Cameron Park, CA

Cameron Park sits in the Sierra foothills on Highway 50 in El Dorado County, about thirty miles east of Sacramento, with the road to Lake Tahoe continuing up the grade. El Dorado Hills is the next town toward the valley and Shingle Springs the next one up the grade. Developer Larry Cameron laid the groundwork in the 1950s, and the town grew from that plan with a golf course, a lake and an airport built in beside the houses. Its six Houseberry neighborhoods feel different from one another. The country club area and Eastwood Park make up the central pair, with the course and the restaurants along Palmer Drive on one side and a park and a small strip of shops on Cameron Park Drive on the other. Cameron Park, the lake neighborhood, wraps around the water, and Cameron Estates is the Coach Lane shopping district. Bar J Ranch sits by Highway 50 and Country Club Drive and holds Christa McAuliffe Park. Cameron Airpark Estates is the outlier, a residential airfield where the garages are hangars. Across town the homes are mostly single-family houses spread among oaks, gray pines and manzanita, on streets that wind with the hills instead of following a grid. Outdoors, the lake's mile-long loop and its 18-hole disc golf course draw the most traffic, and the community services district maintains about ten parks, from ball fields to a skate park and an off-leash dog area. Food runs from sit-down to counter. Wally's Pizza Bar does wings and craft beer, Papa Gianni's has served Italian classics for more than twenty years, and Moonraker Millhouse and Moirae Brewing both pour their own beer. Cameron Park Coffee & Deli on Cameron Park Drive is the small cafe people recommend for smoothies and pastries. Fork Lift, the Nugget Markets grocery on Coach Lane, handles the weekly shop, and nearly everything else is also a drive. Highway 50 is the commute route toward Sacramento, a weekday commuter bus follows it, and an hourly local El Dorado Transit loop links Cameron Park with Shingle Springs. Summer here runs hot and dry, and since you drive for almost every trip, those afternoons are best spent at the lake early or in the evening. A lake, a golf course and a working runway all sit within the same few miles.