Spoiled seascape

We are parked on highway 1, along the beach on the Pacific Ocean, at a Ventura county park known as the Rincon Parkway (map).

I wrote about this spot more extensively the first time we parked here (photos: 1, 2). The rate has since gone up to $25, but the stay limit has also increased, to 14 days in the off season, and 7 from April through, I think, October. Unlike the last time we were here, this time we had no trouble finding a space, and not all the spaces filled up last night.

Also unlike last time, this was a noisier stay. I wrote back then that the only sounds we heard were the constant roar of the surf, and the occasional train. On this visit, shortly after we parked (and had already dropped our site-specific payment in the box), a class-C pulled into the space right in front of us, and immediately set up his little Honda generator. Anyone who thinks these are "nearly silent" has not spent an evening right next to one. He carefully placed it at the very back of his rig, likely so he would be less disturbed by it, but that put it right below our living room.

I had imagined (silly me) that he'd run it to make dinner, or charge his batteries, or whatever, and then be done with it. Nope -- it ran all night. It's still running now -- it has been running full time since they parked yesterday at 3pm. They are not even in the rig right now -- their tow car is off someplace. I was sorely tempted to just go out and turn the thing off last night around midnight. But there is nothing posted here about generator hours, and, who knows, maybe they have a CPAP machine or something. But it definitely spoiled some of the magic of this place, for me at least.

I'm not spending another night behind this moron's generator, though, so instead of another night here, we'll head a bit further along the coast, and try for a spot at Gaviota State Beach for the same price. Besides, Louise needs a post office, and we'll pass a couple on the way.

We're definitely glad we stayed, though, because it really is beautiful here, with the channel islands visible across the water, and the gray outline of the mountains to the northeast along the coast. And this is really as far as I wanted to drive yesterday; it was a four hour slog through the LA area on uninteresting freeways, and we were delayed by no fewer than three accidents. We also had something of a challenge finding water -- there was no spigot at the Morongo fuel station, nor did we find any at the T/A truckstop in Ontario. We finally pulled in to the Ontario Elks lodge, where we knew we'd find water from a previous stay there. They graciously allowed us to fill our tank.

Fortunately, we were well rested and relaxed from our massages at the spa Tuesday, which was extremely nice. Our spa package also got us in to the pool complex, where we enjoyed the water slide and the endless-river pool with inner tubes freely sprinkled throughout. The whole pool experience was nice enough that I asked about passes; it turns out that a day pass to the spa is $30, which gets you all the spa ammenities (showers, hot tub, steam and sauna rooms, and a locker with robe and slippers) plus use of the gym in additional to pool access, and a pool-only pass is $20 on the weekdays and $25 on the weekends. Not bad, considering how nice the resort is, and I applaud them for making it available, unlike some of our previous native American casino experiences.