It was a quick and pretty drive down to Guajome Regional Park. It was a short 23 miles from Casino Pauma. Had I really been paying attention to the map, we could have driven into town in Yeep, gotten the things we needed and boondocked at the casino for free for that 3rd day and saved $35, but then we wouldn’t have experienced this wonderful little park!
Overnight fees are $29 and a tow car is free-if you are towing it. This is one of those parks that will not let you in early. We arrived around 12:30 and there wasn’t even an area we could park and wait. There was a Walmart just down the road a couple of miles so we used the time to get groceries, get Mike’s duplicate fishing license and lobster stamp, etc. There was a gas station that looked like it would be okay to maneuver so we unhooked and took Reva Mae over for a drink, but the diesel pump was out of order. Oh well, we were fine for a while. Reva has a 100- gallon tank and we were over half full-filling her is always such a treat on the pocket book. I prefer to always keep her over half full. The generator will not operate if there is less than a quarter tank of fuel as a mode of protection, and the sticker price isn’t as shocking at a half a tank lol!
Since we unhooked, I just drove Yeep to the campground and had Mike follow me. It was easier than hooking everything back up to flat tow. There are five cables that have to be attached after the tow bars are put on. It’s really pretty easy and Mike and I have gotten our joint duties down. We can hook up or unhook in just a couple of minutes-but the park was literally 5 minutes away.
Guajome does charge $1 per dog per day for the stay and $4 for an extra vehicle. Because Mike wasn’t towing Yeep, we had to pay-even though its obvious it has a tow bar on it. I understand there are rules, but I think it’s much more considerate to drive in than take up room in the campground to unhook. It was only $6 so I paid without question. I had actually thought I was just paying for the dogs until later when I was visiting with the ranger about our next reservation. He’s the one who pointed out he had to charge me.
It was still so reasonable to be in SoCal with hook ups for $35 it was fine-but when we come back, we will be hooked up-I’m a tight ass these days lol!
The rangers were very nice as is the campground. I didn’t like the angle of the site we have reserved for the upcoming weekend, so he worked with me to change it to a different site and we chatted for quite a while. He’s a full timer too and had some great tips for sites and pads to be looking for when making reservations. Usually, the people you meet are so friendly!
It’s a beautiful little park with established, easy walking trails throughout the property. I was able to get the dogs out for a nice walk after I started laundry and get a few pictures. I understand this park has 4.5 miles of trails total and one can walk to the beach on a connecting trail system but It’s like 9 miles. I won’t be walking to the beach!
While I didn’t get a lot of time to explore this park yet, the one thing that stuck to me so quickly was the playground area. It’s a great covered playground for kids surrounded by Weeping Willow trees. They are smaller than the one in that was in my Grandma’s front yard, but there must be 8 or more all around the playground. It’s so pretty.
I loved my Grandma Gladys’ weeper in front of her home in Duncombe, Iowa. I didn’t get to spend a lot of time at her place. My parents divorced when I was five and I only got to see my mom every third weekend of the month, one week every summer, and every other holiday. It’s funny, or maybe sad, that I can still rattle off the visitation schedule set forth in the divorce decree. I’ve never read it, I just remember it because I heard it so many times over the years growing up. Seeing Grandma and our aunts, uncles and cousins was a rare treat! I loved her house!
First of all, it was always changing. My grandma would add a huge screened in porch, then wall it in completely, then take it off, add regular stairs to my uncle’s attic room, take them out to folding stairs, change furniture….it was always a surprise how it would look. And I never knew who might be there. She had, I believe 12 children. Between the aunts and uncles and cousins, her house usually was full of noise. Home was usually so quiet, I welcomed the sounds of her place-usually. There were arguments and blow ups-like most families have I think-that scared me. Grandma could be difficult and so could her children- but usually Grandma’s house meant liveliness!
