Our Snowflower Adventure

Hi Friends,

How exciting are getting to explore new places and seeing new sights?

A Snowflower

So began our adventure to the Thousand Trails Snowflower Preserve in Emigrant Gap, CA. This would be the first time visiting this campground that seems to be just around the corner from home. How could we have waited so long to get here? Just about an hour and half from our driveway to the campsite, it seems like a logical choice for camping close to home. And compared to the campground at Stampede Dam, it is like night and day. Stampede was nice our first few trips out, but the lake is nearly gone now due to the drought and there is no power or water hook ups.


Tucked very neatly in the hills right off of Interstate 80, Snowflower was beautiful. Water and power hook ups with 2 dump stations available if needed and plenty of things to see and do. Once you get settled into the campground you have no idea that there is a busy interstate just a couple miles away. A couple times we could hear a distant train horn in the evening.

Our Home For The Week

Vacations are always better when you have good friends to share the experience with and this time we were joined by friends Patty and Steve for the week. We set up just steps from the beach and amazing 23 acre Snowflower Lake. What a view we had right outside our camper! Snowflower Lake is another no wake lake and that means no loud boats or jet skis. It also means smooth waters for kayaking and relaxing.

The View From Our Campsite

I decided to take a walk one day as the rest of the group relaxed at the campers. Just a short distance from the main road and a short walk down the Cisco trail I saw a beautiful big bear. It was gnawing on a old log and making quite a bit of noise. I quickly turned around and started walking the other way. I glanced back to see the bear walking across the road towards the lake. Stupid me, I was so excited to see the bear, I forgot to take any pictures. Oh well, that was cool and i won't forget the experience. The next day I talked the rest of our group into hiking the loop trail with me, but no bear sightings. Just as a note to others hiking the trail around the lake .... It is not a really easy or smooth trail. It had plenty of climbing and not too many views of the lake. It did have plenty of trees and it was a good workout.

One thing we are learning about camping is that we love camping during the week, but weekends can

Peaceful

be a mess. We arrived on Sunday after the weekend crowd had left and had a wonderful week. Then all hell broke loose when we neared the weekend again. What a crazy turn around it was. Our peaceful days and quiet evenings were now full of loud voices and games of washers. We listened to so many games of washers, I don't think we will ever take up that game.

We ate way too much and had so much fun that when we left we needed a vacation from our vacation just to get some rest. We played

Snowflower Lake Spillway.

shuffle board (our first time) and played pool. We even played a little ping pong in the wonderful and clean lodge (fun). The pool looked really refreshing but we ran out of time for that. We celebrated Brenda's Birthday (her 29th again) but didn't have any cake because I forgot to pack the cake pans. Ug!

Can't wait to get back to Snowflower for some more R & R soon. And with it so close to home it will be easy to make it happen.

Until Next Time...

Don & Brenda and The Critters!

Our Anniversary Camping Adventure

Hi Friends,

Ah Spring, and it is time to get out and go camping again.

As the temperatures wavered from cool to mild at home, it is usually already warming up in the Northern California Valleys.  So with a bit of Spring Fever and our Anniversary on the calendar, we were off to Lake of the Springs in Oregon House, CA for few days of rest and relaxation. Just a few miles from Marysville and Oroville, Oregon House is a wonderful oasis nestled in the foothills just off highway 20. It takes us about 3 hours to make the trip from our place in Washoe Valley so it is a quick trip.


Boy did I goof up this year. As we were nearing our exit in Nevada City, the GPS told me to turn and save time by driving via Highway 49 through Downieville. Well, I guess I learned a lesson about traveling on un familiar roads. To me it was a nice route with plenty of new sights and little towns along the way. Some looked really interesting and maybe worth a few minutes exploring, but not after having driven some really twisty roads. Oops, not a good start to the trip. Lesson learned.

Lake of the Springs at the Dam.

We arrived pretty close to the time we expected to arrive at Lake of the Springs. It was a good thing I didn't take that last short cut thru a farmers field about a mile from the park entrance... there was just no way I would have got the truck and trailer out of that road. Once we found the perfect spot, we got everything set up so we could go explore the park.  It was beautiful and with the air a bit cooler than we expected...... nothing a sweatshirt couldn't fix.

