Hiking at Malibu Creek State Park (Part 1).

After settling into our site for the night at Malibu Creek State Park, we woke up bright and early to prepare for a hike into the hills. Our goal was to visit the M*A*S*H site. Even though we weren’t fans of the show, it was nice to have a final destination. No need to pick a random spot to call the end of the hike. So off we went. To one side, we had some gray clouds. Hmmm.
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And to the other side, we had some white clouds and blue sky. Not too shabby.
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Exploring the campground at Malibu Creek.

After finally getting the upper hand on our unlevel site at Malibu Creek State Park, we got to sit back and enjoy the beautiful view from our Airstream… for a few minutes at least.
Malibu Creek State Park Campground

When you have a toddler, you don’t have hours and hours of nothing to do. Because there is always something to do. Like exploring the campground. So, if Ava sits still and “relaxes” for few minutes, we soak it in… fast!
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Parking the Airstream at Malibu Creek State Park.

Before our last mini trip to Malibu Creek State Park, a lot of people warned us of how scary the road was to get there. We had a flashback to our first little trip to Lake Isabella. Narrow, windy mountain roads with rock overhangs on one side and a cliff down to oblivion on the other.
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Well, that nightmare did not materialize. In fact, the trip there was as uneventful as one could imagine. A short drive up the 101 where most of the way was a 6-lane freeway with just the last 5 miles or so a straight 2 lane highway. I think the fact that we did not come from the ocean side of Malibu was the difference. Las Virgenes Road goes all the way through to PCH (Pacific Coast Highway, AKA California Highway 1) and it dumps you off right next to Pepperdine University. I am guessing driving a big RV thru the road to there would not be too pleasant.

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Pick up time.

On Friday, we left for another little adventure down the street. To a place called Malibu Creek State Park. I just love the feeling of being in the van again with the Airstream in tow… especially as we just start pulling it onto the open road. Don’t you agree, Ava? Read more…

Dirty.

Oh Mali Mish. Don’t let the little white fluffy clouds fool you. It’s supposed to sprinkle today. So, I am going to leave you looking a little dirty for our next adventure together. I’m so sorry. But you are in good company. The van is just as dirty as you. Read more…

A 24-Hour Visit to… Lake Piru.

Having been house bound for months since our last trip in February to Newport Dunes for the FOTR rally, we were antsy to get out and do some camping in ‘The Mish’. We rallied up some friends and family during the week and got a group of us to hit up a local campground. Lake Piru.

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Lake Piru is located in Ventura County, California, in the Los Padres National Forest next to the Sespe Condor Sanctuary.  They have camp sites ranging from a primitive tent site to full hookup sites. Electric only sites cost $31 a night during the peak season with tent sites at $27 while a  full-hookup site costs $42 a night but only 5 of them are available per the map.

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What?

Hi. I’m Ava and welcome back to Mali Mish. So, as you probably noticed, we haven’t hit the road in a while. Mama’s pregnant, the baby wants to stay close to home, blah blah blah. But I have good news. We are going on a mini-road trip to Lake Piru. Read more…

FOTR West Coast Rally: Day#3.

Boy oh boy! When we are on the road for an extended trip, I blog my little heart out every single day. No excuses. But when we take a little weekend trip down the street, it takes me over a month to finish a post! Shame on me. Shame. Shame. Soooo here it is. The long overdue and last post of our FOTR West Coast Rally trip at Newport Dunes.

Our morning began with a bit of a surprise. Wha-what?!?! We didn’t get to enjoy activities at everyone’s  sites today? We had to host one ourselves!! US!!! AHHHHH!!!!! So here we are at IHOP. Bright and early. Waiting for Target to open.

Me… still in shock.

Ava… enjoying the hell out of her pancakes.
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FOTR West Coast Rally: Day#1.

Last week, we packed up the Airstream and headed south again. This time it was for our very first official rally. We joined the Families on the Road (FOTR) West Coast Rally which was held at the Newport Dunes RV Resort down in Newport Beach, California. Usually we travel by ourselves, but for the past two trips we’ve taken, we’ve traveled in groups. Last month we camped with a group of Airstreams in Malibu and this time we camped with a group of families in Orange County.

Don’t worry about the picture below. Ava sits in a car seat. All the time. No exceptions. I am sort of the seat belt police whenever we drive anywhere. I have a thing for following the law. Dan makes enough fun of me for being a rule follower so I don’t need any more comments from the peanut gallery. Plus, if you don’t wear your seat belt and you get in an accident, you are not only hurting yourself but the others around you too… and that’s selfish. Sorry, I think I was just possessed by McGruff the Crime Dog. Back to the story.
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First Time at Camping World!

We have been wanting to visit a Camping World ever since we got into RV’ing. Unfortunately there isn’t one in our home town. The closest one is about an hour away and we hardly ever drive thru that area. Interestingly enough, there has been a sign off of the freeway a few miles from our house that reads ‘Camping World Ventura! Coming soon!”. That’s great! I thought when I first saw it. But that was over 2 years ago. I have given up the idea that there might be one coming in anytime soon.

This last weekend we went up north to visit my brother and mom in the bay area. On the way back, we stopped in San Martin, CA where a Camping World is just off of the 101 freeway. We could not have been more excited to go inside and check things out.

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I think I was expecting it to be a lot bigger than it actually was. After all, it is supposed to be an entire world of camping! Well, it is not the Costco sized building I was expecting but more of a grocery store. But that was actually big enough to have lots of products I had wanted to see and touch.

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