Our plan as we had been heading west was to make a stop in Huntington Beach to visit the West Coast Stevens. However, we had major concerns about where to park since we wouldn’t fit into Tim and Kelli’s driveway, and the city has very strict street parking rules. The city has a couple of state beach campgrounds, but not only are they very expensive, the reviews aren’t great, and, none of this really mattered because unless you’re very lucky, the sites need to be reserved months in advance. Since we weren’t sure when we would get there, we couldn’t reserve a site months before, and with the crappy reviews, we didn’t really want to anyway. FreeRoam and iOverlander didn’t have any helpful suggestions, so I looked at Campendium, which had an entry for the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, which is only 10-15 minutes from Tim’s, depending on traffic. I sent them an email to make sure they were open, since some reviews said they had closed, and I discovered that they do in fact have a number of blackout days throughout the year depending on what events are happening at the fairgrounds. But, we were in luck, and they were open for the week we planned to be there. It’s first come, first served, so we were able to book a night at a time. Their $45/night fee wasn’t as good as free, but considering the state beach campgrounds were in the $70-$90 range, and we had paid $30 to park for an afternoon in Boston, it wasn’t unreasonable, especially considering they had full hookups.
We planned to arrive on Monday, just as Tim got back into town from work. As usual, our timing was perfect, and just as we pulled into the fairgrounds Tim texted to see where we were and tell us that he had just arrived home. We had him give us a little while to get parked, which gave him a little while until Peter and Kelli got home from school, and then they came over to pick us up. Tom and I piled in the car, and we went to pick up James from a swim team dinner, and had time to get some Mexican food at a restaurant on the beach before taking James to water polo practice. That was our first view of the Pacific Ocean on this trip.
We spent the next couple of days at the fairground, with Tim or Kelli picking us up in the morning and dropping us back in the evening. We ate lots of good food, visited their boat, and did a lot of riding around in the car which ultimately made us realize that Tim and Kelli really didn’t have time to add picking up and dropping off the visiting sister and husband to their already long list of taxi stops with Peter and James being involved in sports and music and a whole list of school activities. So, on Thursday morning, we left the campground and drove to their house to say goodbye on our way out. However, while we were there, their neighbor came over and told Tim that if he contacted the city he could get an oversized vehicle street parking permit for up to three days. He looked it up online, we gave him our vehicle registration information, and we were good for three more nights in front of their house.
We spent the next couple of days at the fairground, with Tim or Kelli picking us up in the morning and dropping us back in the evening. We ate lots of good food, visited their boat, and did a lot of riding around in the car which ultimately made us realize that Tim and Kelli really didn’t have time to add picking up and dropping off the visiting sister and husband to their already long list of taxi stops with Peter and James being involved in sports and music and a whole list of school activities. So, on Thursday morning, we left the campground and drove to their house to say goodbye on our way out. However, while we were there, their neighbor came over and told Tim that if he contacted the city he could get an oversized vehicle street parking permit for up to three days. He looked it up online, we gave him our vehicle registration information, and we were good for three more nights in front of their house.
THAT is a bacon wrapped lobster dog. It was supposed to come in a roll like a hot dog, but the rolls had milk in them, so Tom got it without the roll.
It was great to have three nights just to visit. We caught up a little on camper maintenance, added the map to show where we’ve been to the wall of the camper, and did a lot of riding around. We took the scooter off the back of the truck and Tim taught Peter and James how to ride it, which not only made the boys happy, but gave the scooter a little exercise. We took the e-bikes and rode to the beach for lunch. We shopped for and cooked a yummy St. Patrick’s Day corned beef, and took photos of the dogs with green hats. On Saturday, we took a sail in their boat which was great fun despite the lack of wind. It was the first time we’ve ever been sailing where we were barefoot on the boat, looking at the snow covered mountains in the distance.
We were tempted to stay another night or two, but since two or three nights had already turned into six, we decided to leave on Sunday. The biggest problem with leaving was that we had no idea where we wanted to go. Our original plan had been to head to Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Death Valley National Parks, but with the extended winter, only Death Valley was open. We considered driving up the coast, but camping up the coast presented the same problems as camping in Huntington Beach. Finally, Tom talked to our friends Jon and Tatiana in Belize, who used to live in Oakland, and Jon told Tom we’d be foolish not to go to Death Valley in March, which is prime season to visit there. We dithered because we wanted to do the three National Parks at the same time, but Jon convinced us that by the time Sequoia and Kings Canyon are open, Death Valley will be intolerably hot. So, we packed up the truck and headed for Death Valley.