She was a toy party dealer as well and had wonderful catalogs of such cool things we could look at for hours. Often, she even had samples of the toys we got to play with. She always had a ton of stuff in her house. Holiday dinners were the best! There was so much food everywhere, and so many people. People I always wished I knew better and always felt a degree of separation from, but I could be a small part of them for that day at least! Who knew, if or when I would see any of them again.
I loved watching the weeping willow sway in the breeze and running under the branches. I swore my home, if I ever got one, would have one these amazing trees too! Grandma always cussed it and the mess it made but I thought it made the coolest fort and hiding place!
Funny how a tree can bring back so many memories. Anyway, sorry, I digressed-per usual-let’s get back to the park!
A beautiful playground area and a cute lake with several species of geese and ducks who make Guajome their home. The trail system leads to an adobe and a steam engine museum that I intend to check out when we return on Friday.
Remember, this was just a one night stop over to get our supplies for Doheny State Beach-which is dry camping at the bargain rate of $60/night-but we are right on the beach!
I drove to Best Buy and got Mike his GoPro-a very belated Christmas gift he’s wanted for his fishing adventures. For those of you who love a deal, I took out a Best Buy credit card to get my laptop in December. They had great “points” offers at the time. 20% back in store merchandise with new account. I had $110 in available credit all for using the card one time to buy the laptop-paid it off immediately and today I used the free $110 credit toward Mike’s GoPro. If you work hard to get good credit, make sure it works for you!
We both took our “we’ve got hook ups!” showers, cleaned up Reva Mae, filled our fresh water tank and drinking water jugs, dumped our tanks and we’re off to the beach! Next stop Dana Point Doheny State Beach for 4 days of rest (for me) and fishing for Mike! Looking forward to both of us getting some time!
The drive to Dana Point was easy for the most part. We left after morning rush hour around 1045 and had only one slow down. We were able to get into our site early and check in was quite easy. I did notice a lot of RV’s in the day use area and asked a ranger how some I noticed were there overnight-what the fee was. He told me it was $195 parking ticket. I know some of those motorhomes never moved throughout our stay, others just a bit. I’ve read there’s a rest stop nearby where you can stay 8 hours, I think maybe some are going back and forth. A California poppy pass does cover parking fees in the day use area.
We had a premium spot with an ocean view-there is a large dune that you have to climb up to see the ocean but it was really pretty roomy. We chose a site next to a walkway area and those seem to be a bit larger. Mike was able to put up the dog fencing and we put out or mat and chairs. The weather was quite nice during the days, cool at night and we did have to use the furnace.
Doheney State Beach campground has no hook ups. There are bathrooms and showers that I did not visit so I can’t comment on their conditions. The dump station is not inside the camping area, it is across the river. We had plenty of room in our tanks when we checked out, so we chose not to go through the hassle of dumping there.
The other strange thing about Doheney campground is the generator times. The earliest you can use your generator is 1000 AM and the latest is 8:00 pm. I started it just after 0830 one morning, thinking it was 0800 on/2200 off the way most campgrounds are, and got a friendly knock from the ranger letting me know this park is 1000 on/2000 off. I did ask him if I could start my engine before 1000. Yes, there were no regulations against that.
So, it’s okay to run my loud rear diesel engine that is closer to campers but not okay to run my much quieter front- end generator that is right in front of a sand dune, muffling most of the noise? Hmmm, ok then.
Next morning, I started the motor to charge the batteries a bit as directed lol. We did our best to manage battery usage so we wouldn’t have to run the rig outside of the generator times. That’s a large time window though, especially when you have to run the furnace at night. It was helpful to shut or bedroom door to keep the heat from escaping to the main cabin.
