living the lake life (for an afternoon, anyway)

last week, we were sitting around the house trying to think of something fun to do for the whole family.  after chowing down on some delicious mochi waffles (that i kind of want to make again, stat), we decided to hop in the car and head up to lake arrowhead.  with the temperature hovering somewhere around the mid-90s at home, we knew we'd find some much nicer weather up in the mountains.  not to mention, we hadn't been up there in years.  8, to be exact...holy cow.

it was a gorgeous day up there, just as we'd anticipated.

like we usually do, we'd parked in the village area so we could walk around the shops and find some lunch.  and as much as i'm not really a coach fan, we had to go into the outlet shop because it's just what we've always done whenever we go up there.

the entire store was 60% off, and i was super tempted to pick up this buttery-soft leather jacket.  i'm still kind of kicking myself for passing it up.  i've always wanted a fun moto-style jacket, and this one was pretty perfect without giant logos all over the place.  oh well.

although the hub scored a sweet deal on a leather duffel bag that he's actually been needing for awhile, since his old one is pretty beat up.  in fact, i'm pretty sure we bought it here during our last visit.  heh.  but i did scream silently a little, because that pretty much foiled my plan for father's day.  he's not easy to buy for because he never really wants anything, so i was going to pick up luggage of some sort as his gift this year.  bah.

inside another shop we found a whole wall of silly little home decor that we stopped to read and giggle at.

nope, didn't buy any of those either.

we headed across the way into this restaurant, which was new to us and a nice change from the other ones in the village area.

we ordered their beer-battered pretzel-crusted cheese curds, which the bean tore right into.

the old lady opted for the buffalo chicken salad:

her special friend went with the "red hot" hot dog, topped with fried jalapeños, bacon crumbles and spicy mayo:

and the hub and i split a burger made with american kobe wagyu beef (which the bean also ordered).  it was tasty.

the old lady had this strawberry-lime hard cider.  she let me have a sip and it was light and refreshing, so we're now on the hunt to find it to have at home.

afterwards, we strolled around the lake a little and i made the bean re-enact this old photo.  hahahahahahahahahaha.

she managed to sweet-talk her daddy into getting us a boat ride for an hour, and i have to admit...it was really nice to cruise around the lake, taking in the views, looking at the gorgeous homes, wind in our hair, relaxing on the water.  i could get used to that.

 afterwards, the old lady asked for a photo (which the bean just had to get in on).

and while she's outgrown the rides at the little amusement park she wanted to pose in front of it anyway.

it was a lovely afternoon, and maybe we'll have to head back up there again soon.  maybe we'll buy a boat!  but the lake is private and all the boat docks are owned by locals.  maybe we'll buy a lake house!

hey, a girl can dream.  actually, that's more the hub's dream.  i'd rather have a beach house, personally.  but i suppose i'd be happy with either one.  right?  right??