#708 at San Simeon State Park

San Simeon State Park is one of our favorite places to camp.  When we were a newly wed couple, we loved it.  With kids we love it.  With groups of friends, we love it.  It’s such a nice place to stay.

Just look at that sunset!

Sequoia, June 2009

Somehow I never posted this so I’m doing it now and backdating it . . .  it was so beautiful.  One of our best family vacations ever!

Summer Trips!

There is something so fun about planning our trips!  Last summer, we took a week and went to Sequoia National Park.  We enjoyed it so much that we are going back again this June.

We’re planning a drive down into King’s Canyon and a horseback riding trip as well.  We’re going to be using the National Forest Service’s dispersed camping on Forest Route 14S11.  No hookups, of course, but absolutely beautiful with absolutely no reservations.  Should be interesting.

In July, we’re doing a trip into northern California and southern Oregon.

We’re spending a night at Camping World in Vacaville (always nice to get an early start on the shopping for the trip!).  Then we’ll head up to Lake Shasta and stay at in the Antlers National Forest.  We’ll head up to Ashland then and camp in a friend’s driveway while we explore the Ashland area . . . Crater Lake, Coos Bay, etc.  It’s going to be so fun. On the way home, we’ll head down to the mouth of the Klamath River.  We have reservations at the Klamath River RV Park.  Next, we’ll head down to Mendocino and stay at MacKerricher State Park.  Lastly, we head for Clear Lake.  We are meeting up with a group of friend’s at Greg’s aunt’s summer cabin.  1050 miles of fun, fun, fun!

708 in San Simeon

One of our favorite camping spots is San Simeon State Park.  While it has no hook-ups (neither electic nor sewer), it is a delightful spot.   Air conditioners are not needed here because of the cool coastal fog.  This is a beautiful campground with a nearby beach (no dogs allowed because of nesting Snowy Plovers).  We met up with family from Southern California and had a lovely visit with them.  We try to get here every year.  Hope some of you visit soon, too!

708 goes to Disneyland

For our Spring Break Trip this year, we went back to Disneyland.  #708 went 865 miles on new wheels and tires.

We spent our first night at Jalama County Park in Santa Barbara County.  This park does not take reservations. We arrived on Sunday afternoon and found a site just one row off the beach.  It was beautiful and I know we’ll be back.

From there, we headed to Anaheim (with a detour to Simi Valley for a dinner with Greg’s aunt, uncle, and cousins).  We always arrive there in the middle of the night which allows us to avoid the worst of LA’s traffic.  We had three wonderful, magical days in Disneyland.  So much fun!  We like to stay at the Anaheim RV Resort.  It is very handy to Disneyland and is on the shuttle route for Disneyland.  The shuttles used to be free but now have a very reasonable fee.

During our stay in Anaheim, we discovered a rather significant transmission leak.  Greg was crawling under the vehicle, taking pictures, and posting them to the FMC Mailing List.  Within an hour, he had answers from a few kind FMC owners and ended up calling one who talked him through his own issues with the same problem.  He learned that we couldn’t stop the leak at the park but could make it home safely.  Whew!  (When we got home, Greg did fix the leak and may have fixed the FMC’s parking brake in the process!)

On our way out of town, we spent a night with family in Pacific Palisades (sleeping in their driveway!).  I forgot to take a picture of 708 in the driveway but trust that we slept well there.

Finally, we spent a couple of days relaxing at Flying Flags RV Park in Buelton, CA.  This is fast becoming a favorite park for us.  Not only are they exceptionally nice people with a clean, nice park, but they are also very accomodating.  On our way down, we stopped there and left our TOAD so that we didn’t have it with us in LA where we wouldn’t need it but could still use it to explore around Central California during out stay at Flying Flags.   A mere $32 to leave it for days!  Very handy!

A great time was had by all — as usual when we travel in the FMC!

Planning for Spring Break

With the good news that Liza still has a job as a teacher in California next year, we decided to revisit our Spring Break 2007 plans. We’re returning to Disneyland this Spring Break. Here is our route:

We’ll be leaving on the 6th and come back home late on Easter Sunday.  Can not WAIT to get away.  Even though this will be a looooooooong week of planning and prepping!

A Mini-Rally in Buellton, CA

Three FMC’s descended on Flying Flags RV Park in Buellton, CA.  The Millers, Whedons, and Hendricks all brought their motorcoaches.  We arrived on Friday night.  The weather was great until Saturday night when we felt the first drops of rain.  It blew and rained all Saturday night.  We were safe and snug in our cozy FMCs.  We went to dinner Saturday night at Pea Soup Anderson’s.  I had the Pea Soup and it was very good.  Sunday, we all headed off to nearby Solvang for a little shopping and lunch.  But the most important part of the weekend was talking about our coaches, investigating each other’s coaches, and sharing stories.

Summer Trip — Sequoia/Madera

We leave Sunday for a trip to Sequoia and then a small lake near Madera, CA.  We are picking up Ruth on the way — she’s been with my parents in the Eastern Sierra.  The Sequoia leg is just us and we’re meeting a group of friends in Madera.  Should be a fun but HOT trip.  Expected temps in the low 90’s.  Gotta pack the fans!

708 at Albion

Albion River Campground is a lovely spot.  It’s a fishing camp and that is the focus but we are not fishermen (or divers) and we had a delightful time hunting up beach glass, playing on the beach, and just relaxing.  Although, that said, we did enjoy the haul of the folks we were camping with who are divers and brought us some amazing abalone!  YUM!  We took a boat ride up the river and saw tons of kayakers and canoers up there too.  They have all kinds of sites from full hookups to roughing it tent sites.  They only take cash, FYI.

Next Trip — North to Albion River

708 is heading north this weekend to Albion River Campground along the Mendocino Coast.  It’s a family trip and we have divers in our family.  They’ll be brining back abalone for us all to enjoy!  Hurrah!  More later!