We did all the usual things we look forward to on this trip. We walked the park and the trails. Looked around for the mountain lion and sat by the lake and talked. The park was pretty full as we got closer to the weekend, with a few people just dropping off their trailers for the coming Memorial Day weekend.  As we stretched our legs and walked the trails we met some nice folks. That is one of the things we always remember about Lake of the Springs, there are so many nice people and they are happy to stop and say howdy.

Cell service is almost nil here so don't count on it to make calls. You can get a fair signal in section I

The view from our site.

and on the benches by the lodge. That suits us fine, as we don't come to talk on the phone or surf the internet.  Sure it is hard at first to not look at your phone to see if anyone has sent you a cat picture or video of a bear, but you will get over it pretty fast. I have been trying something new when we travel. I have been taking almost all of my travel photo's and videos with just my cell phone. They seem to be turning out good and it makes it so much easier to share and even make movies of our trips. I am still looking for new ways to make slide shows and such, but so far it has been fun and easy.

Our Oasis at Lake of the Springs.

We didn't get out on the lake to kayak this trip because it was just a bit too cold. Next time for sure as this is a wonderful lake to paddle. It is calm and no power boats or jet skis to compete with. We thought about taking a pontoon boat out but nixed that idea again because of the cool air and the short time we had here.

All in all it was a wonderful, but too short, trip to one of our favorite places. We will be back soon and kayak the lake and maybe finally make it out to the bakery in Oregon House we keep hearing great things about.

Until next time, enjoy every day and have wonderful adventures.

Don & Brenda and the Critters...

Thousand Trails Lake of the Springs Review

Hi Friends,

We wanted to share a quick review of the Thousand Trails preserve called Lake of the Springs, that we visited in May for our anniversary.

Lake of the Springs

We are learning about reviews of rv parks and campgrounds the more we camp and make camping plans. At first we were excited about going to Lake of the Springs for a week to celebrate 32 years of life together. The closer we came to the date, the more we worried that just maybe we had made a wrong move. After first hearing how great it was, we started reading about how run down it is and that it was less than an ideal place to camp.

Well we had a wonderful time and are happy to report back that Lake of the Springs is a beautiful place, well run and well cared for. We joined Thousand Trails and are looking forward to returning to Lake of the Springs and also to try other Thousand Trails preserves in the area.

Lake of the Springs

When we arrived it was pretty warm, about 95 degrees the first day. Our spot was in section G, a very nice loop in a grove of trees that provided a canopy keeping the temperatures down about 10 degrees or so. Sites in this section were mostly water and electric only, but that turned out to be just fine for us.
There are plenty of restroom/shower facilities available in the different loops to more than make up for not having the sewer hook up. Plus there are sewer dumps (free) as you exit the park. They also have a honey wagon service that can come by a couple days a week for a small fee. You sign up for the honey wagon at the general store.

Kayaking on Lake Mildred

We found the showers and restrooms to be clean and very well maintained.  The people that keep the restroom/shower facilities clean need to be paid much more than they make. On more than one occasion we saw where folks had made messes that were just not acceptable in any situation. Oh well some people just don't have any respect for things that don't belong to them.

We used most of the fun facilities that were offered. We tried our hand at pickelball,  rented kayaks twice and played horseshoes. We even played a little basketball. We still could have tried shuffleboard but ran short on time.  Walking around the preserve is easy with nice walkways and a posted 5 mph speed limit that is very strictly enforced.  We really were worn out by the end of our stay.

Lake of the Springs Map

Evenings it was refreshing to relax around the campsite to talk with friends and bbq. Our campsite had a picnic table and bbq to use. Then we capped of a great day with smores. The nights were amazingly dark. We don't live in a very light polluted area at home, but man was it dark at night. What a treat.

As far as where to stay ... there are so many choices. If you have to have cell phone and satellite
service, section "I" is your best bet. It has fewer trees but makes up for that by having beautiful valley views.
Section "X" is for Thousand Trails members and is an all hook up area near the pool. It was nice up behind the general store. We noticed some park models and yurts up there to rent as well.
"D" loop had pretty views of the valley but seemed to be pretty full of
seasonal or annual sites. Nice units and well cared for more like a community of annual rv'ers that live at the preserve.

