A little over a month ago, some of my best friends and I took a weekend trip to Big Bear to celebrate our friend Michelle’s birthday. Looking back, this was sort of a “last hurrah” with friends before we entered our current era of social distancing, which we didn’t know at the time. I’m glad we didn’t, because the whole weekend felt so carefree, relaxing, and fun. It’s sweet looking back and remembering the quality time I got with friends right before having to be (physically) away from them for a long time.
Michelle planned this whole weekend for us and treated us to a stay in an adorable Airbnb cabin. It ended up being so cozy and perfect for our group of 4 people. Michelle is a major dog lover, and although no dogs came on the trip with us, part of the weekend’s activities included a visit to a wolf sanctuary where we met wolves and wolf-dog mixes. More on that later! First, here’s a recap of the weekend leading up to that point:
We left town on Friday evening, and Michelle had rented a huge SUV to drive all of us plus our stuff up to the mountains. It was a game-changer, since otherwise there’s no way 4 ladies and all of our bags and coolers etc. etc. could have fit in one of our small cars. On the way up, we stopped at a Mexican place in Rancho Cucamonga (en route to Big Bear) where I ordered the snack-within-a-drink pictured above. It was such a fun stop!
It was dark by the time we made it up to the cabin, and we were all thrilled to get cozy, enjoy some hot tub time, watch Michelle open her presents, and have a wine and movie night. Classic girls’ weekend stuff :)
A cozy twin room where my friend Tina and I slept!
I just LOVE the look of an A-frame cabin. Michelle picked a good one.
The next morning, Michelle made us her famous shakshuka egg bake for breakfast, which we all “wolfed” down (lol) before we got ready to go meet our new friends at the wolf sanctuary!
The wolf sanctuary (called Wolf Mountain) is … very hard to describe in words. I really don’t think I can do it, or the people who run it, justice, and it’s something you have to experience for yourself. Haha! It was a truly wild experience. I kind of felt like I was intruding on a human-wolf hybrid pack. But I learned a lot about the kinds of wolves (which are often mixed-breeds with dogs like German Shepherds) that end up an a sanctuary, and what it’s like to feed and take care of them.
During the first part of the tour, we got to walk around to see the different enclosures where they keep wolves, and Michelle brought some carrots to feed them.
I should back up and say that the sanctuary is very strict about what you can and can’t bring in to meet the wolves - i.e., no scarves, loose items in your pockets, or anything else they might be interested in (though carrots and raw meat are okay. We only brought the former). It kind of makes you wonder what the wolves would do if you didn’t follow those rules, but they seemed chill when we met them! After seeing some of the wolves in their enclosures, we got to meet a couple of them up close. They didn’t really explain why these wolves are okay to meet people, and others aren’t, but I assume it’s because of how acclimated they are to humans.
It was an unforgettable experience and something my friends and I still talk about.
Next, we drove back into town and were all hungry so we got a late lunch at Jasper’s, which was amazing. Think homestyle/southern cooking, huge portions, and very friendly small-town service. I miss eating in restaurants right about now :(
After lunch, we returned to the house and settled in for a super sweet evening of girl time.
Other than this little porch photoshoot we did, I don’t have a ton of photos from this night because we were just chilling out, drinking wine, doing Tarot readings, watching Love Island, playing Clue, and eating a delicious birthday cake.
I also made a cheese board for the group that I was pretty proud of.
And that’s all the photos I have! On Sunday, our last morning, we ate brunch at the Teddy Bear restaurant, which served one of the best tuna melts I’ve ever had. Also, I can’t believe I forgot to get a photo of it, but it actually snowed a LOT on our last morning! It was so fun and magical, although it did make getting back down the mountain a bit hairy. I was very thankful Michelle had rented a huge car with four-wheel drive.
I now cherish this weekend even more because I miss these friends dearly. We have pretty regular videochat happy hours, but of course it’s not the same. Until the time we can all be reunited, I’ll be reminiscing on this weekend and these photos. Thank you Michelle!