The Veterans Day Free Day is observed every year and San Bernardino National Forest is one of the areas participating.

This means for this one day, a daily use Adventure Pass will not be needed to enjoy the numerous heavy traffic areas of the forest surrounding Crestline, such as picnic areas, trailheads and lookout towers.

A map of areas around Crestline that will waive fees can be found at the official website for the San Bernardino National Forest, as can a complete list of the recreation fee areas within the forest.

While the day pass itself is usually only $5, this is still a great reason to get out and enjoy these areas of the San Bernardino National Forest for free.

For more information, call 909.382.2600.

Here’s what they have planned for the rest of 2008:

On Saturday, November 8th, the MSAS will study “Winter Constellations.” During this event, attendees will learn to navigate the night sky and find constellations using simple techniques designed for all levels of star gazers.

Two weeks later, on Saturday, November 22, the MSAS will offer “Comet Tales.” This event is all about the history of comets and how they hold a wealth of information on the formation of our solar system.

“The Moon, Our Nearest Neighbor” is the subject on Saturday, December 6th. During this event, the MSAS will delve into how our closest neighbor affects our planet from the physical (tidal waves, etc.) to the inspirational (art, poems, etc.). It’s too bad they couldn’t hold this a week later, when the moon will be full, but this should still be a cool event.

The final MSAS event of 2008 takes place on Saturday, December 20th. The topic will be “The Planets of Our Solar System” and will offer up information on each of the planets.

All of these events will consist of a lecture, slide show/demonstrations, observatory viewing session (weather permitting), and question/answer session. They are also family-friendly events, so they are open to attendees of all ages.

Tickets to each of the events is $7 for adults and $5 for children, in advance. An additional $2 charge will apply for tickets purchased day-of. You can get more information on the events listed above, as well as purchase event tickets, by calling them at 909-336-1699.

The MSAS Astronomy Village is located at 2001 Observatory Way in Lake Arrowhead. For directions or more information, visit the MSAS website.

The book is the story of a lonely tree that yearns to be a Christmas tree, but doesn’t want to be cut down from his forest home. However, with a little help from Santa, he finds all things are possible when you believe.

Winchell, who illustrated the book, will be joined by the book’s author Suzanna Susquehanna at the instore appearance, which will run from noon to 2pm on Saturday, November 15th. Winchell is currently a student at Rim of the World High School.

More information on the book can be found at The Legend of Douglas Fir website.

McCabe & Co. Booksellers is located at 23898 Lake Drive and can reached by phone at 909.338.1088.

Starting tonight, and every Tuesday in November, local film historian W. Lee Cozad will introduce the films and offer tidbits of information about them. Cozad is the author of the book, More Magnificent Mountain Movies, so he’s definitely an expert on these films.

The series kicks off tonight (November 4) with 1941’s High Sierra, a crime drama set during the Depression era starring Humphrey Bogart. The film was partly filmed at the Arrowhead Springs Hotel.

Next week, on November 11th, the series will air 1952’s The Bad & The Beautiful, featuring Kirk Douglas and Lana Turner. Though the plot line revolves around Hollywood, part of the storyline takes place in the countryside, and those scenes were filmed at Lake Arrowhead.

November 18th the series will continue with 1942’s Now Voyager, starring the legendary Bette Davis and Claude Rains. The storyline uses Lake Arrowhead as the major setting for the story about an ugly duckling becoming beautiful.

The series wraps up on November 25th with Magnificent Obsession. This 1954 film stars screen legends Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson in a film about a rakish playboy who becomes a doctor to save his true love. It was partly shot at Mountains Community Hospital and Lake Arrowhead.

All of the films are family-friendly and free to the public to attend. Start time for all films is 7pm. For more information, call the resort at 909.336.1511.

Crestline Restaurants

• A Frame Burgers - Lake Dr
• Billy Bear’s 23943 Lake Dr ~ 909-338-1660
• La Cocina De Tony - 24194 Lake Dr ~ 909-338-9377
• Lake Gregory Coffee - Lake Dr ~ 909-338-8211
• Loose Caboose - Top Town ~ 909-338-6221
• Mandarin Garden - 24046 Lake Dr ~ 909-338-6482
• Paradise Mountain Coffee - Lake Dr ~ 909-338-6467
• Paula’s Place - Top Town ~ 909-338-4128
• McDonald’s - Lake Dr
• Round Table Pizza - Forest Shade Dr ~ 909-338-5040
• Perky’s Pizza, Lake Dr, attached to Bowling Alley

I’ll be adding names and addresses as I gather more, and eventually add restaurant reviews as well.

