Two days of utter fun playing in snow, sledging on a bumpy path and making tiny snowmen. We love our sunny Bay Area, but in peak winter we wish it snowed here too, and we could play snow fight in our front yard. Since we can't do that, we took a weekend getaway to Big Trees State Park, which is about 4 hours drive from our place.
Big Trees State Park
The last two years we did a day trip towards Arnold at Spicer Snow Park. But this year we booked a cabin at Big Trees State Park and spent the weekend there.
Although the snow wasn't that fluffy since it had not snowed for 4 weeks, we still loved to have a backyard filled with snow.
Good thing we planned this Weekend Getaway long back and booked the cabin few months in advance.
We went with our friend and the kids had a blast just as much as us grownups.
Stayed at Big Trees State Park
We booked a cabin in Calaveras Big Trees State Park. The Park has a lot to offer! They have campgrounds, hiking trails and several other outdoor recreations.
They have 4 Cabins that you can book in advance. The cabins are rustic furnished with 2 bedroom and 1 bathroom. There is a small kitchen with refrigerator, oven microwave and basic cookware and serveware.
We had booked Cabin 5 - Incense Cedar
Our cabin had two spacious bedrooms with closets, spacious living room, kitchen, mud room and 1 bathroom! There is no internet connection and no TV!
We downloaded a couple movies in our laptop for the kids. It was a good call, and they enjoyed it a lot with a giant bowl of popcorn.
One of the Bedroom had a queen bed and the second bedroom had two twin beds. The living room had a wooden futon bed with a comfortable mattress.
There was a small dinning table, the kitchen had refrigerator, oven and microwave. They keep basic cookware and serve ware. There is no dishwasher, but they keep dishwashing liquid.
Outside the cabin has a grassy clearing which was filled with snow. There was a fire pit and a picnic bench too. I am sure in summer it will be amazing to sit outside and gaze at the stars.
The parking was right next to the cabin on a paved road but uncovered.
The cabin had wall heaters and a rustic metal fireplace. A big box of woods were already kept for us to use. But you might want to carry some extra if you wish or buy from there.
Sledging in Spicer Snow Park
Even though we had a lot of snow right outside our cabin, it was however not enough for sledging. So we headed toward Spicer Park, about 30 minutes drive from our cabin.
Both us and our friends who joined with us are early risers, and so we were ready to head out by 9:30 after a quick breakfast in the cabin.
Since we headed out early, we found an empty parking lot and a lot of empty space to play around.
It was a beautiful weather, quite warm, and we didn't need any jacket or cap. And we sledged, from morning till later afternoon.
We drove towards Bear Valley Village and grabbed lunch at the café in the lodge
Next Day we drove a bit further towards Bear Valley Village
It was the day to check out from the cabin and none of us wanted to leave that beautiful cozy rustic cabin. Maybe next year we should book for a couple more days!
So we checked out early and drove a bit further towards Bear Valley Village to play for a while before we drove back home. We found a big empty area to play around.
We got quite lucky to find a small slope that was premade by somebody yesterday. It was not at a great height, but we had fun sledging there too.
Then we spotted two giant holes, probably made by the same group to play snow fight. We dug some soft, fluffy snow and the kids loved throwing it around. Well, including us!
We also made two tiny snowmen, LOL
Getting the kids convinced tow wrap up early wasn't easy. Who wants to leave all that fun and go back home!
We grabbed lunch once again in the same café at the lodge as there were a lot of a lot of food choice out there. But the café food is good, so we didn't mind repeating the next day.
It was a quick, short trip but packed with so much fun, and we made so many beautiful memories in that rustic cabin. Hopefully we can go back next year again!
