May 21, 2017
Big Bear Lake
Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike: Day 17
Walked to all the shops to take care of chores before zero-day fun. Grocery ($300), pharmacy ($100), sports shop ($100), Kmart ($50). Note: dollar amounts are how much it felt like I was spending, not actual amount of money coming out of my bank account.
Stopped at a food stand called Local, with jerk chicken bowls and peanut-butter-chocolate-banana-coconut-milk smoothies. We had eaten at Local yesterday and it was so good we decided to bring Sam and Colten there for lunch. We ordered the exact same thing as the day before and ate sitting in the grass, in the sun, by the lake (Big Bear Lake, that is). It nearly felt like a civilized picnic. With a few more chores left to finish, we did our laundry and I soaked my feet again. Went back to the same brewery (that's two for three on eating and drinking all the same places as yesterday), and in the street, I ran into Mette (the Dane from Scout & Frodo's), Michael (the other Dane), and their trail friends. The seven of us quickly made plans to go to the Himalayan restaurant again, where I even ordered the exact same thing as last night (3/3!). I can't exactly give a holistic eating/drinking review of Big Bear Lake, but from the limited range of dining establishments I visited, the town is full of fantastic food and plenty of good beer.
After dinner I spent some time in Mette's hotel room hanging out and having a beer, it was great to see her even though they'll be staying an extra day in Big Bear Lake. On my way back to my room I ran into Emma (size 7.5 to 10) and Vinny/Corey/the Australian (camped nearly on top of my tent on Day 4). Retired for the night with a fire in the fireplace and a bad sci-fi movie that apparently is a rite of passage for boys because all four of them were appalled I hadn't seen it yet. Back to trail tomorrow.