Camping at San Onofre State Beach

This week we are finally back on the road again. This time, we are headed down to the border of San Diego and Orange County to camp at San Onofre State Beach. Actually, the beach campsites are closed in the winter time so we settled for San Mateo Campground a mile inland from the beach. I know, it’s difficult.

Ava got a bicycle from Santa this year but Santa miscalculated her height so the new bike has her feet dangling in the air when she sits on it. Mama and Dadda decided to buy a second-hand one from Craig’s List in the meantime to cover Santa’s mistake. Here she is all coordinated with her back-up X’mas present.

We decided to chance it and got into San Mateo Campground a day earlier from our reserved date. Lucky for us, there was an open site right across the way from our reservation. We temporarily settled in to a convenient back-in spot right by the shower facilities.

We got smart and brought a microwave with us this time around. This microwave is actually the same one we used in our old T@B trailer. I had stashed it away in the garage when we weren’t using the T@B for awhile and forgot to include it with the trailer when we sold it. This made heating up Ava’s milk before bedtime a lot easier. The only problem is that Ava has recently been refusing her milk or drinking very little of it. It’s very unlike her but we are hoping it’s just a phase.

Even though we remembered to bring the microwave, we somehow forgot to bring coffee mugs for Marlene’s morning java. She had to resort to drinking her cup-o-joe with a pyrex measuring cup.

Doesn’t that banana bread look delicious? Marlene is gonna kill me once she sees that I posted this photo of her.

After having been landlocked for our last trip, we wanted to make this one close to the beach so I can go surfing. Having broke both of my arms in a skateboarding mishap 4 months ago, this will be the first time back in the water for me. I knew it was not going to pretty but I had to try.

Sorry Yoda, you have to stay in the Airstream while we go to the beach. I think it’s probably better for everyone this way.

Ava hasn’t been at the beach in awhile either so we dusted off her shovel and sand toys and headed down the road. San Onofre State Beach is just a quick hop down the freeway and since we have our campground stickers in the window, we got in without paying another entrance fee. Just up the road the other way is San Clemente State Beach which happens to be the last place we camped at before selling the T@B. There is also a great family oriented beach access there. We might make it there later in the week.

We brought some food down for a little picnic at the beach which turned out to be a little picnic for the sea gulls as well. When we ran out of bread crumbs for them, Ava tested throwing some sand but they weren’t interested.

Here I go into the frigid winter Pacific. It’s been awhile and it was not pretty. It’s gonna be another while before I can get back into my surfing shape. You gotta start somewhere I guess.

Ava had fun running around the beach chasing birds and watching her dad fall off of his surfboard half a dozen times before we headed back to the camp site.

As with all trips, we are trying to cook as much as we can in the trailer. This was no different. With our microwave firmly planted on the stove top, we decided the first night was a good time to make something in the oven. I realized after the fact that this would have been a good opportunity to post another cooking video but it was too late. You will just have to settle for some still photos.

Here are the tasty ingredients. Betty Crocker makes a super easy pizza mix that just needs water and we love using the Trader Joe’s Organic Marinara Sauce. It is the lowest sodium sauce of all the ones we have seen and it tastes great.

Here is the finished product. Ava isn’t a huge fan of the toppings. It just gets in the way of her cheese.

Marlene got one topped with some prosciutto.

Ava made us dessert with her new cookie set she got for Christmas. Yummy!

Finally, a little Sound of Music on TV to cap off the night. See you guys tomorrow!

over and out,
dan