Hopscotch Designs

I’ve never come across a bigger misnomer… Clearlake is decidedly, unequivocally, inarguably not clear.  I mean not at all!  It’s green!  Bright, mossy, monstery, can’t see the bottom green! 

So much so that last year when we went up for a family vacation I didn’t get in the lake once all week.  This year the kids conned me in to going in “just one time”.  Being me, I ran full speed (about 1 mile/hour) off the end of the deck and did a canonball!  Splash!  and hit the bottom… this year Clearlake is not only not clear but it’s quite shallow.  Ah well.  Once in, it is a little creepy with all the muck floating around and the bottom feeling like moss filled sponges.  However, it’s kind of nice!  I mean if you don’t touch the bottom, which I managed to do by staying out somewhat far and treading water for the entire 30 minutes I was in (and occasionaly hanging onto my husband!)  And it was really neat that the top 18 inches or so of water are about 85 degrees and then at the 18 inch mark it immediately drops to 65 degrees.  It feels great!  And you can mix the water up with your hands and have the cold swirling around you with the hot!  Very fun! … at least for about 30 minutes… then it’s a disinfecting shower and a giant glass of wine!  You sure can’t beat the view!

Speaking of wine… Clearlake is surrounded by wineries.  So, when you’re not busy disinfecting from your last swim you can go winetasting.  It’s no Sonoma (or Napa for you snobs) but it’s actually pretty good and the wine is way cheaper.  They’re not so snobby here about wine having to be $40 a bottle if it’s good.  In fact, on Sunday during their Wine Adventure (food and wine pairings at all the wineries) there were some amazing case deals!

So check out Clearlake some time.  Take a swim (watch out for the fish!), a shower and have a glass of delicious local wine!