Tuesdays

Tuesdays are going to get a special shout out here... Cadie gets the "big" shopping done over the weekend or on Mondays down the hill (mainly Redlands (Costco, Target, Sports Chalet, Trader Joe's, Home Depot, etc, etc, etc...)). On Tuedays, we go into Big Bear City to finish up shopping, which includes a visit to the farmer's market. It is a long, crazy day, but probably my favorite. It's nice to get back into civilization midweek, and as you'll see, it has a few perks.

First, we take the trash and recycling into town. It sounds easy enough, but having to separate two weeks worth of clear, brown, and green beer bottles is disgusting! At least we got it out of the way early. Yuck!



Then, we go around the corner to fill up and top off our propane tanks (for cooking). A guy named Justin fills the tanks, and seems a little cranky (maybe because it's before 8 a.m.?). It's also the time I get to give Mike a call, going into town also means I get cell phone service (perk #1).



At this point, it's 4 hours after we started cooking breakfast, and Cadie and I are beginning to crash, so our next stop is Starbucks for iced Chai lattes (if you haven't, try one, they're like delicious, legal crack). We can call this perk #2, there are no coffee shops where we are camping, can you believe it?



Here comes the best perk (sorry, Mikey, talking to you was great and everything, but...), Perk # 3, we got SHOWERS!!! There is a campground in Big Bear called Serrano, and for $3 dollars, you get a million dollar shower. You press a magical button for HOT WATER! AMAZING! I also got a chance to meet a pair of 9 year old twins named Aaron and Adam while I waited for Cadie and scraped the dirt from underneath my fingernails. We talked about Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants books. I really miss my Plum Canyon kids! This picture certainly does NOT capture the luxurious feelings that only a post-camp shower can produce, but here it is in all it's glory:



After we are fresh and clean, we head to the framers market!



I. Love. The farmer's market! Cadie and I have been coming to this market on Tuesdays for a few years now, so we have made some friends, it was so nice to see them again! The stone fruits are from Adelina's stand. She and her husband sell fruits and eggs. Last Tuesday, this annoying woman kept asking him a million questions about their fruit, location, soil, on and on and on... Anyway, she asked "how many chickens do you have?" I can tell he was annoyed (I was too) because he answered "About 400, but I don't know, because we got bobcats and stuff." I laughed about that for the rest of the week. It sure did send that woman with the questions away (she didn't even buy anything, ugh!).

The market also has beautiful Indian clothes, woven Mexican purses, a yodeling cowboy, roasted peanuts, breads, candies, a tamale stand, and a million wonderful smells. We bought more produce than we could carry.



After we schlep it all to the car, we head to Vons for our last bit of shopping (finally!). We get goat's cheese for a salad, a few more gallons of milk, wheat germ for muffins, and my last shot at indoor plumbing (sorry guys, this blog gets RE-AL!).

Lastly, before we make our way down the dirt road to camp, I convince Cadie to stop for lunch (something she'd never do without my coaxing (Perk # 4)). Burritos at La Paws (odd name, bomb food!).





And then, back to the grind...