Lake Arrowhead, land of the Yes on 8

This past weekend Team Johnson headed up into the San Bernadino mountains and made our first visit to Lake Arrowhead. I had no idea a place like this existed so close to Los Angeles. It took us about 2 and a half hours to make it out of LA traffic and up the mountain. The road we took up the mountain is actually build on the side of the mountain and winds up the road like a thin ribbon wrapped around a massive wedding cake. Even through the smog, fog, haze and marine layer you could see what looked like eternity or at least a lot of southern Cali. The trek up the mountain on Rim of the World drive reminded me of Cathy, Heidi and I's dangerous pilgrimage into, up and down and all the way around the mountains of New Zealand. Truth be told, I got sick on the way home. But it was a great weekend. We had won a weekend in a cabin at a silent auction, one of our favorite things...not cabins, but silent auctions. My dad and Doreen met us and stayed in the loft and Jonathan and Jenn drove up too and stayed on the pull out in the living room. There was an old fireplace and an antique lock that Jonathan teaed dad was the same brand as the one him and McCain cracked in WW II. The shower was more like a power hose in a creepy closet, but the air smelled like pine and there were gray squirrels everywhere...not in the shower but outside. I saw a few Blue Jays and one tiny chipmunk. We spent most of our time in the village where we saw a lot of McCain bumper stickers and overheard a lot of stuff that would get your told off in LA - some racist stuff, some redneck stuff and some gays are going to hell stuff. But the lake was beautiful and the ducks made the kids smile. We ate at the same two restaurants both days. The waffle house for breakfast (the 2nd day we were swarmed by bees) and Woody's Land of overpriced cafeteria food. We walked around the shops, Noah got her ears pierced and we drank specially brewed ice teas. Noah and Isaiah shared a decaff blueberry Roobios. Isaiah drank most of it. The second day a baby bear was in a big cage with a woman who looked like she was going to be malled at any minute. The bear kept biting her arms and she pretended not to notice the blood trickling down the finger tips. I went for a hike with Jenn and Jon around Gregory Lake and was informed by Jonathan that the leaves turn colors because the sap pulls back into the tree - thank God for Blackberries.