We decided to go back to one of our favorite places for the kid’s Spring break this year.

Yes we went back to Avila Beach yet again (map). But we found so much new stuff to do that it didn’t seem like we were hanging around the same old place doing the same old stuff.

Old Port Beach is a dog beach

We did park the trailer at the same RV campground (the Port San Luis RV park on Babe Lane). But what made this trip a little different was that we had our new dog Phoebe with us on the trip. And with her we spent a lot of time on the dog beach which was just below where we were camping.

On the Saturday that we were there, we spent the whole day on the beach with Phoebe and all the other dogs and people who came down to walk their dogs.

Point San Luis Lighthouse

Also on this trip we had a chance to visit the Point San Luis Lighthouse which was open for the first weekend of the Spring season. We took a short bus ride to the lighthouse and enjoyed an excellent tour of the lighthouse from a very knowledgable lighthouse guide.

Lighthouse Lens

What made this a special trip is that we spent the evening on the dog beach eating our dinner by moon light (a full moon night) and dancing the night away on the beach.

That is the kids did all of the dancing, while us parents talked and drank wine.

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

Something New at Avila Beach

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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

Ben on a rock at Shaver Lake

After a night of refreshing at home: laundry, restocking and love and care of our menagerie of cat, toad, tortoise and fish and a thorough cleaning of the mini van and Suburban we headed out for a four hour drive to the Sierra National Forest at Shaver Lake and the highly recommended Camp Edison (map).

We arrived around 5:30 p.m.  grabbed a bite to eat in Shaver Lake and headed to our great pull through site at Camp Edison.  The site was close to a bathroom and shower building.  You can buy a shower card from Camp Edison, 40 minutes for $5.  We found we could not use this whole card, even taking a nice hot shower every night after a day on the lake.   Highly recommend; just get it when you arrive.

On Wednesday, Claire rented a pontoon boat for the afternoon which was capable of towing an inner tube and she took the kids out for four hours of fun on the lake.  Kids can fish without a fishing license, so both the kids opted to try this and we bought them each a self casting children’s fishing rod and kit.  Though they didn’t catch anything they did enjoy trying.

Kids fishing at Shaver

Camp Edison has daily activities for kids and even art and photography lessons that people can sign up for.  We had the kids do all the activities we could including a storytime and an animal track plaster of paris art project. Samantha and Claire went Shaver Stables to go for Samantha’s first horseback ride.  We highly recommend doing that, she had a great time and did very well on the docile and well cared horse named Tombstone!

Claire and Samantha found out if they wanted to go out canoeing they needed to do it either early in the morning before 9 am or after 5 pm when all the boats seemed to exit the lake.  Then is was calm enough to easily navigate the lake and check out the coves.  They visited the Museum of the Sierras which has a lot of children’s activities books and coloring books that can keep kids busy while the adults visit.  They also visited the National Forest Service Campground of Dorabelle Campground at Dorabelle Cove to check out the sites.  If we ever are not able to get into Camp Edison, Dorabelle Campground would be the alternative.  There are other campgrounds further north of the lake but Dorabelle is right on the water and has beautiful picnic options that overlook the lake.

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

10 Days in the Mountains – Part 2 Shaver Lake and Camp Edison

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

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.

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

A Trip to the Snow and Sierra Summit

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.

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

The Big Holiday Trip: On the Road in Economy Class

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

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.

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

CA Camping: Coyote Lake Harvey Bear Ranch County Park

My family and I spend the long weekend (from 6/19- 21/09) at Calavaeras Big Trees Stat Park. It is located 10 minutes above Arnold, CA in the Southern Sierra Nevada.  Below is the account of our stay and some tips on how to make your stay there more enjoyable.

Getting to the Campground – No Wide Turns
Upon driving into the park, we were so stunned by the beauty of the forrest that we missed our turn for the campsite and we ended up on a dead-end road, which once had been the RV dump station area (now not in service). However, that was blocked off by some very heavy logs, yes, we did try to move them but couldn’t, because making a U-turn was impossible.

As we worked on trying to turn our travel trailer around in the dead-end road, we attracted the attention of a state park ranger who came to assist us in backing out of our mess (which was about 5 car lengths out with cars parked on either side).  It was a real nail biter and we were tired of driving so it just added to the frustration of being at the camp and not yet at the campsite.  We made it though and the Ranger followed us in and helped us back into our wide and expansive site.  He was great!  Thank you Barry!

About the Sites
The sites at Big Trees are expansive and that is a plus, however, many are close to Highway 4 so they suffer from highway traffic noise (not what you want to hear at a high sierra camp site).  We have done a bit of legwork and we’ll recommend the sites we think you should look for when you go.

What we didn’t expect was a spigot that wasn’t set up to accept a regular water hose.  So while there is water…you have to find a way to actually get it into the RV.  We knew this wasn’t going to be an easy fix.  On the second day we did buy an extra water hose and we cut off one end in order to make it larger to fit over the spigot.  That helped us out but we weren’t able to really cut off all the water from spraying out all over.  We will keep this modified hose and a few clasps within our trailer in case this happens again.

We didn’t have electricity and were a little concerned if we could make the two days on the battery power we have with the trailer.  We also did not have a sewer hook up at the site and had to conserve water and how we used our bathroom.  We decided it was only for those nighttime, and early morning nature calls and that by no means would we ever be doing number 2 there.  We used the nice bathrooms that were there at the campgrounds. We did great!  We washed our dishes outside with a collapsible plastic side-by-side sinks and used our outdoor shower to clean up under so that our water usage did wash way into the ground…versus into our tank.  We left with only 1/3 full tanks and drove all the way to where we store the trailer where we can use their dump station.