So far, our favorite Crestline eatery is La Cocina de Tony. Excellent food and service. Homemade salsa fresca and incredible balcony seating above Lake Gregory. It’s Crestline’s only lake view restaurant!

This picture shows the restaurant from the outside. It’s upstairs and has that entire huge balcony to enjoy. The inside is warm and festive. It’s a little hard to find, as it’s above Hambones (skating gear). The best parking is around back.

One of the best places to do so is along the Lake Gregory Fitness Trail.

Part of the lovely loop trail around Lake Gregory, the Fitness Trail is a scenic 2.5-mile loop, which includes a set of 10 fitness stations, placed throughout.

These stations, called the Steel Challenge Course, all have diagrams and instructions posted at each stop, along with recommended repetition and usage for beginning, intermediate and advanced fitness levels.

Here is a list of the stations you’ll find:

• Station #1 is the leg lift station.
• Station #2, a few hundred yards further down, is a sit-up station.
• Station #3 is near San Moritz Lodge and is a horizontal ladder station, which benefits arms, shoulders and chest.
• Station #4, near the Senior Center, is is a beam jump to strengthen calf and thigh muscles.
• Station #5, in front of Lake Gregory Elementary School, is a body curl bench to strengthen the stomach, lower back and biceps.
• Station #6 is right next to #5 and is a step-up station benefiting the legs.
• Station #7 features parallel bars to work the shoulders, triceps, upper back and forearms.
• Station #8 offers a balance beam for more leg work, as well as improving your core body balance.
• Station #9, near the bathrooms on the northwest side of the lake, features a jumping bar to work the legs.
• Station #10 are chin-up bars to work the shoulders, back and arms.

There are two ways to do the loop. If you start at the South Beach parking lot, located on San Moritz Drive, and go counter clock-wise along the trail, you’ll find Station #1 about 100 yards down the trail. If you’d like a walking or running warm-up, go clockwise instead, and you’ll encounter Station #10 first.

The course is free to use for all ages, but it is not recommended for children under 12 without adult supervision. The course also has several benches along it, if you just need a quick rest.

Have you used the fitness trail at all? Let us know what you think of it.

Of course you could use a satellite dish if you wanted, instead, which quite a few locals do.

We’ve found Charter mostly reliable and quick for our Internet use. An Internet package is affordable, unlike the cable TV-plus-Internet option, which ran us a bit more than $100 a month. As we can now watch almost any of our programs on our computers, we recently canceled the cable and kept the Internet. We now pay only $60 a month in comparison. Hey, times are tight!

If you’ve negotiated a better deal with Charter, please comment here with what you’ve done and how you’ve done it. It’s tough that Charter has no competition up here in the mountains.

To find Charter Cable:

Take Highway 18 along the Rim of the World Highway to SkyForest. Turn north just barely onto Kuffel Canyon Road. You will see the Charter sign and building on the left. It’s just behind Rocky’s Outpost Deli on highway 18. There’s offstreet, flat parking for about 4-5 cars. It’s a short drive from either Crestline or lake Arrowhead.

Charter Communications, 96 Kuffel Canyon Rd, SkyForest CA. - 866 499.8080

Crestline

• The Alpine Mall celebrates with a Fall Festival on Saturday, October 25th. Enjoy family-friendly holiday fun with a scavenger hunt, pumpkin painting and more.

• Enjoy family-style trick or treating at the Crestline Library from noon until 4pm on Friday, October 31st.

• The 5th Annual Crestline Chamber of Commerce Merchant Trick or Treat Night takes place on Friday, October 31st from 4pm until 6pm. Take your kids trick or treating at local businesses and enjoy family fun such as face painting and giveaways. Look for signs in the window of participating city businesses.

