10 Days in the Mountains – Part one – Mt. Madonna Santa Clara County Park
Posted by Family RV in Family RV Fun, Mt Madonna County Park, Santa Clara County Parks on July 19, 2010
Our 4th of July week vacation with the travel trailer was spent in two sets of mountains: Mt Madonna (in the Santa Cruz Mountains) and Shaver Lake (in the Central Sierra National Forrest).
The actual 4th holiday weekend we spent close to home in Mt. Madonna County Park. This was a very nice getaway and allowed for hiking, biking and even some very fun strawberry picking!
Mt Madonna Facilities
The park is tucked up in the mountains above Gilroy, CA (map). The RV sites are spacious and shady, and many of the facilities are fairly new. The bathroom/shower building by our site seemed almost brand-new and was a very short walk from our trailer. The campground offers power and water at the campground RV sites but no sewer. There is a dump station at the campground though that is very conveniently located.
One word of warning about the road at the campground turn off (at Pole Line Road). It is really steep! Use your lowest gear if you are pulling anything when driving up the road. It is an almost constant climb to the ranger check-in station. The first time up it can be a little hairy.
Kids castle at Mt Madonna County Park
Right next to our campsite site the kids found a grove of redwood trees in what is called a “fairy ring.” Younger redwood trees grow in a circle around the stump of an older tree and take nutrients from the old tree. The kids thought it looked like a castle because the stump was hollowed out making a perfect lookout/castle. This provided HOURS and DAYS of fun for the children staying in the RV campground for the weekend.
During our stay there we noticed the campground was not as full as the website had indicated. I’ve noticed many times people book a reservation but just don’t show up. It’s always a good idea if you can’t initially get a reservation to try again a little closer to your desired arrival date. You may be surprised a month or so before you want to go…you may actually get in!
Kids at the Miller Ranch Ruins
Our first morning there we went on a guided hike to the Henry Miller Ranch Ruins. Only the foundations remain of these historical homes, which would have been considered legendary in their day. Henry Miller and his family would love to come to Mt. Madonna in the summer and enjoy the coolness and beauty of the area. It is a short hike, but bring bug spray. the mosquitoes were out on our hike.
The week before our trip to Mt. Madonna, Sunset Magazine’s ran an article on spending a day in Watsonville, which is just on the other side of the ridge in the valley from our campground.
Of the activities listed, we choose to take a bike ride along a wetlands reserve park which was scenic and beautiful. The ride began at the wetlands center which we should have taken more time to explore, but the kids were rearing to get going on their bikes. Luckily there were several informative wildlife stations with information about what you were looking at along the way.
Claire picking strawberries
After the wetlands we headed to a “pick ‘em yourself” strawberry farm. It was really fun and the strawberries were very tasty. We ran into some friends from San Jose, who had done just what we were doing … following the Sunset Magazine article and enjoying their day.
Sunday (the 4th of July) we decided to go to Morgan Hill for their fireworks show. The fireworks were set to music and were very well coordinated. It was a good experience and the kids had a great time. We were able to take the back-roads back to Mt. Madonna and were in our beds before 11 p.m.
Our final day at Mt. Madonna started with a bit of high fog which burned off quickly but left a breezy day. We looked at the park map to see if there was anything we could do before pulling out. There was an accessible trail to visit historic twin redwoods which had been deemed to be almost 250 years old! We headed out on our bikes to visit the trees and walk a bit on a little wooded trail.
Ben tries to climb the giant redwood
We spent the rest of the morning cleaning the trailer for the next leg of our holiday trip which would take us to Shaver Lake and Camp Edison in the Central Sierra Nevada. The kids spent the time in the magical castle and enjoying Mt. Madonna to the very last minute!
What to do when the weather isn’t perfect – Sunset State Beach
Posted by Family RV in Cal State Parks, California camping, Family Camping, Family RV Fun, Sunset State Beach on June 7, 2010
Set for a mid-May trip, we finally got a weekend reservation at Sunset State Beach (Map) located south of Rio Del Mar, CA.
Sunset State Beach campground and beach
We’d heard a lot about the campground and looked forward to going there and having a great weekend trip on the coast.
It being mid-May we thought the weather would be no problem, but this is no usual weather year so yes we did run into some not so perfect weather.
We pulled into our campground late on Friday night with little problems (though me backing-up the trailer always involves some level of drama).
On Sat. morning we got up to a little fog but it burned off pretty quickly. So we packed-up and headed to the beach.
It is a short drive down to the beach with some really nice picnic and barbecue facilities.
Sunset State Beach
What makes Sunset State Beach so unique is that it is an extremely long and flat beach. I’m not sure how long it is but it sure looked like you would be walking for hours until you reached the end of it.
