For the past several days, we have been at small RV park near Carmel-by-the-Sea. It’s off of Carmel Valley Road, a few miles from Highway 1, and is called Carmel-by-the-River RV Park.
It is very lush in this valley, probably because it is always foggy here…with the exception of maybe three hours each afternoon, when the temperature might skyrocket into the low 70’s.
The road to this out-of-the-way resort gets your attention, for sure. The park owners call Shulte Road “a mature country road”. It is all of that, with large trees lining the narrow one lane road, which has a few very tight turns, as well. I had to unhitch my tow car a mile away, because if another car or RV was coming in the opposite direction, it would be a disaster.
Eventually, you drop down a steep driveway into the park…
…and it’s very nice. Trees all about, nicely maintained facilities, and an excellent grass area for off-leash dog play. BTW, the owner’s two small dogs wander around the park, and there seems to be no concern if a guest allows his dogs to do the same.
Here’s Charlie enjoying some of the afternoon sunshine.
It ain’t cheap here; we’re paying, with Good Sam Discount, about $85 per night! Of course, location is everything. This RV park is only about 4 miles from Carmel Village, and a few more miles to Monterey. The world famous Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance auto event is running right now in the area, and the big antique car race will be just down Carmel Valley Road at Laguna Seca. We won’t be here, unfortunately.
Dang!
We went for a drive the other day through Carmel-by-the-Sea. It was packed with cars and well-dressed folk. We had intended to check out the leash-free dog beach, but the place was a madhouse. So, we decided to do 17-Mile Drive on the way into Monterey. It cost $10.25, we got disoriented, and ended up on the freeway. What the Hell! But, we’d seen it before, so Charlie said, “Let’s get out of here”, and that’s what we did.
We ended up at Fisherman’s Wharf…
…and had a nice lunch at Scales Restaurant. The Clam Chowder was superb, as it always is up here. Very thick and full of goodies. Complimentary plate of calimari, as well, to go with our main course. Overall, much better than I had expected in such a touristy place.
We’ve met some nice people here at the RV park. “Dave” is from Florida, and drives a beautiful, super-glitzy 40′ Prevost rig.
Dave and his wife come out here every year for the Concours (he’s a car guy). We chatted a few times and he’s given me some recommendations on West Coast RV parks. He absolutely loves our next stop (Ocean Mesa at El Capitan Beach); goes there every year. He also recommended Marin RV Park, which is a ferry ride across the bay from San Francisco. We’ve already followed-up and booked a week there in 2018.
Another guy we met, “Ted” was staying in the site right next to the dog park. He let his dogs play with ours. Baby had a ball running circles around Ted’s large boxer, who was pretty fast for a 100 pound dog. But, Baby is exceptionally fast…probably faster than Booger was in her youth. She runs like a gazelle, and has more moves than a monkey on a new rope. Incredible!
Here she is, resting after an afternoon toying with the Boxer.
If I had the money and the time, I would enroll her in some dog agility training. I think she “could be a Contender”.
Some sad news this week: our good friends/neighbors, the Pace’s, have put their home up for sale. We will miss them, for sure. But, for how long? Charlie and I have decided that this is the year to sell…so we will be following suit, putting our house on the market in the Spring. It’s time to move on to the next phase of our lives.
I have been working on a 2018 Road Trip itinerary. We will have a plan, but it could change if our house sells. If that happens, we will have to interrupt our trip and do some packing.
Anyway, our 2018 schedule, as of now, looks like this:
Santa Barbara, May 1-7
Pismo Beach, May 8-14
Los Banos, May 15
Red Bluff, May 16-18
Roseburg, OR May 19-21
Pacific City, OR May 22-27
Newport, OR May 28-June 3
Coos Bay, OR June 4-July 1
Grants Pass, OR July 2
Red Bluff, July 3-5
Napa, July 6-15
Marin, July 16-22
Santa Cruz, July 23-Aug 5
Pismo Beach, Aug 6-18
Santa Barbara, Aug 19-Sept 1
Murrieta, Sept 2-4
Oceanside, Sept 5-Nov 5
As you can see, we are staying relatively close to home, in case the house sells. And, we’re concentrating on the “cool” places; this year, we spent a whole month sweating in Nevada, Arizona, Utah, etc. No bueno.