Week 9: Sacramento to Santa Barbara

Our second week in the RV began with a trip to the in-laws.  The cover story was that we were there to celebrate Easter.  Our real mission, however, was to work on the RV while the grandparents babysat Lukas.  We took a couple trips to the RV supply store and hit up all the big name stores for tools, household items, and groceries.  Our biggest task was to sanitize the fresh water tank.  This required running electricity and water from the in-laws house to our RV and several hours of filling and dumping the holding tank onto their driveway.  

Truth be told, we also had a lovely Easter.  Lukas had a great time with Nana and Papa: dyeing eggs, hunting for eggs, looking through his Easter basket, and eating treats.  Brian and I were also spoiled with good food and candy.  Best RV park we’ve stayed in yet!

While in the area we also visited Fairytale Town, which is across the street from Sacramento Zoo.  Fairytale Town in a 60s era park that is built upon the standard fairytales.  Attractions haven’t changed but have been kept up nicely.  Lukas had a wonderful time running through Robin Hood’s forest, climbing on the Little Engine That Could, and sliding down Grandmother’s Shoe.  After all that activity Brian took Lukas for a nap and I headed to the Zoo.

Sacramento Zoo is a small zoo located in a city park.  The general curator and primate keeper were kind enough to give me a tour, so I saw first-hand how well they care for their primates.  And what a primate collection it is!  Chimpanzees, orangutans, ring-tailed lemurs, mongoose lemurs, sifaka, mangabey, and probably a few others I’m forgetting.  The zoo also has a new giraffe exhibit including a feeding station, and a vet hospital including display windows into the surgery rooms.

Zoo visit accomplished, it was time for us to get moving again.  We headed out of town late in the day and made it to Monterey by nightfall.  We stayed at Marina Dunes RV Park again, which seemed even nicer than our first visit, probably because I have now visited other RV parks which lowered the bar.  After a quiet night Lukas and I took a walk down the dunes to see the ocean, then back into the RV for another big drive.

Our plan was to stop over in San Luis Obispo for lunch and stay in Pismo Beach.  We got into SLO mid-day and it was busier than we expected.  Found a spot for the beast and paid up two meters.  As we wandered around it was very clear that this is a college town, akin to Palo Alto.  We had a mediocre pizza and split.

I had spent a lot of time researching RV parks in Pismo Beach and had found what seemed like a nice campground in Oceano, south of PB.  Oceano is a white sand beach that allows off-roading, and the campground was a tiny, neglected spot near the freeway that we turned down on sight.  But we were optimistic because Pismo was RV Central.  

We had passed numerous parks along the way and were sure one would work out for us.  First we checked the state park: nice but no hookups and we were running with an empty water tank.  Next we checked out Pismo Beach Village RV Resort.  Wow.  It was huge, with 400 RV sites, an arcade, pool, three playgrounds, beach access, and an over-the-top-happy-Disney-type feel to it.  We were creeped out and moved on.  But we were running out of gas and energy.  

On to Avila Beach.  There was awesome RV parking along the waterfront, but it was confusing to figure out and super windy on the water.  Next to Avila Hot Springs RV Resort, super cheesy with a water park.  Exhausted, we checked in at the next place: Avila KOA.  This turned out to be the worst place we had looked at all day.  It was right under the freeway with tiny spots and lots of people.  I was having a bit of a fit after two or more hours of searching for the “right” place to stay.  We let Lukas play on the playground, filled up our water tank, found a gas station, and headed for Morro Bay State Park, backtracking 30 miles north.

Thank goodness Morro Bay had an open spot!  This is a gorgeous state park in the woods with an Estuary on one side, Marina and restaurant across the street, Golf course just past the campground, and Morro Rock overlooking it all.  We couldn’t have found a better spot to unwind and enjoy nature.

Brian spent the following day playing golf while Lukas and I checked out the marina and the nature center.  The tree right next to our RV seemed to be hollow and had several holes in it.  While Lukas napped I lay in the sun and watched the birds go in and out of their tree nests.  This is exactly where I wanted to be.

The next morning I hiked up a peak to get a good view of the region, then we packed up for our next destination.  We planned to stay near Santa Barbara, but research showed that there were no RV parks near town.  I picked out a state park near Lake Cuchama and we set our navigation system.

Solvang was close to our destination, so we stopped off to see Little Denmark and grab some coffee.  On the way we found a miniature horse farm!  Oh my goodness, those babies are so cute that it caused this normally reserved girl to squeal.  

Back on the road, up over a huge ridge, and it seemed that our campground was on the left, a beautiful spot right next to the lake.  However the navigation system said our set destination was several miles ahead.  Up and over the top of the ridge and the wind was something fierce.  It was downright dangerous out there.  But when the "Nav" said we had reached our destination there was nothing but road.  It being too hard to turn around, we headed for Santa Barbara and took a break on the beach.

We ended up pulling another "Pismo Beach" like adventure of checking out possible campgrounds before backtracking 20 miles north to the most expensive RV park I've ever heard of.  Granted, it had a pool and hot tub, was very clean, and was close to the beach.  We paid the money, happy to be fairly close to Santa Barbara, and hoped our next journey wouldn't be quite as much of an adventure.

RV PARK RATINGS


El Dorado In-laws Resort: A+
  Provide bedding and towels, allow RV maintenance, food and babysitting included


Marina Dunes RV Park: A-
  upgraded after further research


Morro Bay State Park: A+
  wildlife, hiking, golf course, restaurant at marina, nature center


Ocean Mesa at El Capitan: B+
  clean, pool, hot tub, laundry, playground, close to beach, pricey