A Place Where Everyone Can Spell Diego

We left Long Beach and drove south.  Diego has family in this area too, so we were planning a little reunion.
We camped at Guajome Regional Park in Oceanside, CA.  The campground was just okay.

We spent a couple of days in San Diego.  We drove by Balboa Park to see things.  Then to Seaport Village to get some work done.  The weather was just beautiful and there was a Starbucks right next to the village.  We all got a little work done and then the girls all headed down to the park by the water.

All I Want To Do Is Have Some Fun.........

We left Santa Maria and took Hwy 101 down towards the coast through Santa Barbara and Ventura.  At Ventura we headed down towards hwy 1 on the coast.  Once the ocean came back into view we were near Point Mugu and had a hungry group.  Took the first ocean side spot that we would fit into and made some lunch.


We took our time relaxing with the beautiful view and somewhere in those relaxing moments we locked ourselves out of the truck :)

Butterfly Trees

This next stop was picked because it was literally the only place we could find for Thanksgiving weekend.  Making reservations has proved to be our least favorite activity this past year and in our denial we waited until the last minute to reserve something.  As we started calling around we realized, wow, a lot of people go camping on Thanksgiving.  Finally one lady called us back and had a spot.  At this point I was wondering, why does she have a spot?  How bad is it? :)

It turned out to be fine and the girls loved it because there was a Boomers next door.  It's a race car, putt putt, batting cage place.  The weather was very nice and even warmer than our previous stop.

Visited the little Danish town of Solvang that was nearby.  Cute little place with a neat history.

Bubble Gum, Anyone?

A little southeast of our previous stop, we headed to Paso Robles.  We were trying to make our way down the coast and based on campground preferences and a recommendation to check out San Luis Obispo, we ended up in this area.

The campground was a nice little place.  Nothing fancy, but had lots of sun since we had been covered by redwoods at the previous spot we were happy to have it.

The car and camper had a professional bath this week.  They are white again.

Not a Derelict to be Found

We cut back across the state and headed back out to the coast.  We were aimed for Watsonville, because I had found a campground that seemed nice.  We arrived in the dark and it was raining. When we arrived I looked at Diego and said, "I'm not gonna stay here."  We have driven into several campgrounds this past year that have not been the best, but this particular evening I either wasn't in the mood or it was that bad, I'm not sure which.  We found another place and headed that way.

 We ended up staying at Santa Cruz Redwoods RV Resort.  It was fine and definitely better than our first option.  Paid the most for a week at a campsite that we have the whole trip.  We were just outside of a town called Felton and it was a quaint place.

This week we visited San Francisco and spent some time on both sides of the Golden Gate Bridge that we learned is called that because it is built over the Golden Strait.

Golden Gate from the north end.

Tree Giants

We left the Coos Bay/Charleston area a day earlier than we had planned and followed Hwy101 south. Had a travel day with on and off rain and sunshine.  The air at some times seemed so thick with moisture it was like driving through the clouds.  We were headed for the town of Arcata, CA and excited to see some redwoods.  We took lots of pictures because the views of the ocean and cliffs from Hwy 101 were so beautiful and there were lots of pull off areas.

Coos Bay and an Eleven Year Old

We drove south and west back to the Oregon coast to Coos Bay/Charleston area.  We had a long drive, but once off the interstate it was very pretty.  Stopped for dinner at a side of the road food truck and had some yummy Mexican.

Yummy food to break up a long drive.

We made it to our campground pretty late, 9:30pm, to find out that Diego didn't have a signal at all! After all that research, the Verizon Coverage map failed us :(

When we arrived we were exhausted and it was a bad combo of being late at night, everyone tired, and Sofia's birthday the next day.  We stayed hitched and climbed into bed for a good nights rest.