While we were there we drove on freeways with four, six, eight, and more lanes going each way. They’re all packed with cars; and all of Southern California is covered by freeways. But know what’s really crazy about freeways in Southern California? The entire Southern California freeway system was created within our lifetime. Remember every trip from Long Beach to Lake Wohlford was on the Pacific Coast Highway; Highway 101? All the way down the coast through all those beach towns. It was the only way to get there. I think it was Laguna that had the old guy on the corner waving to cars as they went by. For years we would watch for that old guy on the corner and he was reliable. He was always there and he waved at us every time. South on PCH to the bird sanctuary in Oceanside. Turn left for Escondido, then up to the lake. The bird sanctuary is still there at Oceanside.
All those freeways now, filled with all those cars, and Pacific Coast Highway still has as many cars on it now as it did fifty years ago. That’s crazy.
There are so many cool things to draw a person to California, but every time we go back, we feel like we just got dropped into an anthill. It’s that crowded. There is a square mile in Long Beach that has 22,000 people in it. For us, every single attractive thing about Southern California is overpowered by the crushing weight of the crowd. We’ve been gone so long we forget we really were city people when we were kids. We’re not city people now.
California oddity: Joe’s Crab Shack in Newport Beach has valet parking only.
When it was time to leave the crowded Long Beach campground, the right outside mirror didn’t look right. Took a look and found a scuff mark on it. It had been forcibly folded back. The front end of our coach was so close to the road in the RV Park there, someone clipped it on the way by. They probably have a scuff mark on their mirror too.
Newport Dunes, a five start vacation destination resort, was about the worst place we have ever stayed. It was more crowded than the place in Long Beach. Our coach didn’t even fit in the site. It hung out onto the street. After our mirror scraping experience in Long Beach, that felt vulnerable. We totally filled the length of the site and the sites were so tight side-to-side, we couldn’t park the jeep next to us without encroaching on our neighbor. No offsite parking so everyone just parked in the street. We had to coordinate with our neighbor the day before we left so he could move his truck out of the way so we could get out. When we first saw the size of the site, for $90 a night, we protested to the office. They volunteered that we could upgrade to a premium site right on the Lagoon for $250 a night. We decided to stay in the poor part of town. It was only for a week. But then Memorial Day Weekend happened. The premium sites all filled up with oversized rigs. The outside entertainment centers opened up and turned on. A big screen television got set up on a picnic table for the Nascar blast. The park turned into a giant party for everyone, whether they wanted to party or not. Total anarchy. Were we glad we stayed where we were. We’d have been really disappointed with that $250 a night “premium” experience.
This brings to mind our experience at Gulf Waters over Spring Break. A party of related rigs all set up at the west end of the park. That end of Gulf Waters got turned into an open block party with no regard for its effect on the year round residents or other visitors. They must have been from California. After a couple days of escalating disregard, the entire group got evicted. It was ugly, but we’re so glad we live at Gulf Waters. We’re all for people enjoying themselves, especially people on vacation, but they should have some regard for the comfort of others while they do. Gulf Waters has a few rules to protect the comfort of all, and they enforce them. Thank you Gulf Waters.
