[B_and_D]

Bryan and I spent 7 nights earlier this month at the Pismo Sands RV Park, where the West Coast Trailblazers rally will be held in September. The weather was great, being in Pismo was great, and we even got to watch the Delta IV launch from Vandenberg on the 20th. We were originally thinking about going back to Sam's Family Spa in Desert Hot Springs, but when we checked out the weather forecast and thought about driving an entire day down there and an entire day back, plus having the option of going to Avila Beach Hot Springs a few miles up the road from the Pismo campground at $8 a day, and not having to drag the trailer through LA on those intense freeways, it was pretty much a no-brainer for us. We just wanted to relax and not do that much driving. The Avila Beach Hot Springs Resort has a nice hot mineral pool, but it's very funky, pretty much like a really hot kiddy pool where you sit on the bottom of the pool, but it's REALLY nice and HOT and they have a huge warm swimming pool, but the camping is limited. They used to be mainly a campground, but have moved in a lot of those KOA style cabins that they rent out for $150 per night on the weekends and there are very few RV spaces left, and those that are left are very small. There are a couple of water slides, but they weren't operating when we were there. Interesting, diverse, mellow crowd who go there.

We really liked the Pismo Sands RV park. It was very clean, the pool and spa looked almost new and were kept really warm (the spa was one of the hottest ones I've ever been in and a couple of the jets are awesome) even for January. The sites were a little tight over the MLK weekend, but the people who camped there were very mellow and friendly and during the week we had plenty of room empty around us. It's not very far from the beach by car. The clubhouse and pool/spa area are great, there are two outdoor BBQ's and the clubhouse is centrally located in the park. There is a small arcade with an air hockey table and a 6' pool table.

I think it will be a great place for the rally in September. The WI-FI was good too, even got to watch some Netflix later at night. The satellite TV was much better there than the service at Pismo Coast RV.

We got to see the Monarch butterflies that spend the winter months in the eucalyptus grove next to the beach, there are a lot more of them there than we've ever seen at Natural Bridges here in Santa Cruz or in Pacific Grove. The signs we read said that there were approximately 20K butterflies in residence and that the population can vary from 20K to 200K at one time.

There are trains that go by the rear of the park, they blow their whistles late at night sometimes, we woke up the first two nights but after that slept through it. If you're sensitive to noise, bring ear plugs. Thank you, Sharon & Andy, for checking it out and booking it for us. I really think it will be a great place for our rally.