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Thousand Trails - Pio Pico Campground
Tosha Tingey • June 13, 2019
Our first Thousand Trails Campground near San Diego at Pio Pico
Pio Pico
was the first Thousand Trails campground we stayed at after getting our membership. We wanted a little bit of down time to really enjoy one of our favorite areas of southern California, so we stayed here for 10 days. This campground is very secluded in the foothills of Otay Lakes. It’s about a half hour away from the beach, and 15 min away from town. The seclusion of the campground is very nice; however, it comes at a cost.
3 Things We Loved
1. We loved the area! We backed into our spot and were under the shade of a large tree with an empty ditch behind us where we could play and chase wild bunnies. There’s a picnic bench for each site as well that we would go eat dinner at ours most nights.
2. The proximity – this location was really nice for what we wanted to do in San Diego. There’s a beautiful park just 10 min away that we spent a lot of time at. It’s 30 min away from several beaches. And so many kid friendly facilities and restaurants in Chula Vista.
3. Wasn’t too crowded. When you read below you will see that we arrived the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. So it was very crowded at first. But by Tuesday we didn’t have neighbors until the last three days. Ideally if you book a Thousand Trails campground you will want to come during the week so you can have more options for choosing your spot.
3 Things We Did Not
1. Our first night here was a terrible experience. There was a misunderstanding from the moment we got here and we didn’t feel like we were treated with a lot of respect in the beginning. Like I mentioned above we arrived on the Sunday before Memorial Day. So we were expecting it to be crowded and were already planning on changing spots once things cleared up. What we weren’t expecting was to park, get hooked up, and then have our power go out while we are cooking dinner. Moving and resetting up after a long drive and with a tired toddler is the last thing we wanted to do. We moved to a different spot for the night with power and then the next morning once people were leaving we finally moved to a spot we loved. We also didn’t have any more negative experiences with the management after that. The staff were friendly and helpful.
2. No sewer hookups for 2 of the campground areas. There’s one main campground area that is next to the ranger station with the nice playground and the swimming pool. This campground has sewer hookups. Across the street are two more lots and these do not have sewer hookups, but do have a dump station.
3. No service. By day three we were really loving this campground and our spot. But every conversation we had was, “I love this campground, but I wish it had service.” Or “I could totally stay here longer, if it had service.” If you’re looking to disconnect during your stay, then this is the place! But if you work from the road full-time (like us) or just like your Netflix (like me), it can make it very difficult.
When you're on a cruise it can be difficult to experience the island or country you are in when you only have a few hours. The other challenge we had was finding an excursion that our entire family could join. And by entire family I mean my parents, my sister's family with four kids, and our family! So when we found Chukka Caribbean's excursion that included Zip-lining, River Tubing, ATV ride, lunch, and a bird aviary - it was the plan for a perfect day!
If you’ve ever gone to Rocky Mountain National Park, you most likely came through Estes Park. It’s pretty well known but from now on when we go to the National Park we will be going to Granby. Granby is on the western side of Rocky Mountain National Park. We found an AMAZING campground to stay at that has so many amenities and the area all around is packed with fun things to do!
I always want to be real with anyone reading this blog about full-time travel, tiny living, Airstream life… all of the above. So I want to share some of our hardest moments that had us either wanting to quit or had us seriously questioning, “what are we even doing?” So here we go…
Glacier National Park is one of those National Parks that you hear about and just KNOW that it is going to be amazing. And it was. Right upon entering the park it felt more like home and less like a tourist attraction. The park itself is huge but upon arrival, it feels like you’re entering a little town with an ice cream shop and café, boat rentals, and a small visitor center. After going to the visitor center we headed to get our kayak inspected. The inspections are free and pretty basic. You will have to rinse it off if it’s wet or dirty but that’s about it. If you aren't bringing your own gear you can rent for a good price right across the street from the lake. Life jackets are required to be worn by children and adults must have them in the boat with them or worn. After that, we went right to the dock next to the Village Inn and set sail! The pictures can show just how gorgeous this place was better than I could ever describe.
Pike’s Place Market place is the longest-running farmer’s market in America! The hype and the buzz of the atmosphere is palpable. You have flowers lining one side and the most unique crafts, food, art, jewelry, anything you can think of on the other! On the lower level, you’ll find shops dedicated to vintage prints, toy cars, magic shops, and more unique products! And of course, the famous fish throwing vendor will not leave you disappointed. I usually get anxiety in large crowds and people trying to sell me stuff. But the vibe here was so family-friendly. The crowds felt less annoying and more like I just found the after party of Seattle. Just a short stairway away is the somehow popular and extremely gross, gum wall. This alleyway is just covered in gum on the walls and it looks really cool, just don’t think about it too much.
As with just about anything in life, you can only prepare so much until you are actually living it. We have been living in a 150 sq ft Airstream for the past 3 months and here are 3 things we love and 3 things we don’t.
1. Self-Cleaning Vacuum We have a little hidden cubby where we keep our Deebot (googly eyes not included). This almost didn’t happen and I am SO glad it did. I learned within one day how dirty our floors get. It’s awesome to run the little robot vacuum while we are gone or asleep or packing up and have it do all the work.
Pacific City RV Resort had so many amenities and the biggest, most private campsites we've ever had! It's across the street from the beach and lives in the beautiful small coastal town of Pacific City, Oregon.
The Thousand Trails campground, Russian River was just a half way stop near Santa Rosa, CA and we were pleasantly surprised with what this RV campground had to offer!
The Yosemite Lakes campground was actually the one that got us interested in a Thousand Trails to begin with. This campground is chuck full of amenities in the campground itself, and it’s 10 min away from the Yosemite National Park entrance. And I’m apologizing in advance, we were enjoying it so much that we forgot to take pictures until we left! So I only have a few but hopefully it’s better than nothing.