May 13, 2013

Acorn Campground

New Hogan Lake,

Valley Springs, CA

It was so quiet and dark last night-just the way I like it.  We woke up to the birds chirping and the geese honking. 

This is our view looking out the window above Monte’s desk.  Not bad!

I got caught up writing my blog and choosing the pictures to upload.  Unfortunately we have a very slow connection so I wasn’t able to post the blog or upload the pictures.

 

 

 

The time flew by and suddenly it was lunchtime.  We sat outside enjoying the view.

 

 

We were really bummed out about not being able to stay longer in this spot so armed with the campground map we took a ride around looking for other sites that would accommodate our size.  Then we headed to the entrance booth and asked the host to check if any of the sites we circled were available for the weekend. 

Luckily the site directly across from our current site is available so we reserved it for Friday and Saturday.  Then we reserved our current site for Sunday through Thursday.  So we will be moving twice but it is worth it.

Once all that was settled we took a ride into the nearby town of Valley Springs.  On the way we made a detour at a farm stand where Monte bought fresh strawberries for $2/basket.  The town has a small supermarket and the prices are a little on the high side.  The closest large supermarket is 12 miles away.  We only needed a few staple items so it paid to spend a little more in the small store than drive the 24 mile round trip to a larger store.

As we passed the deli counter we smelled the delightful aroma of rotisserie chicken and couldn’t resist picking up one along with some fresh corn.  Dinner tonight was going to be easy.

When we got back home, I sat outside doing my Sunday crossword puzzle while Monte inflated one of our kayaks.  

We have two because when we ordered the larger kayak, a smaller one came with it as a bonus.  We had only used the bigger one so Monte inflated the smaller one to see if it would be big enough for the two of us.  IT WASN’T.

We carried it down to the water and I got in first. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Monte got in there wasn’t enough room for his legs to fit so he had to kind of straddle the kayak making it difficult for me to paddle without hitting his feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a consequence he had to do most of the paddling. 

It was a beautiful night on the lake but we (Monte) was paddling against the current so he had to work harder.  We headed towards an island where we spotted a dear on the shoreline. 

 

 

When we reached the island we didn’t get out because it was getting late.  After taking a picture of the deer, we turned around and headed back.

The real fun part came when we reached the shore and had to carry the kayak back up the hill to our site. 

 I ended up carrying the paddles, seats, and water bottles while Monte carried the kayak.

As he was wiping the kayak down, the Park Ranger passed and told us we had to turn the truck around so it was facing the flow of traffic.  When we had first arrived and set up we found we could fit my car in the site by the truck being parked facing the hitch.

We did some maneuvering and just barely fit my car in with my front passenger tire touching the white line in the roadway. 

The site we will have to move into for the weekend is a little smaller so I will probably have to park in the overflow parking lot located a quarter mile away from our site.