But we never really got the chance to walk along the beach for very long.
The trouble was that the wind was howling in from the surf and making our day at the beach a little difficult to enjoy.
First we tried to make a wind break with our chairs and sun umbrellas. But of course the wind was just too strong and we had to retreat to the other side of the dunes where the wind wasn’t so strong, but alas not on the beach itself.
Of course the kids took the weather hiccups in stride and seemed to have a great time no matter what.
Kids at Sunset Beach Campground
Later at the campground the kids had fun in a field of wild flowers just outside our trailer door.
Sunday morning we woke-up to a cloudy and raining morning. All the tent campers were very quick to pack-up and leave at the first sign of rain.
We also left Sunday morning, but stayed cozy and warm in our travel trailer until we were ready to leave.
This campground does deserve another try when the weather is better. But it is hard to get a reservation in the summer.
Also the campground doesn’t have hook-ups but we could dump our black and gray water at the New Brighton State Beach campground.
Avila Beach Didn’t Disappoint
Posted by Family RV in Avila Beach, California camping, Family RV Fun, RV Camping on May 4, 2010
We were able to escape to Avila Beach for part of the kids spring break this April. This was another 
AMAZING experience. Our favorite place to camp is on Babe Lane with the San Luis Harbor RV spots. There has been a lot of improvements just since our trip in November. The highway leading to the harbor has been resurfaced and there has been considerable work done to make sure the maximum number of RVs have the best area to park in along the edge of the bay.
We like to stay up on Babe Lane which overlooks the Highway and the bay, we stayed here last April and didn’t have a problem getting in this April. It is a first come, first serve RV area and we’ve heard from others in the area it is nearly impossible to get in over the summer. What we really like about the Babe Lane location is that there are 1. full hookups, 2. a place for the kids to ride their bikes and explore and 3. very little traffic. We took in a lot of favorites and enjoyed some great weather.
Ben and Star the starfish
The first day we spent entirely at Avila Beach. We got there early and we stayed through the Farmers Market which happens on Fridays. While we’ve experience a lot of wonderful sand castle and kite flying days here, this day brought something even more memorable and will cement us to continue our visits to Avila Beach. While playing in the morning surf and all that an earlier in the week storm stirred up, Ben pulled on a long segment of seaweed and came up with a gorgeous ochre starfish clinging to relatively small stones. The starfish was very much alive and seemed to be really healthy. We noticed that a lot of children were going in to the new Avila Beach Sea Life Center and decided to take the starfish over there to see if they could help us with where we should put the starfish.
We found out that the Sea Life Center was still pending their grand opening which is happening on April 24, 2010. We got a great sneak peak and the director of the Sea Life Center took in our found starfish right into their new aquariums. She asked Ben what he’d like to name his starfish and he said…Star. So now we have a permanent place to visit Star every time we come to Avila Beach.
Sammy enjoying the pool
On Saturday we checked the weather and saw that it was going to be a mid 70s day which is wonderful in the area and perfect for swimming at the Avila Hot Springs Resort which has two water slides that my kids would be happy to go down even in low 60s temps. There is also a sulphur hot springs pool where adults and kids 8 and up can warm up! We were pleasantly surprised by the cafe that is now at the resort and they took our orders and brought our food poolside. We stayed from 11 am to 4 pm.
We visited the Fisherman’s Beach which is directly below Babe Lane and the kids helped a friend they met dig a huge sand bunker while the tide came in. In their digging they uncovered a sea slug. These enormous slugs of the sea usually are trollers of the deep and a retired fisherman said we should drop it back out in the ocean as far as we could take it. There was a kayaker there who did the job. I wasn’t able to get a picture of the Sea Slug because I didn’t have a camera but I did find some pictures on line which sort of resembled it.
Sea Slug
After the beach we realized we didn’t have anything to BBQ so we decided to treat ourselves and try out The Custom House restaurant. There was a live band playing at the adjoining Rick’s bar and we enjoyed a great dinner of shrimp and scallops. The kids then enjoyed winding down the evening by flying kites on the beach.
Though our time at Avila Beach was considerably shorter than we would have liked, it is one of the trips we’ll likely be talking about for years!
Trailer Backup Tips from the Long Long Honeymooners
Posted by Family RV in Backing up a travel trailer, RV Travel on March 11, 2010
I love Sean and Kristie of the longlonghoneymoon.com web site. They are the rock stars of the RV set. And Sean makes hands down the best videos in the biz. Here is another one on “the scoop” method of backing in your trailer in to a camp site.
A Trip to the Snow and Sierra Summit
Posted by Family RV in Family Camping, Family Togetherness, Skiing, Winter Camping on February 20, 2010
With the President’s holiday (and the kids being out of school for the entire week!) we decided to go up to the snow for the long weekend Friday through Monday.
