Help me find a Vacation home

So, I recently went to my uncles home in Sisters oregon and was inspired. They have a home in Black Butte Ranch, and it's awesome. But its a 7.5 hour drive straight, with no stops. So my wife and I are looking for something a bit closer to home. And I need your help finding it. Here is the list of requirements:
1) No more than 150 miles from Sacramento, So think Redding on the north end, Mammoth on the south end, Reno on the east end, and I think the channel islands on the west end.
2) Must be in the mountains or on the coast, we live in Woodland and want to get away from the valley heat.
3) A lake within 1 hours drive, we also Wakeboard so we want some lake access to enjoy that as well, and no wally lakes, so in otherwords folsom sucks, and Tahoe is too rough to go wakeboarding in.
4) Now this may be a bit of dreaming, a developed trail system within a 30 minute drive but preferrably right out the door! I rode a number of Mountain bike trails in Bend and its amazing! And to think the Mackinzie river trail is only a 1 hour drive from Black Butte is sweet!
5) Price is no object. Now now, I am not Donald trump, but we do well for ourselves and want to try to take advantage of the current real estate market, so houses on lake Tahoe are out, but up the road a little I could be convinced.
6) CA is good, but NV is better, this state sucks, and if I can avoid paying more income tax, all the better. I own my own business so relocation is not an issue.

Any and all help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance and I look forward to hearing your suggestions.

(Message edited by mikerod29 on July 08, 2009)

if it's closer than 150miles, it's not a vacation, duffis!

by the way, you wouldn't happen to have sara's contact info, would you?

Har har har, duffis.... and no I don't have her contact info, haven't seen her in a loooooong time. How you been by the way, its been a while since we saw each other, I think maybe Tonys wedding?

By the way if it's longer than 150 miles, it's impossible to get to on short notice!

You should check out Lake Almanor near Chester, CA. It fits into every category mentioned above. We are looking for a house there right now. It is about 40 miles east of Chico and an amazing lake. You could have a house very close to the lake for a decent price and there are tons of trails around that area (Mt. Lassen is the backdrop).

I gotta say.... I love having a place in tahoe. It fits all you criteria, plus has great winter sports. The bargains are all over the place up there right now, too.

Tahoe Donner would be my personal recomendation. It gets a ton of snow in the winter, which is fun, and is right on top of the Emmigrant Trail. You can ride/hike from your door over to Prosser (hell, you could ride to reno if you wanted to). There are also a bunch of lakes within about a 15 minute drive.

Plus, once you're in TD you don't have to deal with getting through any traffic or crowds in tahoe city or truckee unless you want to. There is a small store on the hill and The Lodge is a great restaraunt.

Seth,
So I love Almanor, but not much else up there than chester, thats the only drawback, My aunt actually has a house there. I was unaware that there are many Mountain bike trails, where are they?

Evan,
I hadn't thought about Tahoe Donner. I love tahoe, but my only drawback is the traffic going up, but that being said it's really a short quick drive and there are lots of opportunities up there right now.

Everybody, thanks for the info, Keep the suggestions coming

Donner would be really nice. I was driving up to Sugar Bowl from TC last April. Donner was all glass and some guy was pulling his Nautique out of his garage. I had to think a minute, what would I rather be doing?

Thats why I love it! When I think of vacation, I think of getting away from it all. I know there is a 20 mile trail that I think follows the old railroad all the way to Susanville. I am not to into mountain biking but my dad has done that a few times. There are a couple bike shops in Chester that im sure could give you the low down on the spots.

How about Downieville, Nevada City, Grass Valley, area?
Some of the best mountain biking I've done. And you're close to Bullard's Bar, my favorite lake in Cali.

blue lake springs, Arnold, CA. In the pines, right around the snow line. 30 mins to New Melones, 30 mins to Bear Valley. When it's 105 at the lake, it's 85 @ BLS. Not so crowded, easy to get to. Golf, fishing, biking all right there. Snowflake Lodge for the summer family camp activities for kids. A quickly growing wine industry in and around Murphy's has helped to spawn nicer resturants. But don't take the term "Lake" in "Blue Lake Springs" literally. It should be called "Blue Pond Springs". Still a cool place.

....and still reasonable priced...even before things slipped into the dumper.

To add to what Chris said....North San Juan. A "town" between Nevada City and Bullards. Drove through it a few days ago. For the price of a place at Tahoe, I think you could by the town of North San Juan.

Mike,

Why bother w/ a location that has any mt. bike trails, you never get out to ride anyway....

Sierra City and Graegle are a are cool locations w/o the high prices of the Tahoe basin.

Malibudude,
Actually I'm starting to ride more, just not in that non challenging place you XC freaks like so much How you been?

There is a trail at Bullards Bar ~13 miles long, it starts at the vista point. Emigrants trail, hole in the ground, page meadows...a plethora anywhere up in the Sierra..

haha north san juan must be the whitetrash capital of northern cali. I wont even stop for gas there haha.

Downieville is a mountain bike riding heaven, the lakes up there like sardine lake are amazing (not for wakeboarding) and nevada city is a really cool town. Plus you have the yuba river, bullards, and great hiking.

HB at lake Shasta?

taylor- We always figured NSJ was a type of farm team where they learn the ropes of crystal meth processing...once they figure it out they move "uptown" to Olivehurst.