BIG BEAR and VAMPIRE WEEKEND SHOW

So here is how this whole trip all began....

Monday morning was a typical morning, driving to work around 8:30am and listening to Kevin and Bean on KROQ like always. It just so happened that Ralph Garmin, who does the showbiz beat, mentioned something about a give-away for 4 free lift tickets to Big Bear and a free Vampire Weekend show.  All you have to do is listen for A-Punk by VW and call in and win.

So, my day proceeds without much excitement and around lunch time I headed over to my storage unit to pick up some boxes.  When I got back in the car, guess what came on the radio?  Yes, APUNK.  So I was like, what the heck, I'll call.  I picked up my phone and dialed 1800-820-1067.  I mis-dialed: the actual # is 1800-520-1067, so I tried again and it RANG! I stayed on the phone for what seemed like forever and just when I was about to hang up, a guy answered.

"Hello"

"Hi, Im calling for the lift tickets."

"Have you ever won anything on the radio?"

"No"

"Well you're caller 4!"

"Oh" I said in a really sad voice.  I thought I had to be caller 20.

"No, you won!"

"OH!!!" I said in a really excited voice!

So I gathered my girls and my gear and we headed up to Bear early Friday morning.  Lucky for us my friend Lindsay's family has an amazing cabin up there that we got to stay at.

It was a beautiful day, hot and sunny (just wore a thermal) and not too crowded.  We didn't actually start boarding until almost noon because we lagged a bit at the cabin drinking beers and filling up on snacks.  So we did a couple runs and took a break to watch Iglu and Hartley and Vampire Weekend and have a few drinks!

The band was great and there weren't even that many people there so we got pretty good seats.

By the time the band had finished and I had finished my beers and bloody mary it was close to 4 and the mountain was closing at 4:30, so we did one more run and called it a day.

The rest of the afternoon we napped, drank more beers, ate some snacks, and had a robe party.  Basically doing all of the above mentioned activities but in robes.  You should try it sometime.  It really makes the ordinary seem extraordinary! 

After a healthy dinner of Domino's Pizza we headed out to the bars (and by bars I mean plural, like only 2 in the whole town).  Our first stop is a bar called Chad's Place.  An interesting place.  Cover band on stage, biker dudes walking around in their "Demon's From Heaven" leather jackets, pool tables, bearded toothless men, darts, and other interesting mountain folk.  We played a couple rounds of pool then decided to head to Murray's where they have karaoke!

We posted up at the bar in Murray's, had a round of Casadores shots (thanks Julie) and a couple pitchers of beer.  I really like sitting at the bar as opposed to a table because everyone in the place has to come by at some point and order a drink.  And in Big Bear, the people are very interesting to talk to. 

We met some very interesting people, like the bartender (although I can't remember his name), sang some karaoke, and stumbled back to the cabin around 1am.

We headed home the next day, tired, hungover, and sore, but still happy from a great day trip to Big Bear that all started one typical mundane Monday.