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!

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 one – Mt. Madonna Santa Clara County Park

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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).

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

Wrights Lake: It was a beautiful week

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Though gas isn’t as high as it was last summer, it is still probably the largest item you pay for on your RV trip.

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We had a really good time at the New Brighton State Beach park. The state park is located off of Highway 1 just outside of Capitola, CA.

It is a state park (though its not threatened of closing with the Cal budget crisis) sitting on the bluffs above the beach. We had power and water, but no sewer (there is a dump station at the entrance to the park).

A nice campground, though the sites were a little close together. The best sites, the ones with a great view of the ocean, don’t have power and cost extra ($10 more a night on top of the $35 a night).

New Brighton is one of the best camp sites you can stay at in the Cal state park system. It has a nice beach below the buffs and it is 10 minutes from the Santa Cruz Beach and Boardwalk.

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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.

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RV Travel Trailer
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We love our RV travel trailer. It is just so comfortable and feels like home where-ever we are. We



RV Travel Trailer

can be parked at a campground, a fancy RV resort or boondocking somewhere: When the door is closed you really it doesn’t matter, you are comfortable. We having every thing we need and are happy where we are.

I think first and for most the trailer layout and design play a very big part. Out Jazz travel trailer from Thor California is very well laid-out and, after owning it for almost eight months and taking 10 trips, it is very comfortable to live and sleep in.

In future post I’ll go over a check-list when considering an new RV.

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

RV Travel Trailer



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]]> http://www.familyrvfun.com/family_rv_fun/rv-travel-trailer/feed/ 0 http://www.familyrvfun.com/family_rv_fun/rv-travel-news-on-april-23-2009/ http://www.familyrvfun.com/family_rv_fun/rv-travel-news-on-april-23-2009/#comments Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:51:25 +0000 Family RV http://www.familyrvfun.com/family_rv_fun/rv-travel-news-on-april-23-2009/ This post via the: Family RV Fun blog. Where you can get tips, tricks and valuable info on family RV travel.

RV Travel News on April 23, 2009
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• RVers Take a Lickin’ … & Keep on Towin’

April 23, 2009
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