May 19-24, 2024
It’s spring, the weather is great, let’s go camping!
This camping trip to Pacific Beach State Park is a return to Pacific Beach State Park where I’d been camping back in 2018. I loved it then. I bet I’ll love it again. 🙂
This year, in the month of May, I chose a campsite that has an electrical hookup. It will be cold at night this early in the season (I was here in late July in 2018, with the warmth of summer, and didn’t need heat at night). But for this trip, in May, it will be cold at night. I never run my propane furnace when I’m sleeping at night, too much of a risk if there’s a propane leak and I’m already fast asleep. So, just to be comfy and cozy, and safe, I’ll pay a little more and get electricity so I can run my electric heater at night.
Here’s where Pacific Beach State Park is … it’s an easy 2-hour drive from my home with the trailer in tow.
The image below is the state park campground and how I drove into it. If you go here, do not necessarily do what I did. I broke the rules! 🙂 The red line is how I drove in … from the north. And then part way in I stopped … there’s a break in the red line where I stopped. The rules are that I was supposed to turn right, follow that road all the way around, clear through the ENTIRE campground, then curve around and get onto the roadway behind most of the campers, then finally turn left and then turn right and THEN back into my spot. Well, golly gosh, that would take me 20 minutes and a gallon of gasoline. There was absolutely no traffic inside the campground. So I just pulled straight forward, made a little right hand turn on that curve, and backed into my spot. Lickety split, no problem. 🙂
Here I am (below) backed into my campsite, easy as pie. Also, please notice in the photo above that I’m backed up right smack dab next to the beach with a front row view of the Pacific Ocean.
I guess breaking the rules was ok since about 20 minutes after I’d settled into my campsite, all of the kites in the photo below appeared in the sky above me and above the beach. What a great welcoming message!
As mentioned, the back of my trailer looked directly out to the Pacific Ocean. This was a super spot! At times during the week, I’d put my camp chair right behind my trailer, right there in the grasses and in between the rocks, and just sit and enjoy the view of the beach and the Pacific Ocean.
I walked up onto that area behind my trailer, then turned around to look back at my trailer and took the photo below. It was a lovely campground with a small, comfortable, quiet town behind it.
But … let’s get back to that ocean. Below is the view from inside my trailer. My dinette table is immediately below that window, the back window of my trailer. So my views from either side of that dinette, from either of the dinette seats was stunning.
But outside, the views were even better and then, outside, I could also enjoy the breeze and the smells and sounds of Pacific Ocean waves.
As evening settled in, a few people walked the beach one last time before nightfall. And a few people set up camp chairs and built a campfire (all very legal here).
And then eventually the sun set. Wow. I sure was in the right place at the right time.
This was a perfect day. And I’ll be warm and cozy tonight.
Adventures await. Stay tuned. 🙂
Camping, yay! Love your other sorts of blog posts too, but I like your camping ones the best. 🙂 What a sunset!
Wasn’t that sunset wonderful? Thanks Ruth. 🙂
Got a good chuckle about how you drove in, and BROKE THE LAW! Ok, maybe not so much breaking the law. How odd they would want everyone to drive through the entire campground. You’d think it would be safer to do just what you did. That’s one thing I always liked about boating, and bet you did too, there were no roads, no lines on the road, you could go pretty much wherever you wanted, whatever felt best. And there were almost no accidents because everyone was careful. Fun stuff, this blog. Thanks. 🙂
Ha! Yes, I guess I broke the “law”. But I did it very quietly and courteously. That counts yes? 🙂
Oh, yes, I sure liked that about boating too, Rob … no lines on the road, usually not even any road, unless you were entering a harbor and had to stay between the marker buoys, such like that. The freedom of boating felt so good.
Camping, yes! 🙂 I will echo that. I like that you don’t use propane while you’re asleep. I have friends who do and rationalize it by saying their propane sensor is on. Well, what if the sensor fails? Or the batteries fail in the sensor ? Even with a hard-wired sensor, if the batteries in your rig drop to low voltage, then your sensor will fail. It’s just not worth the risk in my mind. Good for you. 🙂
Oh, wow, yes indeed, what if the propane sensor fails. You’re dead! Not my idea of a pleasant time with a good cup of tea. 🙂 Share this with your friends if you’d like to, Susan, from a professional woman diesel/gas truck/boat mechanic. Don’t run your propane heater at night.
No pics!
WordPress is being cranky just now. Click on “read on blog” in the upper right and you’ll get to the blog post. Or click to open images in the email and they’ll open.
Or go here … https://www.travelswithtowhee.com/pacific-beach-state-park-camping/.
Hi Marif, first off, thanks for the heads up about the WordPress change to the email notification … the notification that they changed without notifying me! I’ve rewritten the description for that notification on the “Welcome!” page (link in the menu above) so new folks will see the new process. The new notice works just fine, IF you know what to do with it.
If any Readers here want to know the new thing, then scroll up to the top of this webpage, find the “Welcome!” link, click on it, and then read how it works.
Thanks Marif. 🙂
I’m seeing the blog just fine, photos and all. Maybe it’s just Marifran’s connection? Whatever it is, I’m sure you’re on it! 🙂
We took our motorhome to the Pacific Ocean in California a couple of times, stunningly beautiful, just like your photos of the same ocean except WAY more people down there. I like your quiet beaches in Washington a lot better. Love the folks with their little campfire right on the beach, how wonderful.