It is not a quiet campground by any means. The commuter trains are close by and they start very early on the weekdays. The rangers drive around in gas powered carts that are noisy as well. It is just off the interstate and there is a lot of traffic noise. That being said, it is right on the beach. I probably would not stay there again. It was $62/night to dry camp here. Because we had done so much boondocking for the month, this was our one splurge and while the ocean was beautiful, I think I could have day camped in the short- term parking lot and slept at the rest area just as comfortably and saved $250. I’m sure traffic would have been crazy, though. Perhaps if Mike could have launched his kayak right there at our site, but we had to drive a couple miles away to the harbor for launching, so we spent very little time at the site.
Now if you wanted to just play on the beach, this would be an ideal spot, especially for families. It’s a quick little jaunt over a large dune that you camp in front of and there you are. It is very convenient for swimming and sunbathing. I can see why people camp here in the summer.
The park area is beautiful. While there are some homeless people there, it’s not inundated. There are a lot of picnic tables, green grassy areas, volleyball nets on the beach, and a little snack bar place. There were a lot of places to walk, a great trail that runs along the San Juan Creek for 6 miles. There are areas you can get on and off the trail with parks adjacent to it along it’s course. We walked through a little park that had fitness stations-no, I did not do them, lol. But, I got some good pictures.
Mike spent two days learning to hoop for lobsters with our friends from the Fresh N Salty kayak fishing group, Ted and Lori. He had a great time and caught a ton of lobsters that were all just a tiny bit too short to keep. I did plan ahead and buy some lobster tails so we could be certain to have our ocean front barbeque regardless. Ted made the tails with a siracha and mayo glaze and they came out awesome-as did our steaks!
While the guys fished and hooped for lobster, Lori and I got to know one another and toured around the area a bit. The pier area had lots of fun little boutiques and shops, like most piers do. We also went into Old San Juan Capistrano to tour their little shops and spent one morning tour the mission there. Amazing history and a very beautiful place. We had a great breakfast at a little café with great service, called Ellie’s Table. We also found a wonderful little bakery and frozen yogurt shop, 3:16 Bakery Shop, with the best desserts near the parking garage which is by the Amtrak station. Amazing desserts!
It was a busy trip, Mike and Ted hooped 2 evenings and fished our last morning there, while Lori and I window shopped and toured the area-thank you so much for showing me around Lori! I also got a job! I had to get some online paperwork done and schedule a drug screen asap. The company wanted me to start the following Tuesday. We had already made reservations back at Guajome in Oceanside for the weekend, anticipating I may be getting onboarded that next week. Doheney is booked up far in advance for the weekends, boondocking in SoCal is more difficult from what I’ve found so far, so Guajome was our best option.
I drove separately from Mike since we needed to park at Walmart and wait to get in-Guajome didn’t allow early check in remember-and I needed to drive to Escondido for a drug screen before we could camp. Mike and the dogs hung out at Walmart while I went and took care of my screen. Then we both got fuel and headed to the park.
We took the time to hook up the Yeep just outside of the park since we were charged for not towing it in the last time we were here. Staying 3 days, I had no intention of paying $12 for our toad unnecessarily. So, we hooked up and proceeded to the gate……no one manning the desk lol! So, we drove past the guard shack, unhooked and parked in our site. I tried to find rangers a couple of times during the weekend but no one ever manned the gate shack all weekend. So, the dogs stayed for free this time.
Weekends are a bit busier at Guajome. There was a 10K race and some youth running/exercise classes going on early in the AM. Once those ended, Saturday afternoon and Sunday were peaceful. There are a lot of different trail loops with some great views. Mike had hoped to get some fishing in at Oceanside but the other kayaker had to cancel. He’s not one to fish an ocean area alone for the first time. Once he gets a feel for the area, all good. He fished a lot at Timber Cover alone but only after he had explored the area with others. So, all in all it was a quiet weekend, getting the laundry caught up, and walking around enjoying the park with the dogs. We are headed to Hollywood RV Park in Van Nuys for a few months to work. The facility has had some troubles and I’m hopeful that I can help them get things straightened out while I’m there. I really enjoy cleaning up and streamlining buildings so I’m hopeful I can help! Next stop LA!