Our summer in paradise!

current location: Chester, CA

We arrived at our summer home...amidst a blizzard! The forecast was for rain with possible snow, but I now think that was for lower elevations. Northshore Campground, where we will be workamping for the summer, is at roughly 5000 feet. As we began climbing the mountain from Susanville, CA, the flakes began. First they were mixed with rain, but by the time we came over the pass (I can't remember the name), it was seriously coming down. This morning, we had briefly talked about postponing our arrival until tomorrow based on the forecast, and now we were thinking that maybe we should have listened to ourselves. But we're here now and are thrilled to be here!

It is absolutely beautiful. It reminds me of the Colorado mountains. Back in our previous life, I always wanted to live in the mountains. We spent as much time as we could there on weekends, but could never figure out a way to live there while making a living. So I am now living that dream and it feels great.

The campground is on the shores of Lake Almanor in Chester,CA. Our site is very remote, away from the rest of the campground. We are in the same site that Howard and Linda Payne (RV-Dreams founders) stayed in last year. We knew it was going to be a bit challenging to get in based on what Howard wrote in his journal, but it was a little worse than what I expected. We (or should I say Tracy) had to back down a driveway and then make a 90 degree turn to get into the site. We eventually made it with a lot of back and forths, a little this way, a little that way. Tracy did great; she's always been better at backing up than me, so there was no discussion about who would be attempting this one. It was well worth the effort (easy for me to say!).

Here's a picture out of our front door. The lake is much closer than it looks; the shoreline is just a few feet away!

I'll take more pictures in the next few days once the weather clears up. Even though the picture above shows a little blue sky, the forecast tonight includes about 4 inches of snow and it's supposed to get down to 27 degrees. Brrr. And I thought we were done with winter! But I'm not complaining. That's springtime in the mountains. Luckily, we're used to this kind of weather.

We don't officially start work until next week, but wanted to get here a few days early to get settled and familiarize ourselves with the area. It will be nice to finally have the chance to unpack and we desperately need to do some serious cleaning, both inside and out.

I'll write more about the campground and the area once we figure it out! As I look outside, the snow has started to fall again. Sure glad we decided to get the optional fireplace!