Meatballs III

Sonya and I took the kids camping this past weekend, to Pinecrest Lake up in the Sierras. We were joined by four other families (Adults = Roger, Joanne, Robert, Shari, Jim, Rosalie, Eric, Danielle --- Kids = Amy, Laura, Allison, Justin, Zachary, Rylie, Spencer, Cole, Whitney and Megan). That was a 22 person camping clan, spread across four campsites. Give the moms credit for booking these sites back in November. The crazy thing is, you have to make reservations that far in advance to be able to get a camping site in California these days.

Everyone trekked up to Pinecrest on Friday afternoon, so we were all able to enjoy the park for three days and two nights. Everyone congregated to the center campsite each evening, huddling around the camp fire.

If you’ve never been to Pinecrest, it’s about 150 miles east of the South Bay on Hwy 108 (about 30 miles east of Sonora). A small granite range that makes up the eastern edge of the lake, which juts out into a dam on the north end. The campsites are nestled on the western shore, and are a small hike to the three beaches that provide campers with lake access.


Kid Campers
I fondly remember trips to Pinecrest with my parents and sister when I was a kid. I can still picture images of my then three-to-five year-old kid sister playing in the water. The images were duplicated by Karsyn playing in the lake this past weekend. I was really happy to get to relive some of those experiences with my kids. We’ll certainly be returning for future camping trips.

We all spent the better part of the day lounging by the lake, and playing in the water, then rented two party boats and took them for a spin. One boat took a handful of kids fishing out near the dam, while the other boat headed to one of the tributaries for an early evening swim.

The lake boasts an outdoor amphitheatre, which shows first run movies on the weekends for $5. Jim, Rosalie and Danielle played chaperone to the 11 kids, while the rest of the parents partook in Margaritas and poker for a couple of hours. The kids soaked up “Herbie Full Throttle” and plenty of sugar, while the parents got a little “quiet time”.


Kids Afloat
It was shorts and t-shirts evening in the evenings and we probably could have all done without tents, because the temps stayed in the 70’s overnight. The kids seemed to have a great time, doing everything you’re supposed to do camping (roasting marshmallows, rolling around in the dirt, etc.). It was hands down one of the most fun camping trips I’ve ever been on.

Checkout my [Pinecrest Photo Album]