Beach Vacation!

From one beach to another...that 's all we did July4th long weekend! The biggest attraction in the Central Coast of California are the beaches and that's where we headed. Since we didn't find accomodation in the hotels that we wanted, we decided to make it a camping cum beach holiday.

I found a KOA campground about 40mts from the beaches in a city called Santa Margarita. We drove on scenic highway 1 on our way there, and was it beautiful or what! The highway runs through a mountain and so it is winding all the way. Other than the pleasure of driving these roads, you are treated to a vast expanse of water, the Pacific, on one side and the mountains on the other. All along this route are some national forests, state beaches and vista points. We stopped at a couple of beaches. We found 'Garapatto Beach' very exciting for its white sands and pure blue waters. The 200 mile journey took us about 6 hours, and we reached our camping ground around 6. We pitched our tent, and made some quick dinner on our 'pocket rocket' stove, and sat out until the moonlight was the only light around.The best part of camping are the early morning hours, when the sun is not totally out but it is bright enough to wake you up from inside the tent and when you can hear the birds chirping loud and clear. I love it!

The first day we went to Avila beach, It was a family friendly beach and it was fun watching the kids mudskate and surf. Fishing seemed popular too on the pier. The next day we did Grover beach. We found the waters a li'l warmer than Avila and also less crowded. Because of its proximity to Pismo, which attracts HUGE number of visitors, this is a much quieter beach.

It was so much fun to get back to camping once again, our first in California! KOA campgrounds is a good option if you are looking to stay for a couple of nights especially(or may be only)while on road trips. Most KOA campgrounds also have cabins, which is another great option for people who don't want to carry all the camping gear!