Looks Can be Deceiving - Smith River and Crescent City, CA

Wow. Do you love being able to search the internet for vacations? Me too. But, I've recently heard about where hotels are doctoring up their photos to make their place look better. We all want to look better right? :-)

We found out the hard way that it's not just hotels. Oh my goodness. We found out that the lovely, simple little RV park right on the ocean in Smith River, CA was, in all actuality, a dive. Run down, un-kept buildings with parking for the RVs just across from their trailer park. Nothing wrong with having a trailer park next door unless they are run down, doors falling off and worse. We were told we didn't need reservations. We now understand why.

That's OK though ... it was just a little part of our adventure though and while sitting in their parking lot, we were able to look at our "alternates" list ... a weird thing we did "just in case". Glad we did. Ended up finding the next location down the road about 15 minutes in Crescent City. Oh  wow - so much better.

We found the Redwoods RV Resort - it actually was everything they advertised - and more! Beautiful site with all the comforts that we have grown used to for camping. Our form of camping, that is. Many places are great for kids - this is no exception. Not only do they have a fabulous horse shoe pit (this from the 2010 MCA Family Life campout's horse shoe co-champion, Farmer Scott), but they are serious about the kids having fun ... take a look at this brand new play structure for the kids...

And while we don't travel with our animals, I can imagine that those of you with dogs would LOVE this place. When they say they are pet friendly, they mean it. Check this out:

You're asking yourself, what is that? I've zoomed in on the sign:

Yep. A special covered area for giving your dog a bath after a long day of playing and before you bring him back into your camper for the night. It also has lights for evening bathing. Seriously.

We stayed for a couple days, but it's at the high end of our price range with 2 nights coming in at $73 with taxes and that was with our AAA/Good Sam discount for their least expensive spot. For this trip, we have budgeted about $20 a night.
So, on down the road we went and found this very simple, yet amazingly located camp. Shoreline RV Campground which is a county/city owned park. When I say amazing location, take a look at my view from my "front door":

View from camper. See the boys in the lower right corner?

 That, my friend, is the Pacific Ocean. Oh, and by the way, this is California's idea of a rainy day. The forecast for the day was a huge low pressure system off shore (see the clouds) with rain. But, the weatherman said, most of the rain will evaporate before it hits ground. Washington residents jealous yet? I told the man in the office that I'll take their rain every day of the year. He thought I was kidding until I told him I was from Seattle.
It was such a nice day that they boys actually went in the ocean and swam. And played. And made sand dungeons.

The boys playing with sand after a little swim in the ocean.

And even I had an adventure and found a little baby crab. Looks like the size they use for soft shell crab. Don't know what got it, but found it in tact and picked it up to take a picture.

Even after their beach watcher's class, the boys weren't interested in this guy.

From here we can take a little 3/4 mile walk up to Starbucks. Or over to Play Street...the name they gave to the road of one of the city parks. We are also central to explore the almighty Redwoods Forrest and who knows what else.

So, going back to the beginning of this story and how looks can be deceiving. We started with the ugly, went to the beauty and then have settled into a nice, comfortable setting where we are all thrilled.

I know some of you have had one of these experiences. How did you work it out? Did you find the joy and entertainment in it? Please share.