Greg's sister and her family go to Pismo beach all the time. They have all the toys: Sand Rail, Quads, dirt bikes and big trailer that haulers all the toys and sleeps their whole family. We have been once before in July 2006. We decided to join them on their latest trip at the end of July. Last time we stayed with them in their trailer, but with our new addition, we decided it was probably better to have our own accommodations. There is a company called Luv2camp that rents trailers and brings them out to the beach for you. All you have to do is show up and your trailer is there. I called to rent the trailer several weeks in advance and they were all booked, so I put our name on a wait list. This is a money making business. The company charges $189/per night. We stayed 3 nights, so our grand total was $667. I guess, since we were paying what I thought to be the price for a very nice hotel. that we would get a very nice trailer. Well, I should have realized that they turn these things around every week, not much cleaning involved and they are not new, so my hotel expectations were disolved when we walked into our trailer. Don't get me wrong, it was okay, just not what I expected. Now, maybe I am anal about some things, but on the paperwork, it listed the things that the trailer comes with: dishes, pots, utensils, one roll or TP and paper towels and a sponge. I packed extra TP and paper towels. The sponge was USED. Can you say G-R-O-S-S! I don't think so! The tanks were not filled with fresh water, so we ran out the first night at about 9:00 and then the heater would not stay on. With a 8 week old baby, we were not playing that game. Greg spent about 20 minutes on the phone with the "on-call" guy to get the heater working, but every time it shut off during the night, he would have to "massage" it into working. This was about a 10 minute program each time.
The next morning, they did come out and fill our fresh tanks with water, dump our sewage(not our sewage, another G-R-O-S-S!) and fixed the heater. The batteries were dead and once new ones were in place, we were all good. They also brought out a new sponge and comp'd us the first night. We were good and having fun, despite our initial set backs.
Hayden absolutely loves all these toys. He goes out on the sand rail, rides on the Quads with me or his Dad and also loves to ride on the golf cart. There was another family there that had a golf cart and the kids would get on the back and think they were going out to ride in the dunes, little dunes of course. Hayden loves camping of any kind and throw in some and it is all that much better. We rode the Quad around circles in our camp. It is illegal to ride with two people, so we stayed in our camp. Not only that, he is a little small for the Quads that were on hand. One of the families did bring little Quads, called 50's but they were not working. Looks like we better start checking out Craig's List because Hayden already has that on Santa's list.
The weather while we were there was really great. The first day was overcast and that night was fairly cold, but the rest of the time, the sun was out and it was warm. Anyone who is familiar with Pismo at this time of year knows that it is mostly overcast and cold, so this was a real treat. On Saturday, we all, and I mean all, walked the 100 yards to the beach and hung out for a few hours. Let me mention the "all" of us. Eric, my brother in law, is Mr. Friendly. He makes friends very easily and is super outgoing. They planned the trip and then told all the "trailer" buddies to come along. Now some of these people are family, like us and Eric's brother and family and some are people they know from school, but other's are people he has met here and there. One couple was someone he meet while driving by their house and seeing a sand rail parked in the garage. He stopped and they talked and presto! Very nice couple, by the way. Another family was someone they met last time on the dunes and yet another was someone that we pulled out (people get their trucks stuck ALL THE TIME) that day. Very fun to meet so many new faces!
Anyway, getting back to the beach, we all went down with chairs, coolers, umbrellas and hung out and watched the comings & goings of all the people, quads, trucks, etc. Kasandra buried Hayden in the sand, after much coaxing. I should have taken the "after" picture with his clothes full of sand. Still trying to get it all out. Yesterday, I took his jeans and shorts outside and hand a
sand party. There was sand in every pocket and crease, let's just say next time, we will be taking shorts with no pockets!
This is a picture of Hayden before he was buried in the sand, notice his clean clothes!
This is one of the only family pictures that we have. It always
seems like I am either taking pictures of the kids & Greg or vis versa, never together. We were down by the beach and I was taking pictures of Hayden and the group and then Greg was taking pictures of me & Calyn and Kelly, my Sister-in-law's
Sister-in-law (get it?) said let me take some pictures of all of you together. How nice! Now we really look like a family and not just pieces of one!
Calyn gets her feet in the ocean for the first time. It was a little cold but she was a good sport!
The other baby! Eric's brother and his family came out for the first time. They just a got trailer and made their maiden trip. This is Aubrey, she is 7 months old. We laid the babies on a blanket together. Aubrey really liked Calyn and kept trying to touch her. Calyn, being 2 months, didn't notice much. Next year they should really be playing together.
This is the kids on the Golf Cart. They had so much fun. Whenever someone got into the golf cart, they all ran over, swamping the cart and whoever thought they were going for a nice quick ride.
We had a great time and can't wait to go back. I don't think that we will do the "renting" of a trailer again, not that it was bad, I just like my own things and am very particular about what I have and use. Needless to say, we are now hunting around the internet for trailers, hoping that our next trip will be with our own traveling home and all the fun stuff that goes along with that. Pismo in Febuuary 09'!
This is a picture taken this past Saturday at our friends house. They do a songfest every year. Totally fun. This is Hayden and Will. They are 6 weeks apart and have been buddies since birth. They only see each other 5 or 6 times a year but they play like they see each other every day. Will is truly the buddy that Hayden needs. They get along so good, rarely do we have to intervene. We can go over there and they are playing from the very first minute to the last.
