SCCamper Summer 2010 NO/SOCal Meet Ideas

[dkutz]

I don't think we would ever be allowed in this place...

http://www.costanoa.com/site.php

[dkutz]

without going back to see if this has already been posted...

http://www.santacruzranchrv.com/id5.html

or

http://www.santavidarvpark.com/Welcome.html

[boncrab]

I don't think we would ever be allowed in this place...

http://www.costanoa.com/site.php

I did mention that I've been busy looking for a site for next years summer rally......

This campground does offer group rates... just not during the peak season, they offer no discounts for groups during these peak seasons either. I checked out a simple backin site. It came in at $80.00 a night.  Too rich for my blood....Even with a 20% discount it would still be $64 per night.

[boncrab]

without going back to see if this has already been posted...

http://www.santacruzranchrv.com/id5.html

[color="red"]no campfires[/color]

or

http://www.santavidarvpark.com/welcome.html

[color="red"]a long term sites only [/color]

 Told ya I've been busy

[boncrab]

Lake San Antonio near San Luis has a group camp but not near the water.  I know that these sites have water and elec for sure.  It is a short drive to the day use area for the water.
QUOTE]

Hey, I was just looking at this lake when you e-mail for the post arrived.  Visit this website. There are 4 different campground locations starting from about an hour south of Monterey, in King City down to Lake San Antonio and Lake Naciemento near Paso Robles.

[griffsmom]

I'm stickying this thread so that it doesn't slip through the cracks.
 
We should try to nail down a new meet-in-the-middle rally locale as soon as possible as CGs fill up quickly in the summer months, especially for rowdy, noisy-kid, toilet-overwhelming groups such as ourselves.

[griffsmom]

BTW, I thought this place looked nice and could be a distinct possibility:
 
http://www.carmelrv.com/Carmel_RV/Welcome.html
 
It is a little on the "parking lot" style of CGs, but it is close to all kinds of things to see and do. From their Web site:
 
5 miles to Downtown Carmel
 
5 miles to Carmel Beach
 
7 miles to Pebble Beach Gate
 
8 miles to Monterey
 
9 miles to Monterey Bay Aquarium

[Dee4j]

I did mention that I've been busy looking for a site for next years summer rally......

This campground does offer group rates... just not during the peak season, they offer no discounts for groups during these peak seasons either. I checked out a simple backin site. It came in at $80.00 a night.  [COLOR="Blue"]Too rich for my blood....Even with a 20% discount it would still be $64 per night[/COLOR].

now that state park fees have gone up..this is a good deal...San Mateo campground is $60/night for just water and electric with a mile drive to the beach...

This is too far for the south this adds another hour to 2 hour drive for us...they have have weired restrictions on the holding tanks also...

[Azusateach]

This is too far for the south this adds another hour to 2 hour drive for us...

I'd drive that far.  Shoot, anywhere we go is going to require at least a half day's drive.  

Bonnie, if you plan it people will come.  

[Jamesdad]

Here's another option for the eastern side of the Sierras:

http://www.brownscampgrounds.com/default.html

I had some friends who stayed at the CG "in town" and they liked it. The only consideration for staying that low in the summer is the heat. If we go somewhere like this we'd have to do it as early in July as possible to avoid it.

Anywhere we go near the mountains is going to involve climbing hills. For those worried about their cars sucking gas, most of us don't travel very far from the CG once we're there, thus we're actually saving. Nobody said that it's cheap to RV, but it's sure a heck of a lot cheaper than the motel route.

For what it's worth, it might be fun to go the mountain route again. We've been on the west side of the state for the past 2 years -- let's go the other way next time. Personally, nothing can get better than the Yosemite area for me. That said, there's really not a lot of good parks available. We did lots of looking a few years back and came up empty. The TT preserve and Yosemite Pines were really the best options we could find.
__________________
Here is my two cent's on the above post. I have been to Browns Town CG a few times, it is on the South end of Bishop just as you come into town. In the summer it gets 110 degree's easy. It is kind of uncomfortable, but it is a very pretty area.
 
Tom's place is another one, no hook ups, just a couple miles south of Lake Crowley. They have a gift shop, restaurant at the camp site ,they also rent little bungalo type rooms. Summer is very crowded up there, but very beautiful. Been to Bodie, also a must see. All these places except for Browns Town CG will require large hills to tow over. I myself would not want to tow it as I know what my truck is capable of.
 
You with bigger vehicles, diesel pushers etc would have no trouble. I would like to go back to Santa Cruz, that would be my vote, or Morro Bay is also nice. But remember in the summer month's, you will need to reserve NOW. OK maybe it was three cent's..sorry, got a little winded...

[Freedom_5]

How about back to Lake Lopez? That seemed a good meet in the middle as we had northern campers joining us! Just my two cents worth.

[Dee4j]

I'd drive that far.  Shoot, anywhere we go is going to require at least a half day's drive.  

[COLOR="Blue"]Bonnie, if you plan it people will come. [/COLOR]

yep they usually do...

[wavery]

BTW, I thought this place looked nice and could be a distinct possibility:
 
http://www.carmelrv.com/Carmel_RV/Welcome.html
 
It is a little on the "parking lot" style of CGs, but it is close to all kinds of things to see and do. From their Web site:
 
5 miles to Downtown Carmel
 
5 miles to Carmel Beach
 
7 miles to Pebble Beach Gate
 
8 miles to Monterey
 
9 miles to Monterey Bay Aquarium

We are staying there next month with Cjpoppins and Guerrero5. We'll check it out and let you know.

What kinda numbers are we looking at here?? It's a pretty small CG with lots of permanent residents, I think...

[Dee4j]

We are staying there next month with Cjpoppins and Guerrero5. We'll check it out and let you know.

What kinda numbers are we looking at here?? It's a pretty small CG with lots of permanent residents, I think...

25 families give or take a couple

[wavery]

25 families give or take a couple

Here's the problem with booking big rallies at the smaller CGs:

If we book 25 out of 50 sites, that means that the CG will start having empty sites a week before the rally and again for a week after the rally. It's very hard (to impossible) for a CG to all of a sudden have half of their guests check out at the same time to make room for 25 incoming campers. Then after we leave, it takes a while for those empty sites to fill up again. It's not easy to find 25 reservations to all start on the same day that we leave.

We often have the attitude that these places are making a lot of $ off of us. The fact is, they often suffer lost revenue from empty spots before & after the rallies plus the hassle of everyone arriving and leaving on the same day.

In some cases, it is better for the CG to avoid big rallies and keep an even flow of people arriving and leaving at different times to keep the sites full every day.

I think that is the real reason that Smithwoods was not excited about having us back. I'll bet the early arriving SCCAMPERS saw a lot of empty spaces for days before the rally and the late leavers can tell stories about empty spaces for days after the rally. I'll bet that's not the norm for them at that season.

I used to be responsible for booking convention hotels for our Church group. Most hotels hate conventions unless it is a huge hotel and the convention populates less than 15% of the hotel. When we went to Israel in 1981, we had to pay a 30% premium for our rooms because we booked 500 rooms in a 700 room hotel. We ran into that all over the US as well.