When we got to Oceanside we were all tired. Tired of driving in the truck. Tired of packing up our stuff every few days and moving on. Tired of small disappointments (snow, no water in Reno, no beach in Santa Barbara). We rolled into the campground in Oceanside in the dark, after a long drive that took us through 2 hours in rush hour traffic in Los Angeles, relieved to be there. And then the train came… the Paradise by the Sea RV Park, which is “on the beach” is also right on the Amtrack/Coaster rail line and the trains come by from 5:51am to 11:52 pm, in 15-30 minute intervals at times – ACK!!! Will we ever find our california beach to surf???

A good nights sleep and an a day to settle in and we were able to find all the things right with our situation. A heated pool & hot tub, a games room with pool, shuffleboard, pingpong and Wii. A 500 meter walk to the beach down a path and through a park. Nice places for me to run in the mornings. Nice beach to surf on. Bike friendly community. A gated secure campground that made it OK for Hunter to stay on his own for short periods. All of this quickly offset the train… Hunter even got good at discerning the different train whistles for the trains in the dark and it became a game.

We spent 10 days in Oceanside at the Paradise by the Sea RV Park. It was a great home base and very well run. Clean, well taken care off, very friendly staff and lots of amenities. For us to stay at a State Park on a beach is $65.00 a night with no showers, no water, no electrical, no internet, no pool etc. etc. For us to stay in Paradise, it was $55.00 per night. An easy decision to keep extending our stay and cancelling our other reservations.

Oceanside is a bike friendly community and you can tell that just by the volume of bike traffic and the road signs. Most roads have bike lanes on the side and some roads state that bikes can take up the whole road, just like a car. We rode our bikes down to the Oceanside Pier and checked things out. We rode our bikes to the Oceanside Streetmarket on 2 Thursday nights (a must check out experience with food from around the world, music & kids activities). Tim and I rode our bikes 32km down the San Louis Rey River trail that goes from the beach eastward to the edge of Oceanside.

We spent lots of time at the beach, which was just what we needed. What we did varied every day but there was always at least a kayak, a surfboard and a boogie board with us. Some days we had 2’s of things and were quite a site! We now have a beach wagon (seen above just behind Hunter) to help carry all the STUFF plus lunch etc. so we can stay longer and play more.

Hunter discovered the fun of a boogie board and had a wonderful time surfing and playing in the waves, either chasing Tim in his kayak or convincing him to come out and play as well…

I continue to have fun learning to surf. It’s a steep learning curve and could be considered frustrating but I have so much fun being out in the waves that I just take each day as it comes and celebrate the little successes along the way!

It was also wonderful to be just down the road from my sister and her family. Hunter really enjoyed some “cousin time” – both at Legoland & Zoo Safari as well as just “hanging out”. We are excited that we will be back this way in March for a broader family vacation with a beachfront house being rented and lots of cousins here to play. More surfing every day with some plans to check out the impressive skateboard park that we found on our last day.