Travels with Murray: Clear Lake

Clear Lake California

April 25 - May 3, 2025

Notes on the blog. We both write it. When the blog paints one of us in a negative like (e.g. Sue is a slob) it's the one who is being portrayed that is writing it (so Sue wrote that Sue is a slob). The videos we post have to be inserted via YouTube so feel free to click on them - they are our videos. We are trying to find a way to allow readers to comment.

Asphalt Casino Parking Lot view.

So for Clearlake, CA(1), We booked another parking lot! This time adjacent to a Casino. For those of you who have seen the movie Lost in America, Sue did not lose the nest egg at the Craps table! It was a strange and shabby parking lot but still amazing wildlife including a pair of Ospreys. We are learning more about campsites and what to expect and what to avoid.

Overall,

Denis got tired of driving so Klaus took a turn at the wheel.
He wished his nephew, Rudolph "Rudy" Friend was here to help out!

Clearlake was an amazing place to visit for a week if you were a dedicated fisherperson. Otherwise it would not be a place we would visit again. Rating 6/10 - shabby campground, no firepit, little to do in the city.

The day after arriving we drove around and found a new campsite that was also strange but much more pretty and definitely not on asphalt.

The campground was a combo of folks who lived there full time and some visitors like us. All pretty run down. Like Monterey, it was chock full of feral cats. The park is right on the lake on one side, and on the cays on the other. Our site had a view of the lake and we were right on the cays. So many birds! So many baby duckies and geese!

Lake View obscured by massive MH that left a few days later.

Lots of locals fish there and people were catching massive catfish (one was 20 lbs! but carp were also spawning and jumping out of the water splashing loudly in the morning and at sunset. The park was not well kept and sadly, our site had a lot of thorns and foxtails which began the attempt to find boots that will fit on Klaus's bizarre-ass flippers. Murray has 4 that fit him well and even though he feels obliged to high step when wearing them, they stay on. Dog walks were nice in the park with occasional deer sightings.

Giant stein of beer and elegant blackberry Paloma

Food and drink: we tried a spot in downtown Clearlake called Stein and Wein which was Polish/German/ American Bistro. It's right on the lake and even has a dock for boaters. We shared a bratwurst, braised red cabbage (both delicious) and pork schnitzel which was meh. They had big liters of German beer! We liked it so much we went back a second time. This time Denis tried the currywurst which he claimed was good but it wasn't. Cool thing is we saw two bald eagles casually flying around.

Can you spot the feral cat?

The economy is depressed here as well and one finds battered trailers right next to fancy lake homes. We could not ride our bikes much as we would have to use a pretty busy highway to get anywhere. Semi abandoned boats wereused as feral cat homeless shelters.

Hiking - there were some nice trails and happily, no mountain lion warnings! Fires were not allowed in so we stayed in most nights. It was generally pretty windy so we were not too sad about that.

Nice area in campground where Sue would birdwatch. Thanks, Merlin!

Denis had a busy work week so did not get out as much as usual. Just one hike around a meadow and up a ridge. All in all, not the most exciting place if you are not fisherfolk.(2)

Next its the Redwood forrest!

And now some random pictures!