Archive for category California camping
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!
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 Park Foundation President Speaks
Posted by Family RV in Cal State Parks, California camping, Family Camping on September 16, 2009
Watch this impassioned speech by the President of the Cal State Park Foundation, Elizabeth Goldstein.
She lays down the law on what we need to do to save our parks.
The closure list has been delayed until late next week.
Make a donation to the Cal State Park Foundation fight to stop the park closures.
Cal State Parks Still in Way of Govenor’s Cut
Posted by Family RV in Cal State Parks, California camping on September 11, 2009
Cal state parks are still at risk, but there is some good news.
Senate Bill 679 passed the Ca State legislature and waits for the Gov. to sign. It requires that no land acquired for the state park system may be used for non-park uses without the express authority of an act of the Legislature and without a plan to replace those park lands with lands of equal environmental and fair market value.
Let’s hope the state gets creative and works with private business to keep the parks open.
But senate bill 679 insures the state won’t lose State park land.
CA State Parks Rally this weekend – Over 100 Parks Could Close
Posted by Bob in California camping, Family RV Fun, Western USA RV Parks on September 4, 2009
These are trying time for all of us as we weather the economic downturn.
California has been hit extra hard. The State is trying to cut its budget deficit where ever it can and it has turn its red pen to the state park system. There is a proposal to close up to 100 of the 200+ state parks.
There are events at many CA state parks over the labor day weekend. We will be at the New Brighton Beach State Park to show our support.
Show your support if you can and make a donation or paricipate in a rally.
Wrights Lake: It was a beautiful week
Posted by Family RV in California camping, Eldorado National Forrest, Family RV Fun, Wrights Lake on August 18, 2009
The kids are loving life at Wrights Lake
Well we just got back from Wrights Lake and boy did we have a good time.
If you don’t know where it is, Wrights Lake is located 30 minutes South of Lake Tahoe in the Eldorado National Forrest. The lake looks up at the majestic rocky peaks of the Sierra Nevada and Desolation Wilderness.
We left early Monday morning from our home in San Jose and were up at the lake by 2pm.
The road coming in to the Wrights Lake Campground
When we saw the Wrights Lake campground sign and then caught a glimpse of the lake, we were beside ourselves to find our camp site and get out on the lake.
This is the place where we caught the RV bug last summer when we tent camped here. We thought, wow this is great but sleeping in a tent and cooking over the campfire is just ok. So one month later we bought our Thor Cal travel trailer and yes the rest is history and being chronicled in this blog.
So we spent a full week at Wrights Lake this year, six nights and seven very full days coming home late Sunday evening. We filled our days canoeing on the lake, playing on the beach and trying our luck at fishing up the filler stream for the lake (no we didn’t catch any fish, but we saw a lot of them). Wrights Lake is a totally non-power boat lake. You can only have canoes, kayaks and sail boats on the lake. So this means the type of people who come to the lake are the more “environmental” types and also the campground is quieter in the evening. If you have a power boat I recommend you go to Icehouse reservoir which is on the road to Wrights Lake (about 10 miles below the lake).
The family canoeing on Wrights Lake
We also met a lot of friendly people. And many of them with children the same age as our kids. Our last night we were invited to dinner with a family who were having a sort of family reunion. The grandfather has been going to Wrights Lake since the 1940s!
Camping Recommendations for Wrights Lake
If you are passing through Placerville on your way to the lake (and your a Safeway shopper), I highly recommend you stop at the Palcerville Safeway (at the Missouri Flats off-ramp). Buy your food there and then fill-up at the Safeway gas station. You can save up to 60 cents a gallon.
Check-in at the campground isn’t until 2pm, so plan a late afternoon arrival.
There are two campgrounds. The one closest to the lake is for tent campers only (sites 1-19). The campground for sites 20 -68 inlcude spaces for RV camping (though no power or water hookup. It’s dry camping only).
One note about water: It isn’t allowed to hook a hose up to the facet to fill your water tank. So bring a large water bucket to fill you tank (I bought a six gallon jug for future trips).
The best spaces for RVs are on the side of the campground of sites 38 – 68 . The campground road is wider and easier to maneuver.
The picture on the right is of a tree on the side of the campground with the narrow road. As you can see many an RV has made its mark.
So we had a great time and will be back next year. And next year we plan to do some hiking up in the hills above the lake. There are many small alpine lakes nestled up among the granite cliffs.
Reservation Information
- CALL 1-877-444-6777, four days to six months in
advance of your first night’s stay.
- WEBSITE: www.Recreation.gov
The campground is generally open between late June and mid-October. These dates are affected by snow conditions. The campground is at about 7,000’ elevation.
Location: 23 miles east of Placerville on Highway 50, 11 miles north on Ice House Road (Forest Road 3), 9 miles east on Forest Road 32 (Wrights Lake Tie Road), and 2 miles north on Forest Road 4 (Wrights Lake Rd).
CA Camping: Coyote Lake Harvey Bear Ranch County Park
Posted by Family RV in California camping, Family Camping, RV Camping, Western USA RV Parks on July 20, 2009
We spent the weekend at a local county park that was a surprisingly great place to RV.
We wanted to go somewhere close to save on gas. So we settled on Coyote Lake Harvey Bear Ranch County Park. It is a park in the foothills above Gilroy, CA and managed by the Santa Clara County.
We weren’t expecting much (it’s a county park after all). But what we found were new and well designed facilities and a near-by lake that was a great place to go boating.
They seemed like almost brand new bathrooms and showers
They supply power and water but sadly no sewer. Though there is a dump station avalable to RVers
The best part of the trip was the friendly people we met who were looking for the same inexpensive, close weekend get away. The kids made quick friends with many of the other kids camping at the park. And we also met other family RVers who we share kids of the same age and a love of RVing.
Another pleasant surprise was that the county park rangers put on a little presentation on Sat. evening complete with a video showing all the wild life that live in the hills around the park. It was very entertaining – and surprising to know the variety of animals who live in the park.
During our stay we saw wild boars (yes there were and a lot of them but they always kept their distance) wild turkeys and deer.
Remember to bring your own shade in the summer
Though be warned: You need to bring your own shade to this park when you come in the summer. The RV campground area is fairly new and void of mature trees for shade. So you’ll need a portable canopy to make shade around your camp area.
Here is how to get there – From U.S. Highway 101 in Gilroy., take the Leavesley Road exit. Proceed east on Leavesley Road 2 miles to New Avenue. Proceed north on New Avenue .5 miles to Roop Road. Proceed east on Roop Road 3.5 miles into the foothills. Turn left into the park and proceed one mile north to the entrance station and visitor center.
The kids put together a talent show on Sat. evening
To reserve a space you can call (408) 355-2201 to make a camping reservation or go online at https://gooutsideandplay.org.
Below is a campground map of the area we camped at.
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