From what we could tell "B" loop was mostly big rigs. Some pull thru sites in there and  bit more sun than the other sections. Probably pretty good satellite reception here too as we saw plenty of dishes scattered around.

Lake of the Springs Map

Loop "A" looked nice, more in the trees again. These spots looked busy on the weekend but empty as could be during the week. There were some deer that seemed to hang out down in "A" just about every time we past buy. Section "H" was still closed so we didn't get to check it out. It looked to be higher on the hill so it may have been more of a sunny spot.
When we were doing our planning, we could not find a park map anywhere, so we have scanned the park map and included it here.

We need to add that there is a great little general store on the property that has soft serve ice cream (yum) and just about anything you will need during the weekend. That is also where you borrow the basketballs and other sports equipment. They have a really nice club house that serves meals on the weekends and holds special events during the week. We didn't go in but it looked very nice from the outside.

If we missed anything please drop us a note and we will be glad to answer any questions you might have. Lake of the Springs really turned out to be a beautiful and fun place to camp and we are planning our return in a couple months.

Happy Camping,

Don & Bremda

Stampede Reservoir, Logger Campground Review

Hi Friends,

I thought I would share a brief review of the Logger Campground at Stampede Reservoir, one of our favorite places to hideout. If you are considering this campground maybe this will be helpful.

We got our camper pretty late in 2013 so our trips out were few before the cold of Winter set in. Luckily we found the Logger Campground just across the state line in California. Because it was close to home we were able to get our camping skills down without getting too far from the security of civilization.  And it is close to stores in Truckee (10 miles) if you forget anything.

Situated in the pines above Stampede Reservoir, the Logger Campground has over 200 sites for camping. We saw tents and car campers as well as all sizes camping rigs. There are no hook ups in the campground but there are vault toilets that are clean and water faucets sprinkled around. There is also a dump station just outside the entrance that you can use as you leave. All the campsites have a very sturdy picnic table and a fire ring with a grate on it. The campsites we saw were all clean and cared for by the camp hosts.

Just inside the entrance is a camp store that has things you might need like ice and ice cream or sodas. They also have little keepsakes that will help you remember your trip like stuffed bears and such.

It is a very short walk down to the water from the campground. The water was low when we were there but it didn't stop the power boats and paddle boards from having fun. Our campsite didn't have a real view of the water but there are some that back up with an unobstructed view of Stampede. Maybe next year we will try one of those spots out. As it was we woke up every morning to a view of the woods and a beautiful meadow below us. At night we watched deer as they made their rounds o the campsites seeking snacks and handouts. They seem to love marshmallows.

The camp hosts were great and very friendly. They managed to keep the toilets clean and the campsites picked up regardless of how hard the campers seemed to try and leave messes. We enjoyed our conversations with them and look forward to seeing them again in the Spring.

We walked around all the campgrounds and

noticed that some looked better than others. Logger Campground is divided into 6 different loops, all with unique and interesting names. Of the 6 campsite loops we found that we liked "Iron Ox" and "Steam Donkey" the best. We loved site 120 in Steam Donkey and that is where we stay every time we come back now, but those 2 campgrounds seem to be the best maintained and the cleanest. They also looked to be the best laid out.

The roads in the campground are paved and the sites are paved as well. We found it pretty easy to navigate through the maze and found that even big rigs were able to get around with ease. We did need to level our camper with a couple blocks but nothing too extreme. A short drive from this campground is a boat ramp if you are dragging you boat along with you. There were plenty of sites that had room for your camper and your boat if wanted to keep it close at night but use it during the day. There are some sites that are even large enough for three campers at a time, if you are bringing a group.

We saw people running, biking and kayaking as well a some that were doing the stand up paddle board thing with their dogs along for the ride. At night campfires come to life and conversations last until the wee hours of the night, but most are not too loud and after they end it is quiet and very dark. Bring a flashlight as you don't want to walk into a deer during your late night bathroom trip. The deer wander the campground looking for anything you may have dropped or forgot to put away. Some find a nice spot in your campsite to get some sleep or rest for the night.

