Jul 6 2014

KOA in Needles, CA

Good lord it was HOT here, hotter than I have ever felt. It was like being inside an actual sauna, literally 116 degrees!!!! The people who live here must have crazy-high energy bills.

This place was dead, not one person outside not even in the pool. I don’t know if it was due to the heat or low oxygen level or some other phenomenon but when I was in the pool, just stand not moving, my body felt like it had the wind knocked out. When I swam it went away. The air was just so dry, it hurt to breath it in. They must have to fill the pool at least once a week!

This was only a one-night stop, thank goodness, I don’t think i could have handled that heat much longer. We checked in around 5pm, did laundry, and swam. Then it was time for dinner and bed. Aside from the heat, this is a nice campground with great amenities for travelers such as; satellite TV and pool table in the rec-room, large clean pool, clean restrooms with nice showers, gifts and grocery shop, and laundry room with 4 washer and 4 dryers. I love a campground with nice showers, it’s just so much easier to wash my hair under a normal sized shower head apposed to the baby sized one in the camper. Jacob thinks I’m crazy. I forgot to take pictures, oops. I’m sure their website has the same shots I would have taken.

We left first thing in the morning for Flagstaff, AZ.

Jul 5 2014

Lake Casitas in Venture, CA

Lake Casitas Campground is located in a Recreational Area and Park that is protected by the county. The lake is a drinking water reservoir for the area and they enforce a no human contact policy, no swimming. But they allow gas-powered boats in which I’m sure do more damage than human skin, strange?!?

There are many things to do here like renting a kayak to fish in the lake, biking, and lazying around in the lazy river. The views from the water park are beautiful. There are nature walks and hiking and a pier for fishing.

I thought this place was expensive at $35/night, plus $6 for a dog, plus $12/person/day for the water-park, plus whatever the kayak cost….that adds up quick! Oh and you have to pay for the showers with quarters.

Regardless of the prices we really enjoyed this campground. We had a nice relaxing time doing our own thing. I read a book by the lazy river and Jacob spent the day fishing. It was wonderful! The #1 complaint on Tripadviser is that the noise level of people and music go way past the quiet hours, thankfully we didn’t have any problems with that.

Jul 3 2014

California Coast Hwy 1 to San Simeon State Park

This was such a beautiful drive along the coast! We were happy to leave the city of San Francisco behind us and get back to nature. The sights on this coastal drive were just awesome. We passed towering cliffs covered with farms and pastures that over looked the ocean. The beaches were rocky in some places and sandy in others. We passed through the pine forest of Big Sur, then were back along the coast. We saw huge elephant seals basking in the sun on beaches. There were flocks of birds tanning on boulders in the middle of the water. The temperature change was intense, it was COLD with the wind! It was almost painful to go on the beach because of the sand-blasting winds. Our campground was primitive which workout great because it was so cold at night. The stars, OMG, I think that was the best part. We just sat out counting the satellites pass us…and soooo many stars!