Author Archives: Shawn E. Bell

Activities, Day Hikes, Hiking - General

Hiking Review: Quail Hill Loop

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Quail Hill offers a few hiking, biking, and horse riding options from the Quail Hill Trailhead and Staging Area.  The Trailhead is located on Shady Canyon Drive, just past Fossil Road on the right.  To get there from the 405, take the Sand Canyon / Shady Canyon exit towards Shady Canyon Drive.  Enter the traffic circle and take the first exit to the right onto Shady Canyon Drive.  Turn into the first driveway on your right past Fossil.

I like the Quail Hill Loop for a few reasons, not the least of which is that it offers better views than you’ll find walking, jogging, or running around a high school athletic field.

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Big Bear Lake, Interesting Places

Santa’s Village set to reopen August 1st, 2015

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Jim Steinberg has posted over at the San Bernardino Sun about the much anticipated re-opening of Santa’s Village.  Some of you young folks may not know what Santa’s Village is, as it closed back in 1998. from Wikipedia:

Santa’s Village was a winter-themed amusement park in the Skyforest section of Lake Arrowhead, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first franchised amusement park, one of three built by developer Glenn Holland. The others, also defunct, were in Scotts Valley, California and East Dundee, Illinois.

Opening more than a month before Disneyland, the 220-acre park was one of Southern California’s biggest tourist attractions. It boasted kiddie rides, including a bobsled, monorail, and Ferris wheel; a petting zoo; live reindeer; and shops that included a bakery, candy kitchen, and toy shop. Continue reading →

Beagles

Just One More…

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Just one more day, Lord. Just one more day. I am petty and I am small and I always come to you and I always ask for things that are petty and small,for I am human. I am a child of the Most High God, and I will ask and I will plead and I will beg you for things that are beyond my grasp because I believe they are not beyond your reach. I will make deals with you that will fall through and I will make promises I won’t keep. You know that. I know that.

But, Lord, he’s my dog.

And if you can’t do that, then give me just one more hour. I don’t want to be the adult and put on a brave face and be the strength my son needs to get through this. I want to cry. I want to break down and be adrift in sorrow because my best friend for the last ten years is leaving me and I will never get to see him again. He’ll never greet me at the door. He’ll never steal my pizza. He’ll never take up all my bed and snore and pass the most horrendous gas ever. And he’ll never be my responsibility again.

But, Lord, he’s my dog.

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General Aviation

Sporty’s offers refurbished Cessna 172s

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Jim Moore has posted over on the AOPA about Sporty’s 172LTE refurbished Cessna program. Sporty’s announced the program back in December (you can read about it HERE). From the article:

Sporty’s refurbished Cessna 172LITE project caught on fast.

A used Skyhawk with an overhauled engine, new interior, and a fresh coat of paint (among other improvements) will rent for $99 an hour at Sporty’s Academy at Clermont County Airport in Batavia, Ohio. The announcement in December got the phone ringing and Charlie Masters’ inbox filling. Masers, vice president of aircraft sales at Eastern Cincinnati Aviation, the Sporty’s fixed-base operation, said a 172LITE currently in the paint shop will be available in mid-February for $132,900, with more to follow.

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Hiking - General, National Forests

Update on the fundraiser to save Sturtevant Camp

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Last weekend was a great fundraiser to help save the historic Sturtevant Camp.  KCET did a follow up, titled “Friends of the San Gabriels Mount Fundraising Efforts to Save Historic Sturtevant Camp”

From the article:

Sturtevant Camp — which contains the country’s oldest surviving USFS Ranger Station in its original location and a historic main lodge built as the open-air Swiss Dining Pavilion in 1897 with all original wood — is the last of five resorts that once flourished in Big Santa Anita Canyon but has since been lost to floods and fire (including Hoegee’s Camp, Robert’s Camp, and Fern Lodge). There was at one point over 200 cabins just like the ones at Sturtevant. But despite its historic significance, Sturtevant has never received landmark status. Although Angeles National Forest is protected from being developed, there’s nothing preventing Sturtevant’s structures from being demolished or languishing in disuse.

You can read the entire article HERE.