Shoemaker Winter 2013 : The Cabin at Mountainaire

All us Shoes

The morning we were set to leave for our trip to Mountainaire started off a bit different than normal.

We don’t often watch the news in the morning, but after hearing about a shooter and a wanted man in Corona, we flipped on the TV. From there we watched in shock of how the day before Christopher Dorner had posted his manifesto to Facebook and had begun a horrible spree of violence against the police through the night.

After reports of sightings literally right down the street from our house, we were looking forward to leaving town in order to “get away from the craziness”. So we decided to leave a bit earlier than we had originally planned and packed everything up and left for the mountains.

On our way out to town we saw officers posted at the Magnolia exit of the 15 freeway with rifles mounted on tripods and intently inspecting the traffic as it passed underneath the bridge. We once again reaffirmed the fact that we were grateful to be leaving at this time and comforted ourselves knowing that there’s no way a fugitive would isolate himself up in the mountains. So we continued on the trip and decided to stop for some lunch.

As we were finishing our last round of Orange Peel Chicken at Pick Up Stix, we heard another diner listening to a police scanner on his phone. Reports were coming in that Dorner was thought to be in San Diego, Corona, in an unknown location or – possibly – Big Bear.

Big Bear!? We were dumbfounded – how could it possibly be that we were just around the corner from his last-known appearance and now we were headed up to another location where he just might be? With all the uncertainty of his whereabouts and knowing that at one point he actually was so close to home, we were torn as to what to do next. When we called the Big Bear police department they stated that all roads in and out of the city remained open and without checkpoint. Further, we contacted a friend in law enforcement who was following the case closely and his opinion was that Dorner was “probably not in Big Bear” – so with this assurance we continued to head up to the cabin.

The drive up was quiet and uneventful. That is to say there were only a very few other cars on the road the entire way up the mountain!

Once we got to Big Bear we settled in and got comfortable. As we turned on the TV we realized that the manhunt had intensified it was focused nearly exclusively on Big Bear. Once again we were beside ourselves that we seemed to be so close to his actual location.

We continued on our trip for the most part as normal. As the days went by it seemed less likely that anything more was going to happen. Fellow customers and staff in the shops and restaurants met each other with that extra layer of friendliness that seems to emerge only when a crisis is at hand. We talked to one woman at a donut shop that didn’t want to work alone into the night and – truth be told – Craig looked over his shoulder more often than normal while shoveling the driveway.

We made sure to get in all of our favorite activities: sledding, playing in the snow, eating at El Jacalito and shopping around the Village. As we parked in the Village strip mall a reporter approached us and asked if he could interview us for the Press Enterprise. He asked if we were afraid that Dorner would jump out from behind a tree and confront us. We somewhat laughingly said “no” and he looked at us like we were crazy. The thing was the whole time, and the longer it took for the authorities to find him, the less likely it seemed that he was even in Big Bear.

On the last day of our trip we tried to visit the Big Bear zoo. Unfortunately it was closed for the day. This is a family favorite in Big Bear as there aren’t many places where you can visit so many diverse animals at such a close proximity.

So we left for home and the drive back to Corona was as uneventful as the drive up was. We expected checkpoints and all kinds of security on the way down the mountain, but there were none. We made it home safe back into Corona and watched the rest of the hunt unfold on TV.

Once back home, the hunt for Dorner hit a fever pitch. We soon found out that as we left the zoo we literally drove past the home which Dorner had held hostages for a few days. The hostages had escaped and were giving confirmation that he was indeed in Big Bear. Ironically Dorner did emerge from behind a tree and commandeer a hunter’s truck. All of this reinforced our gratitude that we saw no sign of him while we were in Big Bear.

In the remaining days we watched the memorial services on TV. We cried with and prayed for the families who lost their loved one during this whole ordeal.

I regret to make this post so much about a man that caused so much hurt to so many people, but for those few days we couldn’t seem to escape feeling like we were in the middle of it all.

Beyond all the craziness we really did enjoy our trip as we all spent time together. Here are some pictures we took during our stay: