Cameron Park, Cameron Park, CA

Cameron Park Lake anchors the part of Cameron Park just off Highway 50 in El Dorado County, and most days it shows. A mile-long loop of paved and dirt path rings the water, an 18-hole disc golf course winds through the grounds, and catch-and-release fishing happens off the banks. Walkers come for the birds as well, since waterfowl and songbirds use the lake and the pond beside it. The streets around it are mostly single-family homes set among native oaks and gray pines, the shady cover the lower Sierra foothills are known for. The community began as a planned development in the 1950s and grew in stages over the decades, so the houses read as a mix of building years rather than one look. Rasmussen Park, with its ball field, is right next door, and Eastwood Park is about two thirds of a mile away. Moirae Brewing Company, on Winterhaven Court, has a big patio and a stack of board games. Fast Wok is where people go for orange chicken and the paper wrapped chicken. For coffee, the name locals pass along is Cameron Park Coffee & Deli on Cameron Park Drive, just up the road in Eastwood Park, which makes whole-food smoothies and has gluten free options. The Coach Lane shopping district has the full grocery stop nearby. Sacramento is about thirty miles west on Highway 50, and the same highway keeps climbing toward Tahoe. El Dorado Transit runs an hourly Cameron Park and Shingle Springs loop on weekdays, and a weekday commuter bus goes to Sacramento in the mornings. Summer afternoons run hot and dry, so the lake loop is a morning or evening plan from June through September, and nearly every other errand means getting in the car. Early on a summer day the lake is quiet enough that you hear the birds before you hear the traffic on 50.