Memorial Day travelers head to local lakes for vacation
Lakes Nacimiento and San Antonio are open for Memorial Day weekend, and with a wet winter behind us, the waters there are looking good.
“I love this place because it’s full, there’s a lot of lake to be ‘laked’ on,” said Andrea Moore, a San Jose resident who visited Lake Nacimiento on Friday.
Plenty of people love to go fishing, wake boarding or just relax. Some planned a trip to Lake Nacimiento many months ago, and high gas prices and cloudy weather were not going to stop their Memorial Day weekend.
“We went to Costco and filled up the boat,” said Lee Story, a Bay Area resident. “When you add it up, food, cabins, all that, sure it has an impact, but not enough to keep us home.”
For lake resorts, that kind of vacation attitude is crucial to their success.
“We are hoping for a really good weekend. The weather is scaring a few people away I think,” said Nathan Merkle, the general manager of Monterey Lakes Recreation Company.
But this year, they are counting on something they did not get enough of in the last years: water. Last Memorial Day weekend, Lake Nacimiento’s water levels were down to 10 percent capacity.
But after months of what seemed like non-stop storms, it is now at 80 percent.
“We rose 85 vertical feet over the winter time,” said Merkle.
“Oh, it’s fantastic. Last year we were here, and I think it was about half this percent capacity. Now there’s just so much more water,” said Story.
Memorial Day weekend is typically the busiest kick-off weekend for summer here. The resorts expect to sell out of campgrounds and have several thousand people visit.
People say the lakes are the perfect places to start your summer.
“The weather looks pretty good. It’s going to get a little cold, a little rain, but we don’t care. It’s going to be great,” said Story.
“It’s going to be a beautiful summer for us,” said Merkle.
If the weather puts a damper on things this weekend, the resorts here on the lake still have July Fourth and Labor Day to make up for any lost tourism.
