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Now normally we dont start planning for Camping this early. But if the “Target” is Big-Sur then we may have to book sites pretty early. Someone pointed out to me that sites in Big-Sur are still available. Many people wanted to go to BigSur since a number of years.
Now as such there are many Camping Locations in Big-Sur as given in this link
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But seems like Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park is one of the favorites.
Now some people wanted to go during Memorial Day weekend. But unfortunately this particular State Park is booked out on that weekend. But other weekends are available.
We may have to book for 2 nights (Fri night, Sat night) since otherwise the Check-IN time is 2pm.
Other option is KOA- Santa Cruz . This place will be GREAT fun for Kids but will be a bit expensive as compared to our normal camping expenses. You have Log Cabins too.
So the feedback that we are looking for is :
1) Which campsite should we go for ?
(Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, KOA-SantaCruz, Or Something else in Big Sur)
2) Should we start this early to book campsites?
(I know everyone will not be able to commit right now but we can block 8-10 sites based on past experiences and cancel later if required)
3) What should be our target weekend?
May 11-13, May 22-24, June 9-11 ?
Memorial Day Seem Sold out currently unless someone can find something available.
4) If you already know that you will NOT be able to make it in May/June then it will be good to let us know for ease of approximation of headcount. Similarly if you know you will have visitors in Summer who will be joining for camping then will be good to let us know.
Of course an exact headcount may be difficult to arrive at this early. But if the interest is in BigSur then we have to get the ball rolling early and then relax for 4 months.
So if you have any ideas on Camping 2007, post it here.
Anything is fine with us.
This being an El Nino year it could be wet and cold in May. Since we are not going on the Long Week end I think June would be a plausible alternative.
We prefer the KOA- Santa Cruz as kids can have many fun activities at this venue.
If we choose to go via KOA way then probably we have some time and no need to hurry right now.
The rates on KOA site for 6 people are about 95$ per night. So per person about 16$ for the stay alone.
KOA though has earlier check-in of 11am I think. And which means we can start early Sat morning from home and spend just 1 night there. Sun afternoon could be spent at Scruz beach before heading home.
The earlier KOA (Petaluma) that we had gone to had restriction of 1 car per site. THe other extra cars can be parked in parking lot some distance away. But we had parked 2 cars in and they did not notice and did not care.
KOA usually has some activities also throughout the day (like face-painting, etc). Need to find out what kind of activities does this KOA offer.
If May long weekend is out, then June 9-11 seems to be a better option. Also KOA seems to be a fun place for kids, so that would be the preferred option.
If we go in May then what is the response from the parents of those kids that goto school. Can they make it ?
Plus this has been a relatively low rainfall year (till now). So might not be that cold during May in Coastal areas. In fact global warming is pushing temperatures up every year.
only concern for us will be Pathsala, usually in May they have exams.
June 9-11 seems good. My parents will be here too so they can enjoy as well. I better not be betrayed this year again like last year.
2 votes for KOA. and None for BigSur yet. So I decided to call KOA up during lunch time and ask them some questions. I asked them about availability for June 9th night (Sat night) and sites are available.
Some answers:
1) If you look at this campground map, Sites 1-12 and Sites 19-37 are the sites where we can pitch tents. They come with water+electricity outlets.
2) A site accomodating 6 costs about 99$
75$ basic fee (includes 2 people)
6$ per additional adult
3$ per additional kid (kid is 4-17)
So assuming 4 adults extra (6*4 = 24).
Hence 75+24 = 99$
Which boils down to about 16.5$ per adult just for the site.
3) 1 car per site.
If you want to park additional car on site then 15$ more. Otherwise you can park it near the campstore for free (I think. need to clarify).
4) Cancellation policy is
– Need to cancel at least 2 days before
– 10$ will be deducted per site (need to clarify this also)
5) Check in time is 2 pm . Check out time is before noon.
Any positive / negative votes for KOA after reading these facts? If we go with KOA, this year’s camping could be slightly expensive as compared to last year’s camping with cost per adult ranging between 27$-32$. Last year it was 23.16$ per adult. However it could mean more fun for kids. (Adults will have fun wherever they go of-course 🙂 )
Prashant:
HP gives KOA membership cards. I will be able to apply for one after Feb 1. Here are the Program highlights…Hope we can make use of it.