• The Stockade Boot Hill haunted house will be running nightly October 25th through 31st from 6pm until 10pm. Admission is $5 for those ten and older, with proceeds benefitting the Crestline Creative Arts Foundation (CCAF). They will also be accepting additional canned food donations for the Crest Forest Family Agency Food bank. The haunted house will be located at the Stockade Grub & Whiskey (23881 Lake Drive), next to the Ace Hardware, and should be pretty creepy as one of the CCAF founders is actor Reggie Bannister, who starred in the classic horror film series Phantasm.

Big Bear Lake

• “Theatre of Horrors” Haunted House runs October 17th, 18th, 24th and 25th from 7pm until 11pm, as well as October 31st from 8pm until 10pm, at the Big Bear Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $5 for anyone 7 or older and $3 for ages 6 and under. There are areas for both adult and children to get spooked, free daycare for parents, and proceeds from ticket sales are going to benefit to a local charity. For more information, call the P.A.C. box office at 909-866-4970 or purchase your tickets online. The P.A.C. is located at 39707 Big Bear Blvd in Big Bear Lake.

• On Saturday, October 25th, enjoy both Halloween and Oktoberfest events all in one day, for one admission charge, at the Big Bear Lake convention center. The children’s costume contest gets underway at 3pm, with the adult one starting at 9pm. For more information, including ticket prices, please read our previous article on the Oktoberfest celebrations.

Lake Arrowhead Village

• On Friday, October 31st, take the whole family over to Lake Arrowhead Village on Halloween and enjoy trick or treating in the Village from 2:30pm until 5:30pm. Afterwards, stay for the Halloween Party that features a costume contest with prizes for various age categories and live music at the Center Stage by No Doubt tribute band No Duh.

Know of a Halloween event we’re missing? Let us know and we’ll add it to the list!

There are still three dates left this month to enjoy the festivities at this annual event, which is now in its 38th year.

During the day, enjoy family events like log sawing contests, game booths and a petting zoo. Later in the evening, on Saturdays, adults can partake in the “Safe Slam Beer Drinking” contest.

On Saturday, October 18th, Oktoberfest runs from noon until midnight, and on Sunday, October 19th, it runs from noon until 5:30pm. Both days are filled with live entertainment from The Express Band and the Danube Swabain Dancers.

The event closes out on Saturday, October 25th, with live entertainment starting at noon with The Express Band and the Big Bear Polka Tots. Later that afternoon, the festival incorporates some Halloween activities into the mix, with a 3pm children’s costume contest, followed by an adult one at 9pm. Closing ceremonies for the Big Bear Lake Oktoberfest start at 10:30pm.

Tickets for Saturday admissions are $12 for adults, $6 for children (age 3-12) and $9 for seniors (65 and older). Sunday admission tickets are $6 for adults, free for children (age 3-12) and $5 for seniors (65 and older). It’s also worth noting that on Saturdays after 6pm, due to the drinking contest and heavy indulgence of beer expected, that only persons 21 and over will be admitted, unless the children entered with parents prior to 6pm.

The event also offers a Designated Driver’s Program. Simply let the waitress know which person in your group is the designated driver and they will receive an i.d. bracelet that will entitle them to unlimited complimentary soda, coffee and O’Doul’s for the day.

For more information or directions to the Big Bear Lake Convention Center, where the Oktoberfest festivities are being held, visit bigbearevents.com.

(Photo courtesy Big Bear Lakes Convention Center)

During Lake Arrowhead Village’s Oktoberfest, enjoy authentic German bands, who will lead the crowds in everything from polkas to waltzes and quite a few boisterous sing-a-longs.

Saturday, October 18th, enjoy live entertainment from Bavarian Stew, while on Sunday, October 19th, Stewedshiedzel will take the stage. The following weekend, the two bands will trade off, as Stewedshiedzel appears on Saturday, October 25th and Bavarian Stew closes the celebrations on Sunday, October 26th.

The weekend events also include plenty of German food, and of course, German beer. And while the food and beer are available at a nominal cost, entrance to the event and all the entertainment is completely free!

You might even be able to participate in the “Lady’s Beer Drinking Contest”:

Or the “Men’s Beer Drinking Contest”:

You could also just enjoy the dancing:

Do you have video you’ve shot at the Oktoberfest celebrations over at Lake Arrowhead Village? Drop us a link to it. We’d love to see it!