My wife and I have started looking in the foothills of the Sierras (California) where we could buy or build a vacation/retirement home. We live and work in the SF bay area. We prefer pine-forested areas compared to scrub oak, below the snow line, within close proximity to public or private lakes for our 21 foot power boat. Being close to the ski slopes is a plus and being within an hour of a major metropolitan area is also a plus. We don’t want to be too isolated and we like the idea of a gated community (better safety, neighbors with similar interests etc.)
This weekend we visited “Lake of the Pines” and “Lake Wildwood”, both in Nevada County. We liked the area around LWW better because it has more pine trees (higher altitude?) and the houses aren’t as tightly packed as LOTP seemed to be. The people all seemed friendly and both lakes looked nice.
Tell me what you know about LOTP or LWW in terms of a possible place to retire. What are the pluses and minuses?