June 8-15, 2015

After moving 13 times in the last 5 1/2 weeks, we decided to take a little break and stop for a full week. We found this nice little campground in Oakdale, CA called Woodward Reservoir. When we arrived, we paid for only two nights, not knowing how well we would like the place (and more importantly, not knowing how our cell phone reception–and thus our Internet connection–would be). But after finding out the price (very low) and after finding we could get a decent 4G signal with the cell phone booster hooked up, we decided to stay for 7 nights.

The weather was a shock after being in the high mountains for a few weeks. It was 104F the day we drove from Yosemite to Woodward. Luckily, we found an open full hookup spot right next to the lake and spent the afternoon swimming to cool off. The heat mellowed out the rest of the week and it was very comfortable. We spent our days catching up on work and school in the mornings, then swimming, fishing, and relaxing in the afternoons. The kids quickly made friends with the children next door as they splashed around in the water. I found a good fishing hole and caught several bass (none were big enough to be keepers though).

Oakdale is a nice rural town and claims to be the “Cowboy Capital of the World”. It is surrounded by dairies and has a little cheese factory that makes about 10 different kinds of gouda. The sign out front says it was voted the best gouda cheese in the nation. We stopped in for a tour to learn how cheese is made and of course we had to get a bag of cheese curds. Not quite as good as cheddar curds, but they were still pretty squeaky.

Stay Away Geese!

Dinner at House of Beef

Dinner at House of Beef

Dinner at House of Beef

Woodward Reservoir, Oakdale, CA