got back to A Cenoura around 1:30 and Mia went to get ice and snacks while I prepared the boat for some sailing. Off we were Bluff Cove, we looked like pro’s as we sailed upwind, dropped the sails and the anchor and we locked in without ever turning on the motor. Then we sailed off the anchor, too, but the lack of wind in the afternoon meant having to motor back anyways to make it to the dock before dark.
Not bad – we escaped the heat, relaxed for a few days, and did go sailing afterall.