HP – KOA Program highlights:
– Save 10% on daily registration fees.*
– *Excludes discounted weekly, monthly and seasonal rates.
– Good at all KOA Kampgrounds.
– Guaranteed best available site at time of registration. Plus faster check-in at registration.
Prashant:
When you call KOA, can you clarify regarding Membership as well. Baed on findings durng last years trip to KOA, Membership discount is only applicable for one site per membership.
Any place & date is fine with us. In summer vacation, Bijal and Rushabh *may* go to India. But for the time being, you can count us in.
Either campsite works for us, although we’d prefer Santa Cruz as its closer and kids can have fun at the beach/boardwalk. June 9-11 is ideal as its close to the end of the school year.
Count us in if you are going to Santa Cruz. Any dates are fine with us.
We wont be come this summer. Please do let us know if you guys need any camping gears.
We will not be able to make it for camping this year.
so as per this last year’s camping page and subtracting potential absentees for this year, I get a total of 36 adults and 14 kids.
Add to that 2-3 more subtractions due to various reasons and we stand at 33 adults and 14 kids.
Potential parent addition (known till now): about 5. Ballpark addition of those who had not come for last year’s camping: about 4
So rough estimate is 42 adults and about 14 kids.
Maybe we should book 8 sites only. each site –> 6 adults. So about 48 capacity.
So where are we going? Big sur or KOA ?
KOA. Based on talks with people no one objects to KOA or the slightly higher price this time. Next time probably we dont need to hunt for a site and we can go BigSur. 🙂
Count us in too…
I will book 9 sites tomorrow. If anyone has any concerns raise them before tomorrow afternoon. 🙂
I may ask Nilesh to book one site since he gets HP discount on one site. In that case I will book 8 and Nilesh 1.
Count us in for now.
Prashant dont count us for the tent sites instead can you book a log cabin that has one room and can accomodate 4 people for us.
Hemal, Once I book the tent sites I will give you the site numbers and you can book the log cabin which is opposite to the tent site.
Prashant that sounds fine … inform me of the number and than we can go ahead and book.
count us in ….my parents might join us….not yet sure of the dates….
Latest Tally is :
Indicated interest (Listing Kids above 4 only)
———————
Prashant – 3
Leena – 2
Gadas – 2
Galas – 2
Gosars – 2 + 2
Deep – 2 + 2
Nilesh – 2
Jeegs – 4
Jatin – 1
Sanjay2 – 2
Amit – 2
Nitul – 2 + 2
Madhavi – 2
Jaideep – 2 + 1
Nirav Gala – 1
Jignesh : 2 + 1
Paresh-Bijal : 4
Samir + Alfa Savla: 4
Viras: 2
Nimit: 1
Ajay/Amita: 2
Jeinay+Honey: 2
Parul : 2
——-
49 + 9 kids above 4 = 58
+ 8 kids below 4 = 66 tent dwellers
Cabins:
——–
Hemal
Samir Shah : 2 + 1
Day Use only
——————
Manish
Sites are booked. A Good valentine’s day gift for everyone. 🙂
Unfortunately the site prices went by 7$ per site due to the delay in booking the sites. It seems that the hospitality industry (hotels, etc) have a system by which as the facility fills its vacancies, the remaining vacant sites go up in prices.
It seems that kids below 4 also count in the max 6 per site number. So we have to account for them also in our numbers games. We dont have to pay for kids below 4 but they count towards meeting the max 6 figure per site.
With that in mind and the fact that we have about 60+ people for tent sites, I had to book 10 sites.
We dont have fixed site numbers since there was an extra fee for reserving specific sites. But the agent has put in a note for sites 3 to 12 for us. So Hemal, Manish you can book the cabins opposite sites 3-12. If they are charging extra for reserving specific cabin number then just book any cabin and hopefully the one that you want will be available when we go.
So currently it looks like we will be spending about 1025$ for tent accomodation alone.
If we assume every one of the 60 has equal stakes in accomodation cost per person comes to around 17$. (for stay only).
If we assume that some extra cars will have to be paid for, this cost per person can go upto 18-19$ for accomodation+cars.
Overall i expect cost per person for overall trip to range between 27$-32$. Kids may be around $24 – $28.
Now we go into hibernation till May first week. 🙂