This is the best way to start the day. Going for a jog around the lake and on up into the dusty red dirt of the Arnold Rim Trail with my squirrel-chasing cardio companion, Tesla, makes it nearly impossible to be in a bad mood. I get to live here? This is my normal routine?
Jeff and I moved to Arnold, California in June of this year, but fell in love with the mountain life and lake views years ago. While Jeff has been escaping the lack of seasons and bustle of the Bay Area since he was a child, I was introduced to the area shortly after I was introduced to Jeff, and we decided to make our residency in the pine trees a full-time rather than a weekend-only experience at the onset of our life together as a married couple.
Arnold has been a part of our journey together from the get-go. It started with visits to the Anderson family cabin with friends, family, or a combination of the two, and resulted in Jeff's purchase of his own cabin about two years ago. Initially we would come up on weekends, splitting the time between updating the 70's-esque cabin (with its brown shag carpet and wall paper of the blue floral and gold butterfly varietals) and enjoying what Calaveras County had to offer in terms of hiking, mountain biking, wakeboarding, snowboarding, and general outdoor shenanigans.
Mountain Biking near Bear Valley
The Lake
The journey from our house to the private lake at Lakemont Pines is about a 45 second walk (or ten minutes, if you have a stubby-legged and opinionated corgi with you, who cannot contain his instinct to lift his leg and claim every rock and tree as his own). This means that lake visitations are something we would be silly to not enjoy multiple times every day.
It is incredible how different seasons and even different times of day can change the appearance of one constant geographical feature so much. On early fall mornings, mist floats along the top of the water, twirling upwards in vapor spirals, flowing in channels that betray the wind's direction. Summer afternoons are warm, languid, and golden, best enjoyed on a large floatie with a beer in hand. As seasons change, colors of the trees lining the lake's banks morph from neon to mature, deep green, to bright yellows, peachy oranges, and vivid reds, all before the last remaining leaves drop and the limbs of the trees are covered in a powder-sugar coating of snow.
Morning, Noon, and Night
How awesome is it that one location can be the perfect spot for an sunrise jog, a lunchtime romp on the grass for two wild and happy dogs (and one pent-up bank employee, ME), and a peaceful sit on the dock with a fishing pole in the evenings? Every beverage goes well there too (and believe me, we've tested them all!). A hot mug of freshly brewed coffee while watching the mist rise off the water as the sun creeps up behind the silhouette of pine trees, a cold beer while floating on my huge white and blue blow-up unicorn with fish nibbling at my toes, a Yeti full of dark red wine while cuddled in my flannel and Uggs on a brisk autumn evening... I've experienced it all and cannot decide which of the above is my favorite.
When we moved up here, I left behind my beloved, beautiful Santa Cruz, and I wondered if ocean separation anxiety would kick in after the initial honeymoon phase of life in the mountains. But while Santa Cruz still holds a very special place in my heart, I find that I am enjoying the lakes and trails here in Calaveras County too much to get caught up in thinking of what I'm missing back on the coast. And we've only been here for just over 5 months! We still have the winter months to look forward to!
I can't wait for the time when the field overlooking the lake becomes a pure, clean, white blanket, and the trees are covered in sugary frostings of fresh snowflakes, when the softness of the snow dampens all sound until all you hear is the single flakes of snow coming to rest on the ground. So keep an eye out in the coming months for new photos and updates as Autumn unfolds into Winter and ultimately back into Spring and Summer! Snowshoeing, snowboarding, sledding, and snowball fights await :)