All the Fun
Big Trees State Park has a wonderful camper activity program.  On Friday night we took in a sing along at the campfire area. It was quite good.  The two who were leading the sing along seemed to be regulars and had strong voices.  They did a lot to involve the children in the audience and had a round of jokes, which both our little hams (Ben 7 and Sam 4) had to participate in twice!  Though we still can’t quite figure out their jokes, they both thought they were hilarious!  The evening finished off with marshmallows over the campfire! We made smore’s as we always have to do at least once on our trips!

On Saturday morning the kids took in the Jr. Ranger programs and they were great!  Ben got to explore and find bones of little creatures that were eaten by owls and Sam learned all about butterflies and made a butterfly kite.  In the afternoon we took out our new Rockport Old Town Canoe and had fun on a small man made like called White Pine Lake, which is just a few miles from the park.   This was fun and we enjoyed breaking in the canoe and finding a nice beach to picnic on.   On our way back we went ahead and drove up to the Stanislaus River and sat along the riverbank where the kids could throw in rocks and just enjoy the sound of the rushing water.

Though not all of us got to go on hikes, I did manage to get in a walk and was amazed by the Big Trees for which this park is named.  The trees are over 2000 years old and massive giants. It was very peaceful and tranquil and would be an enjoyable 1-mile hike for any family.

On our trip the campsites were full of families enjoying the first few weeks off of school.  Our neighbors all had kids and that is where our kids chose to spend their time, playing with the other kids and that really what camping is all about for the kids… meeting new friends who are enjoying the great outdoors as well.

When we go to Big Trees again….
We’ll be sure to turn into the campgrounds….very important.

We’ll also try to go to one of the campsites 4-12 (See North Grove Campground map below). They are far enough away from the traffic noise, but close to activity areas. If you want to get really away from it, you can stay at the Oak Hollow Campground in the park. It is a few miles into the park through a narrow paved road. Though if you have a large RV (28’ plus) I wouldn’t recommend it.

We’ll seek out more hiking, be sure to take in the Campfire singing on Friday nights, go canoeing, maybe at another lake (Alpine and Spicer Lakes are close by).  Be prepared with the modified hose contraption.   We know our battery power can handle a 2-day trip, we only used 1/3 of our battery power.  All in all….we’ll be ready to have a nice, relaxing time at Big Trees again!

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

CA Camping: Calaveras Big Trees State Park- June 19 – 21, 2009

You may have heard of the budget problems with the state of California (my home-sweet-home). It seems we are $20 billion in the red.

Well the governor is proposing some prettry draconian measures with the State Park system. He wants to close up to 220 state parks with over 50 in Northern California alone.

This could mean that Big Basin State Park (one we plan on camping at this year) could be closing.

There is something we can do about it though. Go to the calparks.org web site and sign the petition to tell the govinator that we don’t want this.

photo credit: jeffk

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

California Camping in Danger by State Budget

You are itching to go and your RV is gassed-up and ready to roll. You’ve reserved and you’re excited to experience the new campground you read so much about in the travel directory. Your ready for the open road.

This is all fine and good but – what about the kids. You know they aren’t going to be angels for the multi-plus hours drive to your RV adventure. So what do you do to keep the kids occupied while you tool down the road?

Below are my ideas on how to reduce the stress and tension when traveling in your RV with the kids.

First some basic travel planning will go a very long way in making the drive time much less stressful:

1. Learn about your travel route as much as possible. Look through the route in a road atlas if you have one. If you have a GPS, program it with the correct address (Confirm the address online or by calling the destination. You don’t want the GPS to sending you to the wrong place. Believe me it happens.)

2. Plug-in your trip destination in Google Maps or another online mapping service. Print it out and have it with you. It is useful as a last resort.

3. Buy the book “the next exit.” It provides exit services info for every exit on the major US Interstates.

So now let’s look at keeping the kids occupied:

1. First the obvious. Have an on-board DVD player for the kids to watch movies. Many vehicles have them built-in these days but if you don’t have one, buy a portable DVD player with a cigarette lighter adaptor. And have a variety of movies on hand so each kid has his/her favorite available.

2. If you are open to it have video games available for the kids to enjoy. This can include LeapFrog system games so they are educational as well. But if you have “tweeners” Nintendo DS or Sony PSP will be your options.

3. Plan craft projects for the kids to do on the road. This can be done safely by having a small portable table for each kid (there are a number of them available. Do a Google search for “kids travel table.”).

4. Reading to your kids isn’t only for bed time. Maybe on a long drive the non-driving adult can read a few stories.

5. Lead road games with the kids. “I spy” is a favorite one of ours. Another one is “who can spot the most out of state license plates.”

6. Potty breaks are an important part of travel. Beside pee breaks kids need to get up and move around during long trips. We usually try to stop every two-to-four hours for a potty and stretch break.

photo credit: House Of Sims

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

Thoughts Before Going On a Family RV Travel Trip

This is a great video that demonstrates how special family RV camping is.

KCRA a Sacramento TV station interviews RV blogger Brad Herzog about his (and his wife and two boys’) summer adventures RVing throughout the United Sates. Watching this video I had a few pangs of jealousy as he talked about their travels throughout the US.

One great idea they talked about was having the kids put together a travel calendar. The kids wrote down where they would be on what dates and what they planned to see, complete with pictures and notes.

We haven’t had a changes to do any multi-location trip longer that one week. But possibly in 2010 when Claire (my wife) has a sabbatical scheduled.

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

Family RV Camping: There is Nothing Like It