Clear Lake certainly lives up to its name. It is a beautiful clear, blue lake, that is surrounded by mountains on 4 sides. Getting there was an interesting journey. We drove from the south, after leaving Jack London's Ranch in Glenn Ellen. It was late, so we drove through the mountain passes in the dark. I wish we could have seen them, but it just was not to be. We drove totally by the guidance of our GPS, and it was fun watching the little blue car on the GPS maneuver on its blue road turning crazily through every hair-pin turn. Fortunately, our car didn't swerve like the little blue car on the screen.
We arrived at our World Mark by Wyndham Resort close to midnight...we are good at those late arrivals, because we try to cram as much as we can into each and every day! It is a beautiful resort, and many pictures were taken the next day. Like every resort we visit, we spend a lot of time exploring the surrounding area.
Ducks on the Resort property
The beautiful Clear Lake World Mark Resort
Clear Lake is a very old community, and it was odd to see such a beautiful resort there. The only other modern building we found anywhere on the lake was the Ceago Winery, about a mile west of the resort. I presume that the main attraction to the area is the lake itself.
The entrance to the Ceago Winery
The grounds of the winery--flowers in bloom in November
They also grow Lavendar for their soaps, etc.
On our first day at Clear Lake, we drove west to the little town of Lucerne, the "Switzerland of America," to buy some groceries, and got some fun pictures there of the lake and the sign of the town. Very Swiss!
Yep, we are in Lucerne (California, that is!)
One view of the lake and distant mountains from Lucerne
We took our groceries home and then explored the Resort, itself. There are beautiful rose gardens, a weight room, a reading room, and a wonderful pool and spa. (Those will be visited later.) We walked the grounds, saw ducks, and a wonderful pier that jutted out on the lake, where there were a couple of fishermen catching fish for dinner.
This gorgeous tree was outside one of our bedroom windows
Interesting ceiling design in the main Welcome Center
A lovely fountain outside of the Welcome Center
The beautiful, warm swimming pool.
The pier is in the background, and mountains in the far distance.
This is the day that we prepared for visitors. Our dear friend and former Pastor of the SDA Church in Redmond, Elwood Starr, brought his sweet wife, Doyne to share some time with us on Clear Lake. They live south of the resort, near Stockton, California. It was a pleasure to meet Doyne. She is a sweetheart. They came prepared to fix us a most wonderful stirfry dinner, complete with egg rolls and a delicious bread to go with it. And to top it off, she brought delicious homemade oatmeal cookies. What a treat!
After dinner and after the dishes were done, we just sat in our cozy living room, with a fire in the fireplace and enjoyed catching up and getting to know Doyne. Elwood lost his wife, Verna, a couple of years ago. She was my dear friend and I felt the loss, too. But traveling through this lonely sphere without someone to hold close was never meant to be. The Starr's told us about the story of how they met--she being from Southern California, and he living in Oregon. They were introduced by mutual friends and met over the phone. From there, they carried on a long-distance relationship, via telephone (much like Dean and I did) and eventually met, fell in love and married. They appear to be very happy with each other and well matched.
On Wednesday, we drove to Lake Port, which is the Lake County Seat located on the west side of the lake. We spent a good portion of the day, exploring this little town. We went to the museum, which is located in the old courthouse. There were some really interesting artifacts there from earlier times and an entire room dedicated to the native Indians that live in the area. It was interesting to learn about these Pomo Indians. They were and still are a peaceful tribe, and their intricate basket weaving is like nothing I have ever seen before. The boys and men made canoes out of tule, which is a reed like plant that grows along the banks of the lake. They tie them together in bundles, then tie the bundles together to form canoes.
An example of the canoes made of tule reeds.
Elwood and Doyne, in the background
This intricate necklace is crocheted thread
Very fine craftsmanship
Three of us outside of the courthouse
After touring the museum, we went to a nice little park on the edge of the lake, where we could take pictures and amble along, watching ducks, herons, and other species of water birds, which I cannot name. It was a beautiful experience with beautiful friends.
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A view from the park of boats on the lake
and old pilings
Our friends had to leave about 2:30, to make the drive back to their home in daylight hours. It was a very good day, indeed, to spend with good friends.
Elwood and Doyne, sitting on the old
Coleman Cooler that she brought all of the food in
In the evening, I made some soup mix soup, added some fresh ingredients, and while it was cooking, we went for a swim (for Dean) and hot-tubbing (for me)! The water was wonderful and the scenery around the pool helped to make it a pleasant experience. We then mosied back to our condo, ate our wonderful soup, and walked back to the recreation center to rent a couple of movies. We talked with a delightful young woman at the counter, who told us that she used to live in Lincoln City. Small world. Also, she has children who live in Utah. Even smaller world. And, we learned from her that she is a Republican who voted for Romney and was very disappointed with the outcome of the election. Wow! We are not alone! We talked for quite some time, then took our movies back to our condo and watched both of them! It was like a double feature at home!
The first movie we watched was "Snow White and the Huntsman." It was a very interesting, very dark version of the fairy tale I grew up with. The second movie was "Finding Neverland," with Johnny Depp. Now that was an excellent movie, and one we need to add to our library. Johnny Depp did the best ever job of acting. It was a remarkable movie.
On Thursday, Dean and I gathered our hiking gear and decided to "climb a mountain." Well, it was more like a hill than a mountain, but it was a pretty steep climb up a graded and (sometimes) paved road. The mountain is called "Cow Mountain," because of all of the long-horned steer that used to roam the surrounding valleys. At the top, we had the most glorious view of the entire lake. It is a huge lake! It is always interesting to view something from a higher vantage point. Half way back down, we sat at the edge of the road and ate the lunch we had packed for the trip.
Looking up at one of the hills at the base of Cow Mountain
Looks like someone got stuck in the mud trying to navigate
the road in rainy weather
A picture of the two of us, nearing the top of Cow Mountain
The lake is appearing in the background
View from the top! Beautiful lake.
After coming down off of the mountain, and returning to our car, we drove to Lucerne (which we visited on our first day here) and walked the grounds of the beautiful Ceago Winery. (I already posted pictures that we took, above.) We enjoyed the quiet walk among the vinyards and the lavendar and the trees. It is truly a serene and calming environment..
For dinner, we barbecued steaks, baked potatoes, grilled some peppers and I made green beans with french fried onions on the top. I also sauteed some onions for the steaks and cut up an avacado. It was a wonderful dinner. I love cooking when I am on vacation!
After watching our dearly loved episode of "Burn Notice," (which we have become addicted to every Thursday night) we retired for the night. It was an enchanting day and we are two very tired vacationers. In the morning, we shall pack up, clean up, and say good-bye to Clear Lake (which is, by the way, the largest natural freshwater lake in California!) This has been a crowning touch to our vacation.
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