We are looking forward to returning to this wonderful place in the Spring. Unfortunately the season at this campground is pretty short. Just a few months in the late Spring and Summer before it starts getting cold and they button it up for the Winter. But it is beautiful and affordable when it is open (just $21.82 for a single campsite).

We give this campground at least 5 marshmallows out of 6. We probably would have given it more but we ate them and shared some of them with the deer. If you are visiting Stampede enjoy and wander by spot 120 and see if we are there.

Happy Camping

Don

Our Oroville Adventure

Hi Friends,

What a trip!

With Summer turning into Fall, and our camping adventures quickly running out of days to explore before Winter hibernation, we headed West to the annual family reunion.  This year the family was gathering in Magalia, California in the Northern part of the state. We searched all the usual sites for a nice place to park our trailer for the weekend and decided we would stay in Oroville.

Space #37

As this was our first stay longer than just one night in the camper, we were really looking forward to spending the weekend relaxing and enjoying all that our little trailer had to offer. Actually it was 4 days and 3 nights by the Feather River at the River Reflections RV Resort and Campground. We really picked the perfect rv park for this trip. The River Reflections RV Park was beautiful and very park like. Lots of trees and grass and the wonderful Feather River made all the hopes we had for a perfect trip come true. Even a neat little fire pit was provided so we could make s'mores and toast marshmallows.

The first evening we walked the 100' or so down to the river to get the stress reduction weekend under way.  Right away we were taken by the huge salmon swimming right next to the shore. They were beautiful and we totally enjoyed sitting and watching them swim right next to where we were standing. The rv park is beautifully cared for and is nature at it's best. We wondered and chatted and then came back to the shore to watch the sunset that evening. Beautiful!

On Saturday we joined the rest of the clan in Magalia for the family festivities. After a slow start on our part,  and a full day of family fun, we made it back to the campground just after sunset. Oh well we still managed to make some s'mores and roasted marshmallows and got to spend some time connecting with some good conversation.
Brenda makes an awesome campfire and there is something completely magical about conversations around a good warm fire.

On Sunday we decided to explore some fun spots around Paradise. I lived around Paradise until about

1970, so it was like going back home again. I was really surprised at the amount of local lore and streets that I still held in my memory. Navigation was a breeze and we enjoyed the adventure. We made it to Noble Orchards, a family owned apple orchard that has been in Paradise since 1929. It was really cool and we bought some fresh off the tree apples and some apple butter, yum!
Then we drove over to Billie Park and explored a bit. I wanted to take in the view of the canyon I remembered from childhood. I can still clearly remember Grandma taking us on a short walk to see the beautiful canyon. It is commonly called the Little Grand Canyon because of it's size and beauty. It was a little testing of Brenda's fears as all over the park were posted signs warning of a mountain lion in the area. We didn't see any but Brenda was on the lookout just in case.

We stopped at Foster Freeze on the way out of town. Again this was a place I remember eating at when I was a kid and it still pretty much is the same place, with a couple changes. It was delicious and fun to spend a few minutes here before we left town.
I did manage to find a place to buy a Paradise t-shirt before we left. We stopped at the Golden Nugget Museum to see if they had any for sale or if they could recommend a store to buy shirts and other goodies.  This is a small town and it deserves one of those small town/World stories. I started chatting with the nice folks at the museum and well one thing led to another and... As it turns out the one guy that was working at the museum once worked as postman in our little valley here in Nevada. He knew all the folks that we see most all the time and wanted to know how they were doing and how Washoe Valley looked now. He left the valley to retire in Paradise, and where I had left Paradise to live in Washoe Valley it made for a nice conversation. It is really a small World.
Brenda made a nice dinner on Sunday night, and again we finished the day with a sunset and s'mores.

Monday was time for us to head back to Nevada. Brenda decided that we should take highway 70 back as she really didn't remember going that way during the day before. It was a wonderful colorful trip. Thanks to the Fall leaves popping all over the Feather River canyon, it was both beautiful and refreshing to travel down this road again.

All in all our first multi day adventure was a huge success and we are looking forward to more travels that will both refresh our spirits and take the stress of life away.

See you in the campground...

