We were really looking forward to our annual Thanksgiving trip to Avila Beach this year.

Picnic Table Canopy

As soon as we could, we consulted the holiday weather report to make sure we’d have good weather for our Thanksgiving dinner on the beach. Claire went out and purchased a new canopy tent with screen walls so that we could enjoy a view of the ocean from every direction during our dinner and not be harassed by the seagulls while we ate.

And because the temperature looked to be considerably colder this year we splurged on a propane ceramic heater that we could place underneath the picnic table if we needed to. But it turned out we didn’t.

Claire and her pumpkin cups. Yum!

Thanksgiving day was cold but beautifully clear. Claire spent about an hour and a half preparing our dinner. She made the pumpkin cups recipe which is featured in her newly finished book, The Mobile Kitchen (more on that in future blog posts).They looked great and they tasted great too! For our dinner this year we had ham, mashed potatoes with gravy, crescent rolls, cranberry sauce, fresh green beans, corn bread stuffing and topped off with the pumpkin cups!

A little after 1:00 p.m. we were enjoying Thanksgiving Dinner on the beach again. It was wonderful, there was a very light breeze and it felt great even though it was about 58 degrees.

Just off shore there was a bevy of activity with a large pod of seals and sea lions that were feeding, with birds diving into the water also to catch the fish. It was spectacular to see such activity. Not only were we feasting on Thanksgiving, so were they.

After dinner, the kids played in the sand and even though the temperature was cooler this year our kids managed to get into the surf and play in the waves. We had brought extra clothes so we did allow them to get wet.

We had our pumpkin cups with whipped cream and enjoyed the rest of the day till about 4:30 p.m. when the sun went over the hill and it got noticeably cooler. So time to pack-up and call it a very fun Thanksgiving day.

Roasting marshmallows by the fire

We stayed at the Oceano Campground again this year. There were many more families with kids this year that made it all that much more fun for the kids! The kids were well spaced in age and played well in the small sandbox playground. That was a welcome addition to our holiday camping. On Friday, after a full day back at Avila Beach we hosted a marshmallow roasting for the kids in the campground and tried out chocolate and vanilla swirl marshmallows with all the kids in the campground! Yum!

We had a great Thanksgiving! Before we left, we put in our reservations again for next year. Moving one more spot over in the internal circle of the campground so that we have a good view of the playground!

This post via the: Family RV Fun blog. Where you can get tips, tricks and valuable info on family RV travel.

Thanksgiving Dinner on the Beach 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.

This post via the: Family RV Fun blog. Where you can get tips, tricks and valuable info on family RV travel.

What to do when the weather isn’t perfect – Sunset State Beach

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.

This post via the: Family RV Fun blog. Where you can get tips, tricks and valuable info on family RV travel.

Thanksgiving dinner on the beach

Every Thanksgiving holiday we go to Pismo Beach to spend the long weekend in the sun and fun of the beach.

Pismo is a great place for beach rv camping and November is their summer so there is always great weather.

They allow beach camping so there is always an armada of travel trailers and toy haulers that pay the fee to camp on the beach.

There is always an onshore wind, so what people do is they bring sheets of plywood to block the wind around their rig. It sounds junky, but it does work and creates a wind block for more comfort.
photo credit: bsterling

This post via the: Family RV Fun blog. Where you can get tips, tricks and valuable info on family RV travel.

Beach RV Camping