BBB 2016

Well it's been a while since I have had time to post any updated camping trips but with a good reason. We are now homeowners and have been spending all our spare time getting our new home complete. Of course this means a new home for our camper as well. The accommodations are definitely tight but I think she's happy.

Just prior to moving, we were able to attend Buses By the Bridge and this year didn't disappoint. The usual pre-camping preparations were made in order to ensure a safe and fun trip. From filling up our dry food cupboard to making sure we had a full tank of fresh water.

With the van fully packed we were able to start our journey and this was my rear view for almost the entire trip.

This year we attempted to have a convoy of Vanagons but our friend Eric and his beautiful air-cooled 82 turned out to be our only companion during the first leg of the trip.

We arrived at Amboy Crater to spend the night with plenty of sunshine left to take in the scenic views and a quick hike.

Brooke was able to enjoy a drive in her awesome new split window bus (thanks Uncle Mark and Auntie Kaci) while eating a "world famous cookie" no less (thanks Eric's wife).

Two more friends (Kim and Jim) arrived during the evening to join us on our next leg to Lake Havasu. With our convoy now including 4 beautiful Vanagons, we started our second day at 4:30am and were off. I was told there were some pretty spectacular shooting stars before the sun came up but I guess I was concentrating on seeing the road properly with my not so impressive stock (weak) headlights. I did manage to get one picture when we passed the 150K mile mark, hooray!

Passing through the Arizona border provided us with a nice discount in gas prices over California so we made sure to take advantage of that.

It turned out that over 200 people had similar ideas in regards to arriving early in order to grab a good camping spot and this was our view of the lineup we saw when we finally arrived.

The good news was they were able to open the gates early so our wait wasn't too long and we ended up getting a nice spot that fit all of our group near all the vendors (and bathrooms)

Overnight, 2 more members of our group arrived (Steve and family, Joseph and Jessie) which brought our Van total to 6.

One of the great things about BBB in addition to all the beautiful buses are the people you meet and scenic views.

 

 



As this weekend coincides with the Balloon festival, we were all able to enjoy waking up to beautiful sights like these.

This year they even had a tethered balloon offering free rides for the kids. We tried to get Brooke to go but it was a bit too much for her (hopefully next year).







Another fun addition this year was a bike tour around Lake Havasu which turned out to be very scenic. We ended up at a new skate park and witnessed some great BMX tricks.

There is an actual campground next to the BBB site where in the past, people have unofficially used the showers but due to the large numbers this year it was announced that these showers were off limits. That being said, 4 days for this guy without a real shower is about all I can take and signaled that we should be heading back home. As always with our Vanagon, the slow journey is almost as enjoyable as our destinations especially on roads like these.

and of course the happy passengers that keep me company along the way.

As driving straight home is a daunting task with a 2 year old, we again broke up the journey and stopped in beautiful Joshua Tree. We ended up taking the first spot we saw in Jumbo Rocks which was stunning.

Waking up early gave us some empty dirt roads to enjoy as we exited the park.

 

 



Buses By the Bridge (and Joshua Tree) continues to be an event that I encourage everyone to experience and we look forward to continuing this yearly tradition for years to come.

 

Carpinteria

Carpinteria is a small oceanside city located in Southeastern Santa Barbara County and known for it's gentle slope with areas good for both calm waves and good surfing swells. We arrived early on a Tuesday and had our pick of many beautiful sites. As this was probably our last beach camping experience of the year, we decided to splurge and get a spot right beside the beach. Being just steps from the ocean made this experience totally worth it! Oh and did I mention it was also 80+ degrees in December???!!!???

Not having much time here, we quickly took advantage of our prime location.

I could describe some amazing adventures and excursions we had but honestly we really just relaxed and enjoyed the views at this ideal setting.

 

 

 

We did meet some friendly neighbors that informed us of the amazing sunsets and it didn't disappoint this night either.

At $50 for the night, it turned out to be the most expensive campsite we have stayed at but there were no regrets considering the priceless views we experienced.

Oak Flat

Our original weekend plans were to visit Lake Piru but we are generally pretty open and decided that we would check out Oak Flat campground instead. The main reason we chose this campground was that it was someplace we haven't visited before. It was also just over an hour drive from home and at $5 per night, I was sold! Here we are all packed and ready to leave.

A little breakfast pit stop on the way.

 I wasn't able to find out much information beforehand about Oak Flat but discovered that it was situated close to Castaic, off the I-5. The elevation was 2,800 feet, 27 campsites, no running water, vault toilets, and again only $5 per night.

It definitely is a bare bones campground but had everything we needed including beautiful views.

There is supposed to be a somewhat strenuous trail that climbs 1000' with some even better views but it was quite cold and windy so we kept our hike a short one. This friendly innocent cat tried to attack Brooke shortly after this picture.

 But she shrugged it off and was all good.

We even encountered some wildlife that allowed me to approach them.

Then I obviously got too close and they all ran away.

With the sun setting shortly after 5pm these days and the fact that it was very windy and cold, we decided to have a cozy evening indoors.

I mistakenly assumed this USDA campground was like others we have visited and there would be a pay station but apparently you needed an US Forest Service Adventure pass to stay here. I'm also not sure how the $5 per night worked but we ended up staying the night "illegally" and didn't pay as we didn't know how. I think I made up for it but picking up some of the garbage that previous campers had left behind. I also wouldn't recommend this site to people that dislike vault toilets as these were some of the worst examples I have seen. We ended up using our Mr. Buddy heater which kept us nice and warm during the night as temperatures hit the low 30's. We then headed home after another short yet enjoyable trip.

Dana Point

It's been a while since I have had the time to post up some camping updates. I blame it on our recent family trips to Hawaii and back home to Canada as my excuse - life certainly can be rough! With summer over and the weather continuing to be it's normal fantastic self in California, we decided to hit the ocean.

Dana Point is one of the most popular ocean camping destinations we know of in California so we arrived before noon in order to participate in their lottery. Here we are trying to entertain ourselves while waiting at the entrance to get in.

This location is almost always booked months in advance but on weekdays there are usually some spots that open up and they instituted a lottery of sorts in order to "win" a spot for the night. After "winning" our spot and handing over $35, we set things up and began some fun in the sun.

You can understand why this area attracts almost 1 million visitors annually as the beaches are beautiful, the waves are great, and the campground is literally steps from the ocean. Here we are checking out the scenery.

My awesome wife of course had to take advantage of the waves.



After the beach Brooke spent some time with bubbles followed by fun in the camper with mom (or I should say fun with the iPad)

This was just a quick one night trip but a good time was had for sure. Here is a parting shot of the beautiful sun setting.