Don

Our First Camping Adventure

Hi Friends,

So we took off on our first camping trip. Sure it was a short trip, just one night and only about 50 miles from home. But we were excited and it was new and we had a blast. Sure we still didn't know that much about camping or really much about working anything on the new camper... but when did we ever let that stop us before. And what fun is anything new if you already know all the rules and how it will turn out.

Our Wonderful Camp Spot.

We made reservations for a spot at the Logger Campground at Stampede Dam near Truckee California. I made the reservations and quickly regretted the decision I made. It seems that rule number one when making a campsite reservation is, "don't pick a site right next to the restrooms." Well I didn't know that rule, or that there were any rules at all. I picked a really nice spot, just a few steps from the restroom.  As it turns out the campground map was a little mis-leading and we think we had the most beautiful spot in the whole park. It was quiet and spacious and did not have neighbors right next door.

Hey whats for breakfast?

One of the best surprises was a group of deer that came through the campground every evening just about the time folks were getting dinner ready. Smart deer and I am pretty sure you are not supposed to feed wild deer. But as it turns out the whole park seems to have something to share with them. They are beautiful and fun to watch as they meander down to the lake and then later wander from campsite to campsite just in case anyone left something lying around. It will be fun to come back in the coming years to see how the small ones have grown up and the families have changed. Most of the deer we saw were does but we did catch sight of one buck just hanging out a bit farther away from the group.

I managed to back our rig into our spot the first try and we set up the trailer without much confusion. It was a steep learning curve even with the dealers training class. Un-hooked the truck, extended the stabilizers and chocked the tires. Even the generator fired up on the first turn...it was going to be a great weekend. And it was!

Relaxing and taking it all in.

We joined in the festivities Brenda's employer was having. Good food and good conversation made the afternoon and evening fly by.

I even managed to find one of my, "it's a small World" moments when I found out one of the employees of Truckee Meadows Water Filters is the grandson of one of my mentors from the airport days of my life. I love those moments when you meet someone that you have known or talked to sometime in the past. They remind me that this is a very small world and we are all somehow connected.


We ended our trip with a wild Hummer ride up into the hills and looked out over the valley from an old fire lookout. This is really an amazing place, so much beauty it seems to go on forever. We are looking forward to exploring many of the campgrounds close to home next Spring and Summer. That should

Looking out over the Valley.

keep us busy for many weekends to come.

But for now we have more things to learn about this new part of our life. We are just not in too much of a hurry to do it.

Don

So We Are Campers

Hi Friends,

Well we have turned another page in our life and have become campers. To be honest I think we have both wanted to do some kind of camping for quite a while. but have finally pulled the trigger on this adventure.

Our first weekend camping trip.

In the past either Brenda or I would make some comment to the other that it might be fun to go camping in our spare time. Then one day Brenda came home and said, "let's go look at travel trailers." Actually we were pretty excited about a particular little travel trailer that was really light and cost just a tad more than $13,000. It seemed to us to offer all the basics for camping plus we could pull it with our truck (a GMC 1500). So off to the dealer we went to check this baby out. It was easy to find, sitting right in front of the office and it was open so we walked around and kicked the tires. It was cute as a bug and we were excited. Then we talked to a nice couple that was also looking at it. He mentioned some build concerns to us and told me we would not comfy in this rig. For one thing I would not be able to stand up all the way inside. Oh, and the bed was lightweight and poorly designed if we both wanted to sleep at the same time.

All hooked up and ready to roll.

While pondering our now slightly less desirable dream trailer we wandered around the lot.  Eventually we found a row of bigger rigs that seemed pretty nice so we checked them out. By now we had been joined by a sales person that showed a great deal of patience as we jumped from trailer to trailer asking questions and pulling out drawers. Finally narrowing our dream trailer down to just 2 different models. After a bit more pondering and drawer pulling we had our new trailer. A Jayco 19FB, 19 feet long and as we were informed, it would be fine behind our current truck. We would be back in a week to pick it up as they needed to make sure everything worked and was bright and shiny for our first camping trip.

Time seemed to drag along like molasses in Winter, but a few days before the big camping shin dig Truckee Meadows Water Systems was having for their employees we were hooked up and ready to roll.  This whole camping adventure is like learning a new language. There is so much to learn, but there are also endless new memories to be made in this chapter of our life.