Getting Ready to Camp at Paulina Lake:

Paulina Lake, Little Crater Campground

On Thursday afternoon, Cary and I drove up to Paulina and East Lakes to scope out places to bring the new 5th wheel..  Though we bought it at the end of April, due to weather and time constraints, it has just been patiently waiting in the driveway for its maiden voyage. 

 Paulina Lake, Little Crater Campground

We have plenty of experience with travel trailers, but not any with 5th wheels.  If you turn too sharply, you can punch a hole in the 5th wheel with the back of your pickup!  This new one is a full 6' longer and then very wide when the slides are out.  We learned that there are only a few campsites at both of those lakes that will accommodate us and still have a lake view.  East Lake (at the big campground by the store) has very few sites large enough.  The first East Lake Campground has about 3 or 4 spots, and are an option if nobody else is already in them.

 Paulina Lake, Little Crater Campground

The first Paulina Lake Campground has several spots, but you can't easily see the lake or camp right on the lake at that campground, even though the lake it is right there.  That one is a good spot to be if you have a boat and like to fish and it isn't far from Paulina Lake Lodge.  Paulina Lake is a fishing lake; nobody really even swims in it that I have noticed, and since you can't go fast on it there is no water-skiing or jet-skiing allowed.

 Paulina Lake, Little Crater Campground

Lucky for us, Little Crater campground, where these pictures were taken, does have about 10 spots where we can fit into.  It is a first come, first served campground; no reservations.  Also luckily for us, we only live 20 minutes away, so we can drive up there without the trailer, find a spot and pay for it and then go back and get the monster.

 Paulina Lake, Little Crater Campground

Another neat thing is that if you just turned 65, as my best friend husband just did, you pay $10.00 for a card that never needs to be renewed and then your camping is 1/2 price for the rest of your life.  That means that instead of $16.00 per night, you only have to pay $8.00.  That is cheap, and the discount applies to National Forest campgrounds throughout the U.S., except for state parks.

 Paulina Lake, Little Crater Campground

That is Paulina Peak in the background.  It is so pretty, but I get scared when we take the gravel road up to the top.  I might just have to put on a blindfold and headphones this year on the drive up there, in order to get the beautiful pictures of the view that I want.  There is no guard rail and a huge drop off; it freaks me out!

We are hoping to drive up again and find a great camping spot at Little Crater on Monday, after people are leaving after the weekend is over.  We need to start learning about our 5th wheel before we take it on the road.  It is so neat, but now we are wondering if we should have bought something smaller.  In R.V. parks we will be fine, but I really hope that we will be able to easily find spots in real campgrounds as we travel too.   For those of you who have the longer versions of trailers, 5th wheels and motor-homes, what has been your experience with this issue?

Sometimes I feel like this lady, but with the 5th wheel instead of the boat:

Last night we went to a family gathering, and had such a great time.  Some of those there didn't want to be on the internet, so I am just showing you a picture of Cary ...

.... and Jim and my Dad:

There is nothing like being with those who mean so much to you; plus the food was delicious.  Now it is Saturday, and I just learned that we are going to be cleaning out the back of the shop.  Mom needs to borrow a ladder from us, and we will take it over to her cabin soon.  She will be here until tomorrow, and Dad will be here for about a week.   Maybe he will come to the lake with us.

So that is about it for now.  I'm off to catch up with my Sepia Saturday friends and then visit with as many others as I can.  I haven't been on my blog much this week, because I am working on my Facebook project.  When Google shut down my Slide.com slideshows, I couldn't figure out what to do.  On Thursday, I got the bright idea of making separate albums for all of our family groups, both for Cary's family and for mine, as well as for my postcard collection.  Then, I am going back and linking up the blog post that goes with the picture, posting the link as a comment.  It works great!  Plus, I have so many posts on here (now over 1700) that I'll be able to find things easier on my phone if I want to show somebody an old relative. 

I hope that you all have a wonderful Father's Day Weekend!

~ Kathy M.

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.