Evidently, the new notification message took its time to permeate through all of the WordPress blogs that were using it. It appears it’s going to everyone on my blog who subscribes. If anyone has problems with it, please let me know!
Ah, yes, Wanda, I’ve been on a couple of California beaches (just traveling by car). The beaches up here are usually much less populated, although there are a few really popular beaches up here too. This Pacific Beach area is so pretty, but it’s near the end of the road so more difficult to get to, it’s not just a day-drive from populated cities. I love it.
Attention Readers! … there seems to be a problem (intermittent) with the email notice that gets sent out to people who subscribe to this blog. Some people are getting the usual notice with a link to the website … others are getting a copy of just the text of the website. If you are getting just the text of the website, you can always go to the website itself, travelswithtowhee.com, always. I’m working with WordPress and I’m working with Bluehost (where the blog actually lives) to fix the problem … so far, they both say it’s the other company’s fault. sigh.
Seems like the problem has been fixed. BUT there’s a new text message system in place that still might confuse some folks. There will be a link in the upper right hand corner of each email notification “Read on blog”. Click on that link and it will take you to the blog.
Yep, I probably got the same thing that Marifram did, just a text page of the blog post, but I used the link that is on that message to get to the full blog post.
I liked how you drove in … just drove in! Like you own the place. 🙂 And the kites are cool. Are they out there every day? I suppose by private citizens, not the parks department.
Heck fire, Bill, I pay my taxes, I DO own the place! 🙂 Of course, I would have driven all the way around if there had been other traffic, but I like having options, even if I make them up myself.
Yes, the kites are flown by private citizens. Some kites are flown by people camping there who bring their kites on purpose because there’s almost always a nice gentle breeze, and there’s always LOTS of room on the beach to find a spot to anchor them. Some kites are flown by people who live in homes there. More photos coming. 🙂
Hmmm, I received the usual emailed notice of a new blog post, with just a link to the whole webpage for the blog post. Sounds like maybe an RSS feed or some such has gone haywire.
Looking forward to seeing more of your camp trip! The weather looks great! I liked that photo of the view out your back window. Seems like most trailer/motorhomes/RVs have the dinette at the front of the rig. Escape Trailer did the right thing by putting it at the back of the rig. That sunset was stunning.
Right on, Olivia. JetPack/WordPress had changed its RSS feed message without correctly managing the process. It seems ok now, although I liked the old message better. Good on you! Next time, I’ll check with you. 🙂
One of the reasons I bought this trailer was that the dinette was at the back of the trailer. Rarely do I back into a campsite where I do NOT want a view out the back … there’s almost always a river or a mountain or a lake or a sunrise or a field of corn to watch it grow, or an entire ocean to watch. All nice stuff that’s way prettier than looking out my front window if my dinette were up there, and looking at the back of my pickup truck. On this trip, I sat inside at that dinette for an hour or so every morning and and for a few hours in the evening watching the ocean, the sunset … and I sat outside too, but it was so nice to be inside as the evening cooled and still be able to watch the people on the beach and the ocean and the sunset.
I don’t subscribe, so I don’t get any notice. I just check every Friday late afternoon or evening for the latest post here. Ann never fails!
Her feelings of the ocean, even how she approaches it, how she drives out to it, in her own time and her own way. As it should be. Lovely sunset.
🙂 Thank you Mary. That was a nice comment.
My email notice was that stupid text thing. Easy enough to use the link, or just go to the real TravelsWithTowhee website.
Camping! 🙂 More please. I wish I could smell and hear the ocean. I’m stuck in the midwest, sigh. Am looking at the blog photos and listening to Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto, ah me, that music, and the ocean. So beautiful.
I do have a few videos coming along from this trip. Stay tuned, Cindy. But I can’t share the smells of the beach and the grasses there, the creatures who live there … and the ocean, the saltwater. One day, I bet computers will be able to transmit smell/odor. That might be a good day, or a bad day! Ha! 🙂
Ah, Bach’s Brandenburg … gorgeous music. Hmm, ok, I’m pulling it up to listen to right now. Thank you.
Took me a moment to figure out the new notice. There is still a link to the blog “read on blog”, but it’s in the upper right corner now instead of in the body of the email. And there’s a link at the top to “unsubscribe” if you want. Gives the same info, just looks different.
Camping yay! 🙂 Oh, the ocean, I’ve never been to the ocean. I always figured you’d have to be ready to run when the tide or a wave came in. But this looks divine, and peaceful. And your camping trip in 2018 is just the same as this one in 2024. Maybe one day I’ll get to an ocean beach. But thank you for sharing this. It’s wonderful!
Yep, exactly right, Lisa. Thank you for explaining it so concisely. You can see that on my “Welcome!” page that I take a lot longer to explain it! I may go edit mine. 🙂
Ah, no the tide comes in slowly. Maybe the waves are high if there has been a storm out at sea, and then the waves run up the beach a bit, but the depth of water changes very, very slowly. Indeed, it is wonderful. 🙂 I sure hope you do get to an ocean beach! 🙂
In the early (and late) parts of camping season I make sure I have electricity too, so I can run my electric blanket. It makes all the difference not to be miserably cold all night!
Oh, an electric blanket, oh that would be nice! Even in my trailer where I can heat the whole interior with electric heat, just an electric blanket would be so toasty warm. Smart of you!