Nice Little Vacation Spot

June 27th, 2014 by Rob Saxe

And Not That Far Away

You know, with Tahoe so close, I forget that we live in such close proximity to so many other local vacation spots.  As far as scenery goes, it doesn’t get much better than the Sierra’s.

Recently, my son Ryan had been asking about my childhood and where I was raised.  School just ended for the summer so I thought we’d take a couple days guys trip to Lake County where I was raised.

I hadn’t been back in over 20 years, have no family there anymore, so I thought it would be a good time for us to spend some quality time together.

The picture to the left is the view from my high school ball field in Middletown.  I used to spend my recesses playing and loving that view. 🙂  Cobb Mountain, where I lived from 2nd grade to 10th grade, is the mountain in the distance on the left.

Pine Acres, Upper Blue Lake

We were looking for a good place to stay and just couldn’t find one i the Cobb Mountain area.  Things have changed there so much that I almost didn’t recognize most of the area.  We traveled out to Lakeport and I remembered that Blue Lakes were kind of cool so we went there.

Blue Lakes is northwest of Clear Lake on Hwy 20 on the way to Ukiah.  We found a place called “Pine Acres” right on the southeast shore.

The folks there were really nice and we had a nice cabin very close to the lake.  There wasn’t air conditioning but it didn’t seem to matter as the breeze coming off the lake at night was very comfortable.

There is a little store there with sundry items as well as bait for fishing which we did a lot of.   Upper Blue Lake is stocked by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife so there were plenty of fish in the lake to catch.  The water was a bit too warm for trout but Ryan caught more than his fill of bluegill and we did finally get a trout after the weather cooled down the second day we were there.

They have rowboats to rent as well as a nice, safe swimming area.  The lake is fed by natural springs so it’s very clean.  I would really recommend Pine Acres for a nice little getaway.

On the other side of the lake there is a “resort”, or compound, called “The Narrows”.  We drove there to see if they had accommodations however the gate was locked (??) and they weren’t answering the phone.  We rented a rowboat one morning and the folks there were not kind to us.  I wouldn’t recommend this place at all.

Upper Lake

There weren’t any restaurants close to where we were staying other than in Upper Lake which is about 8 miles away.  When I was a kid, this was a run down little town with little or nothing to offer.  Times have  changed.  The downtown area, such as it is, is very well cared for and there are plenty of opportunities to get a sandwich or a nice dinner.  We happened on the “Blue Wing Saloon and Restaurant” in Upper Lake which was very good.

For breakfast we went to “Judy’s Junction” which wasn’t high on ambiance but the food was good and very reasonable.  This is a very local destination and old school diner.  The portions are huge and we had breakfast for the both of us for under $15 both days we ate there.

Additionally, there is a grocery store with a deli in the back, “Hi-Way Grocery”.  The sandwiches were great, the guy behind the counter was a bit gruff but not too bad.  The checker was really nice.

There are more pictures in the gallery below.  Take a peek!

It was nice to get away with my boy and I think if Ryan and I were to go this way again, we’d certainly go back to Pine Acres.  We both had a great time there and next time we both agreed we’d bring mom. 😉