We Win Some and We Lose Some

One of the ongoing things about this nomadic life is that we sometimes feel like we have more control over things than we really do, and we have to remind ourselves to go with the flow and laugh about things that didn't go like we had hoped. Like a lot of other things (maybe most other things), it would go better if you could do it first and then do it AFTER you learned how.

Technology being what it is, we can mostly decide where we should go next, then find the campground that suits us best in or around that place, and make reservations. Mostly we are trying to figure it out based on some kind of understanding of where the campground is in relation to where we want to go, and then from an online map of the campground that shows where each available campsite is. The thing that requires a sense a sense of humor is that you can make these choices but it is still a crapshoot, and not the least of which because you don't know who is going to be next to you in the campground, or what is going to happen when you get there.

After we left San Diego (where, by the way, we had an infestation of VERY tiny ants, and it took days and more than a few barely repressed desires to blow the trailer to bits with a hand grenade to conquer), we stayed for one night in a spectacular campground in the part of Orange County I like best to remember from my youth. The Crystal Cove state park is partly in Laguna Beach, and partly in Newport Beach, and ALL stunningly beautiful. We had what was probably the single most beautiful campsite of the trip so far, and the sound of the pounding waves was spectacular. Downside, besides price? (California is remarkably more expensive than the other places we have been.) Next door neighbors who sat outside by their fire talking, drinking and laughing just a few feet away from our heads until we finally asked them to cut it out...first nicely at 11:30, and then not so nicely at 12. See what I mean? Great spot, lousy neighbors. By the time they finally turned in, we did in fact go to sleep to the crashing of the waves, but by then we were a little crabby.

Beautiful campsite

 

Ready to roll out after a bad sleep

From the bike path at the park

 The next night we went to what is likely to be even more of a win some/lose some memory. Los Angeles doesn't have many campgrounds to choose from. Basically, inside the city there is ONE. It is a state beach that is both directly on the beach...and almost directly at the airport. Because it is right on the beach (quite literally; the RV park is a parking lot at the ocean), there is the sound of the ocean and a big wide beach to walk on. Because it is at the airport, there is also the sound of planes going by. The bike path that stretches all the way from here to Santa Monica along the water is here too. The first day we were here we had a beautiful ride to Marina del Rey, and we liked it so much that we felt sad that the next day, when we had plans with friends and then a Dodgers game with family, we wouldn't have more time to ride along the shore and enjoy the weather. So we paid for another night.

Truly. This is the beach at the "campground"

We had two wonderful days in LA visiting several friends and seeing a great ball game. Then we came back to the campground to find that the nice rain that occurred while we were at Dodger stadium was a raging ocean storm at the beach. Our trailer awning, which we had left extended for the shade it was providing during the day, was ripped from its mooring. There was sand EVERYWHERE. The wind was howling! We did what we could and then climbed into bed in a trailer that was practically rocking from the wind. This morning we woke up to find sand blown all over the place, including covering some of the beautiful flowers they had planted near the buildings. And the extra day we paid for, because it was so nice, to ride our bikes? We not only couldn't ride our bikes, the wind was still blowing so hard we couldn't even walk on the beach. We have spent most of this "extra" day indoors, looking out the windows at spectacular high surf, then wandering outside for all of two minutes before we rush back inside! This is what I mean about trying to control what happens, and by winning some and losing some.

One more thing: being at the ocean and also at the airport means every time you look up, you see both pelicans and airplanes. The airplanes make a lot more noise.

We are just about to see the sun sink into the ocean, while tremendous waves and whitecaps crash the shore. Where are we going to be seeing this fabulous sight? From inside the trailer, out the window. Oh well. 

A plane and a pelican go by