Worth the Drive: Mountain-Nice Tree Lightings
Worth the Drive is NBCLA's twice weekly look at nearby getaways
Getty Images
Several mountain towns near LA are lighting their trees over the 2009 Thanksgiving weekend.
Your job: Decide to get out of town and fast. Our job: Help you find where you're headed. This week, NBCLA's Worth the Drive takes us to...
Mountain town tree lightings: We've gotten a few trees glowing down here LA-way already, but the LA-close mountain towns are all taking their turn at the "3-2-1-ing" lighting festivities over the Thanksgiving 2009 weekend.
And by mountain town tree lightings we mean... Big Bear, Lake Arrowhead, Julian and Idyllwild.
What to expect: Oh, you'll probably see some Santa-ing. Kids in stocking hats. Choirs choiring. Possibly hot chocolate for sale. We don't mean to be ho-hum about it all. Truly, it makes us go a bit twinkly inside.
The dates: Lake Arrowhead lights it up on Friday, November 27th at 7PM; Big Bear's fa-la-la-ing starts at 4:30PM on Friday, November 27th; the tree goes blinkly in Idyllwild starting around 4PM on Saturday, November 28th; Julian's Country Christmas has its hoedown from 4-6PM on Saturday, November 28th.
Would we try and spend the night if we attended one of these parties? We would.
Drive times: Oh, anywhere in the neck of two-and-a-half-ish to four hours, depending on the community you choose. Do the map thing before heading out, to determine if this is a thing you can do.
Why we're sweet on fir-close festivities: Lake Arrowhead kind of looks like it could double for Santa's village, with its little chalets and cozy restaurants; the other villages have their picturesque charms. Arrowhead's tree lighting, and the holiday to-dos that follow throughout the Thanksgiving weekend, really ups the whole "did we drive to the mountains or straight to the North Pole?" thing. We're not saying a reindeer will whisk you out over the lake on a magical flight, but the tree, the cookies and the carols makes the entire affair tres festive.