We didn’t want to go to Lake Tahoe and deal with the crowds and the attitudes we have experienced there. So we decided to go up to the Southern Sierras and go skiing at Sierra Summit. Which is about one hour and a half East of Fresno, CA.
Sierra Summit is East of Fresno
It turned out to be a really good choice. The roads were pretty much traffic free and the resort was busy, but not uncomfortably crowded.
But before we got up to the snow, we had to decide where we would park the travel trailer. We were a little squeamish about driving up to the snow with our trailer, so we decided to park it at an RV park in Fresno and drive up to Sierra Summit for our day trips to the snow.
Two bugs watching a movie
In hindsight there was no need to worry about taking our trailer up to the snow (there were even RVs camping in the parking lot of the resort). The roads were very clear and there was space at Camp Edison at Shaver Lake. Next year we will probably do that. But only if the weather is guaranteed to be clear and the roads are plowed and dry.
We may have to do a little winterizing of the trailer (maybe buy a heat
Sam learning snow boarding
blanket for the water tank or an insulated water hose), but nothing major because it only get down to around 20F at night.
We drove around Camp Edison when we were up there and it looked like a really great place to park the trailer. They were recently rated very high in a Sunset Magazine article on the best campgrounds in the Western US.
Both kids loved the snow. Sam seemed to take to snow boarding, while Ben liked skiing. They are both now telling their friends they are accomplished at their chosen sport after only one lesson.
Our Holiday Trip: A Ton of Fun, and one Little Doh!
Posted by Family RV in Family RV Fun, LegoLand, San Diego, San Diego Wild Animal Park, San Diego Zoo, Sea World on January 13, 2010
Well we’re back from our big holiday two week trip to San Diego. We are back to our every day routine of work and school and all the other activities of every day life.
Kids at the San Diego Wild Animal Park
The trip was a whirlwind of activity. We had multi-day trips to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, Sea World, the San Diego Zoo and LegoLand. Looking at the photos and video from the trip it is great to remember all the fun we had. We kept the kids busy everyday, all day and they loved every minute of it.
The one thing we learned most about this trip, and car traveling with the children, is that they can handle only about four hours of car travel time. Basically the length of two movies and that is it. After that they’ve got to get out and run around and not get back in the car for the rest of the day. For a five year old and an eight year old I think that is pretty good. In the future I think we will be sticking with the four hour travel rule.
That meant that we broke our trip up going down and coming home. Staying both times in Bakersfield along the way. It made the drive less of a grind and we visited friends both stays in B-town.
Kids breakfast on day after christmas
As for making this trip as economical as possible, I give us a C+ grade. Of our two week trip, we stayed one week at a San Diego county regional park called Sweetwater Regional Park. That saved us about $30 per day. Other than that we probably spent too much on everything from treats to food to souvenirs , but man it was hard not to. We are not sure if we are coming back next Christmas, so we indulged.
It was really great that there were other families staying at the park too. We hosted an impromptu breakfast the day after Christmas. The kids loved it.
Elephants at the San Diego Wild Animal Park
The San Diego Wild Animal Park and San Diego Zoo were spectacular and I think Claire and I enjoyed them the most. The amount and variety of animals at both places is amazing.
The below video is of me feeding Lorikeet birds at the zoo. That was a lot of fun and really cool.
Sea World was ok. About like last year, except they had an ice skating rink the kids really loved. Watch the below video of Ben falling on his butt and then skating over to his mom and sister as she throws a snow ball at him.
We spent new year’s eve at LegoLand. They had a fun new year’s eve party complete with fireworks. We counted down to the new year at 6pm. We were back at our trailer and in bed by 9pm.
Kids with Lego Santa
My little, or should I say big, Doh (and this is a Homer Simpson, Doh) is that I left my laptop in the car at Sea World and it got stolen. Luckily that is all they got (and it was a five year old laptop, so there thief who ever you are). Lesson learned: don’t leave valuables in a parked car.
The Big Holiday Trip: On the Road in Economy Class
Posted by Family RV in California camping, Family Camping, Family RV Fun, Traveling with Kids on December 19, 2009
The big tank at SeaWorld
Tomorrow we take-off for the longest (by distance and time) of our family RV trips this year. We are going to San Diego for two weeks. My wife is off work and the kids are off school, so we are going for it. I will have to do a little work during the trip, but when you work for yourself your time is never really your own.
photo credit: kwalk628
We are going to try to be as economical as possible. Our trips to SeaWorld and the San Diego Zoo and Animal Park are already paid for because we bought a year membership to both last year (yes we did this same trip last year).
