Doheney State Beach in Dana Point, California.

After spending Thanksgiving 2013 with family in LA, we headed back out in the Mish for another local stay. This time, we are checking out the beaches of southern California.

Our usual beach stop is San Onofre State Beach in south Orange County. We decided to give another nearby state park a try this time and headed over to Doheny State Beach.

Normally we would stay for free at some parking lot when we arrive late to a spot. Being that this is southern California, there is no such thing as free overnight RV parking. None of the Walmarts around here allow it and there are no Cracker Barrels or truck stops for hundreds of miles. We really had no choice but to look for a spot in the campground in the dark and pay for a full day just to sleep until morning.

Doheny State Beach is California’s first state beach established in 1931. It is located in the town of Dana Point. None of the sites have hookups but they are are very close to the beach. About a dozen spots are right on the beach but you will be paying a premium to stay there.

Like all state parks in California, it is not cheap. Non-waterfront sites are $35 a night while the waterfront ones will cost you $60 a night. With no hookups, you would quickly begin to wonder what exactly you are paying for. Well, I think these sunsets are worth a couple of bucks.

Since is is between Thanksgiving and Christmas when we were there, it was not very crowded mid week. In fact, most of the campground was empty.

Our friends Nathan, Leah and their 2 boys have been spending time down in San Diego where Leah’s sister lives. Since we parted ways in Santa Fe, New Mexico, they had gone through a lot of trouble.

As they began to make their way west from northern New Mexico, they wandered into Colorado. Just outside of Cortez, CO, they found themselves driving in twilight towards the town and looking for a campground. Before they knew it, a herd of deer appeared on the road and they slammed into them at nearly 40 MPH.

Fortunately, no one in their car was injured. A few of the deer were not so lucky and neither was their van. For the next several weeks, their home sat in a repair shop while the mechanic searched for discontinued parts to repair their van. They had done so much custom work to it that it was practically irreplaceable.

We were really glad that they got back on their feet and made it out to the Pacific coast.

The kids were especially thrilled to have them at the beach to play.

Every time we are in south Orange county, we try to make it to our favorite hole in the wall Mexico restaurant La Tiendita in San Clemente. This here is the reason why. For $15, you get a box full of delicious Mexican food. It is enough for all five of us for the entire day.

We also drove north a little bit to the town of Laguna Beach. We had heard that there is a castle tower right on the beach that is little known by out of towners as the access road to get there is difficult to find.

This is Victoria Beach. You have to park along the main road as the access road is in a neighborhood with essentially no parking for non-residents.

What you will find here is a tower that someone who once lived here built to be able to walk down from the top of the bluff to access the beach below. We told the girls that this is the rear Rapunzel’s tower.

We got here at just the perfect time to see the sunset and fortunately for us, the clouds decided to come as well.

The view is pretty spectacular.

Luka is growing fast. He is now as tall as the tower while sitting.

Good bye sun. We will see you tomorrow.

During our stay here at Doheny, we also celebrated Marlene’s birthday. I think we have bought this Happy Birthday banner more than a few times now from Target.

Even though the spot we picked during our stay is not an ocean front site, it is actually right across the road from them. As long as there is no one paying the $60 a night to be on the other side, we actually have very nice views of the water.

It is hard to complain about the weather but it does get a little cool in the evening here. With the rest of the country looking like a giant cube of ice this last winter, we had it pretty good.

Nathan and Leah will be headed down to Mexico in a few weeks while we will head back to LA for Christmas and New Years before spending most of winter and spring in the desert.

These kids never have any fun.

over and out,
dan