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Oktoberfest in Big Bear

Posted on July 19, 2008 by: Tropigal

Closest City: Big Bear
State: California
Country: United States

Oktoberfest in Big Bear (& my 29^th birthday)

Ready to celebrate Oktoberfest in traditional Big Bear fashion, carloads of us drove up throughout the day, heading up Hwy 330 to Hwy 18 through Running Springs (the most common route up the mt.). We stopped a few times to take pictures (go figure) and were there in no time! Before checking into our cabin we stopped at Boo Bear’s Den, a cute little restaurant with an outdoor patio and even a trinket shop at the other end. How convenient, food and shopping all from your dining table. The food was ok at best, but its location was good. After lunch we walked through town window-shopping and headed toward Big Bear Lake. Of course stopping at Starbuck’s on our way. Heaven forbid we be without a strong cup of coffee! We checked out the lake and off to our cabin we went.

We rented the cabin from Big Bear Cool Cabins and it was pretty impressive! It was a 3 story, 4 bedroom cabin that slept 12 with plenty of room for extra blow up mattresses (which is exactly what we did!). It had a full kitchen, dining room, living room, patio, balcony and a large game room with a bar (not stocked), pool table and dart board. Coincidentally, it was my birthday that same weekend, so we all played twice as hard! I brought in my 29^th with Oktoberfest flare!

Oktoberfest was held at the Convention Center at Big Bear Lake, this was the 37^th annual Oktoberfest! Most of us bought our tickets online ahead of time and upgraded to the “Bugermeister Party Pack.” This was $28.00, which included admission to Oktoberfest, a commemorative Oktoberfest beer stein, a German meal complete with all the trimmings, a German beer and a set of party beads (these were a hot commodity). The O’Doul’s Complimentary Shuttle picked us up and delivered us in style. The shuttle begins running at 6:00pm every Saturday and is a door-to-door service that will take you anywhere in the Big Bear Valley (except another bar). Lots of people were dressed in traditional Oktoberfest attire and promotional items such as Jagermeifter hats, beads, lays, T-shirts, and Lowenbrau beads were being handed out all night. There was also a booth selling Oktoberfest T-shirts and accessories. (We wished they sold tank tops because it was so freaking hot in there!) We danced, ate and drank until we couldn’t any longer.

All hung over and hardly alive we went to a great little restaurant called Madlon’s for breakfast. They were able to accommodate our large group with no prior notice and we were all pleasantly surprised by how good the food was. This restaurant was on our way back down the mountain in Big Bear City, it was now time to go home. Just one more stop at Los Rios Rancho in Oak Glen made our weekend complete. We went pumpkin picking for our Halloween Jack-o-lanterns, and others in our group picked apples and raspberries, YUM! The prices were high but you’re paying for the experience too. We had a blast choosing the perfect pumpkin, of course I had to pick an odd shaped one, I thought it was cute!

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