Panda at the San Diego Zoo
But unlike last year we are trying to stay at county parks and other more economical places. Last year we stayed a really special RV park, Campland on the Bay. It was a little expensive (but very cool), so this year we are going to be staying at three different campgrounds and they are all under $35 per night.
photo credit: PedroCancion
We only considered doing this again this year if we could keep expenses way down. So we won’t be eating out much and we are really going to watch everything we buy. Needless to say our biggest expense will be gas. And the next biggest expense of course will be food. I will be using every trick I know to keep our fuel use to a minimum and most meals will be at the RV. Also the trip will be one of the kids Christmas presents, as we keep telling them.
I think it will be fun to see how cheap we can be. So I will be tweeting along our trip (twitter username: FamilyRVFun).
Follow our exploits in family fun and economy. I will let you know the nitty-gritty on what we spend on and how much. And also I’ll try to pass along anything we learn on economical RV travel.
Thanksgiving dinner on the beach
Posted by Family RV in California camping, Family Camping, Family RV Fun, Traveling with Kids on December 5, 2009
So we always go to the Pismo Beach area every year for the long Thanksgiving weekend. This has been the second year with our trailer. Before that we rented a house. And before that we rented an RV and spent the weekend before Thanksgiving at a Pismo RV park (we couldn’t get a reservation for Thanksgiving). This was the start of our RV bug.
Thanksgiving dinner at Avila Beach
The weather is always really good during Thanksgiving. The locals call November their Indian summer. And I have to agree with them. We have spent many a sunny afternoon on the beach. And this year we had Thanksgiving dinner on our favorite place Avila Beach, which is just a few miles south of Pismo. We had a really fun time and went to the beach every day that we were there.
We stayed at a really family-friendly RV park in Oceano Beach (just north of Pismo). It is a small county RV park called Oceano Memorial Campground. It has a little kids park at the center and it also has a very large kids playground down the street. For families with kids you can’t ask for a better place to stay. And we are definitely coming back to it next year (we made our reservation for 2010 while we were there).
So if you want to stay at the beach and be at a really family friendly RV campground. Check out Oceano Campground
A really good playground by the RV park
Having fun at Avila Beach
Ben is having fun on the beach. I think he is digging to China.
A Trip to the Pinnacles National Monument
Posted by Family RV in California camping, Family RV Fun, National Parks on November 14, 2009
With a couple of days off in the middle of the week for Veterans Day, we decided to take a short trip to
the Pinnacles National Monument for some hiking, cave exploration and family fun time.
Pinnacles is a funny place. Driving up highway 25, the area seems unremarkable with a lot of farm and ranch land. Even when you turn off to the park area on highway 146, it just seems like there isn’t much there: Oak trees, grey pines and rolling hills. Ok. so why is this a national monument? Teddy Roosevelt made it one over 100 years ago for gosh sake.
When you get to the campground, there still isn’t much to look at. And right now the campground is in a state of renewal and repair. They are currently building a new RV campsite area in what is currently the group campsite area. They are also building a beautiful new wood rail fence along the park road – I think they got some Obama money.
The rock formations of The Pinnacles National Monument
The yellow billed magpie
Having fun on the trail
But when you get to the hiking trails it all starts to make sense. When you look up at the rock formations, you’ve just got to say WOW at just about every turn on the hiking trail. It almost seems like you are in the Utah hills with the red rock formations that rise above you. Also the wild life is incredible. We saw tons of deer and an interesting bird, the yellow billed Magpie.
Once the new RV camp site is complete (probably by late spring), we will be coming back to enjoy the hiking trails and spring flowers.
One thing you should know is that there is no water hookup for the RV sites. As long as you bring your own water can to fill-up your tank (we have a six gallon one), you will be fine.
Below is a video of some deer that were grazing right by our campsite close to night fall on Nov. 12th.
Cal State Parks – Closure Details Finally Released
Posted by Family RV in Cal State Parks on November 1, 2009
Well the last shoe finally dropped on the on-going saga of the California state budget and the Cal State Park system. The “Service Reduction Plan” was released on Tuesday. The Service Reductions are one part of the $14.2 million, one-time budget savings plan Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced on September 25 to keep parks open with the least disruption to visitors.
One of the majestic redwood at Big Basin State Park
It didn’t turn out to be as drastic as we all feared, but the cuts were still pretty deep and wide spread. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and one of my favorite State Parks, Big Basin will see campground closures Sunday through Thursday from December through March. Well I guess I can live with that given how much that the State needs to make-up in the budget deficit. I’m just concerned that these cuts will become permanent. Let’s all hope for a better economy and more tax revenue for the state.
You can read about the details of the park reductions at the Cal State Park Foundation website
