Monthly Archives: December 2011

The Move to Pine Mountain Lake

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Pine Mountain Lake and Airport

To move up to Pine Mountain Lake (PML) full time, we needed to check on the availability of essential items at our new home.  These included a well-stocked grocery store, health care (for humans and kitties), reliable Internet service, along with several other items.

The Main Street Market in Groveland is very well stocked and a five minute drive from our house.  Since we expected to go into the Bay Area at least one time per week we could stop by Trader Joe’s, Safeway or Costco as needed.  In addition to the market, there is a weekly Farmer’s Market and also multiple CSAs which offer fresh eggs, milk, honey, and seasonal produce.  We currently get all of our meat from local farms.

The area does have some very good restaurants (Groveland Hotel, Charolette’s, Priest Station, The Grill) however, there is not nearly the same diversity and choice that we have in the Bay Area.  This has encouraged us to cook more with the added benefit of saving money and huge benefit to our health:-)

Groveland has limited health care options.  However, this has encouraged us to explore Oler Chiropractic.  We will discuss this topic more in future blog postings.  As a preview, interactions with the Oler’s has had (and will have) a significant impact on our lives (in particular our health).

As far as our pets go, Groveland does have a vet clinic with an on-site vet one day a week and technicians available the rest of the time.  Their main office is down in Sonora, which is a 40 minute drive and has a more extensive infrastructure (including emergency care for both humans and pets).

Internet service in Groveland is worth of a whole separate posting, but the options have improved greatly in the last year.  We have three choices now, two of which we actively use.  DSL service is available from AT&T (or provides like sonic.net and Motherlode Internet) if you live close enough to the main entrance. Cable service, which now includes an Internet option, is provided by Sierra Nevada Communications. And there is also wireless service available from Sonnet Wireless.

Though we’ve made some compromises to live in our dream location, the new location definitely encourages a healthier life style. Since there are limited restaurants, we have learned to cook with a wide range of mostly fresh ingredients.  At this elevation, the air is clean and clear.  Where ever we go, there are steep slopes to walk and a good workout for the heart.  I see the benefits in the residents who often appear to be ten or fifteen years younger than their age.

Moving Up to the Mountains from the Bay Area

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Over a year ago, Jeremy and I moved up to our dream house in our dream location.  We moved out of our town house in San Jose and up to our much larger and more private home out in Pine Mountain Lake (PML) near Yosemite National Park.

Living in the Pine Mountain Lake has been a dream of mine ever since I discovered it during a trip to Yosemite about 7 years ago.  During that trip, I was considering moving to Houston, TX to take a post doctoral position at Johnson Space Center.  The job opportunity was a very interesting one, but unfortunately I would be living in Houston.  At the time, there were few opportunities for a fairly new graduate.  In addition, before seeing PML, it was difficult to persuade myself that I could have a comfortable standard of living in CA.  After being a poor graduate student at Stanford University for years, I was craving a better lifestyle.

At an auspicious meeting at the Big Oak Cafe, I went on a limousine ride with Doyle who took me on a tour that would alter my future.  First, he took me to the airport where there had recently been a landing accident.  (Since then, the airport conditions have been improved.) I remember being impressed by the views of the surrounding foothills and seeing the Sierras off at a distance.  We walked around.  Doyle pointed out the various kinds of aircraft parked at the surrounding airport homes.  These included twin engines, small jets, helicopters and even gliders.  I could see that it would be a great place for an aviation enthusiast to live!

Next on the tour was a view of Pine Mountain Lake.  As we drove around, I was impressed by the houses within the PML community.  The houses were of different styles (not like the condos I had seen in the Bay Area).  Each house had a generous plot of land which looked like the forest I’d seen in Yosemite.  The Ponderosa Pines were all around, standing tall at over 100ft.  Deer and fawn were spread throughout the area.  I had the sense that these houses were plopped down into a forest.

During the tour, we saw the Lake.  It was blue and appeared well maintained.  I also noted there were several public beaches. I asked Doyle about the price of these houses.  He said that in some cases they were $200,000.  Wow!  I thought I could live here!  I would be 20 miles from the entrance to Yosemite (one of my favorite National Parks).  (See the picture of Tenaya Lake above.)  I could commute to the Bay Area for work via airplane (I was working on my Single Engine Land rating) and have a good size house and some privacy.

That would be a dream come true.

A few years later, I met my husband (another dream come true:-)).  I shared my dream with him which soon became our dream.  In 2007, we bought our house in Pine Mountain.  In 2010, we moved up to Pine Mountain full-time.