We stayed in Santa Paula for a week, near Ventura and Ojai, CA. We weren’t sure what we wanted to do in the area, but we remembered that it’s a pretty area from a trip we took up here several years ago.
Our criteria when choosing an RV Park to stay at is first: they allow Laddy (some don’t allow Dobermans as some insurance considers them an aggresive breed, for those of you who know Laddy you know how silly that is!); second: price, as we are on a budget; third: they are close enough to the area attractions that we aren’t spending a ton on money on fuel; fourth: at least elec and water as we aren’t into “dry camping”; and fifth: Jeff looks on Google Earth to see if it’s an attractive RV park with shade and enough space.
We knew before arriving in Santa Paula that they would allow Laddy, the price was reasonable for the central Ca. coast, that it was less than 20 miles to either Ventura and the coast and also less than 20 miles to Ojai and the hilly area of the region. We opted for an elec/water only site as the full hookups were more expensive, and from Google Earth the park looked rustic and pretty with lots of shade trees and space around the sites.
The first site they selected for us was very tight for a 30′ trailer (really 34′ if you count the hitch) and didn’t have room to park the truck as it was on the outside of a loop meaning a pie-wedge shaped space. They let us move to another site for all but the last night which was part of Easter weekend and already booked. So, we were comfortable in the site.
The park itself is lovely, large with lots of trees, shrubbery, flowers etc. There was a patch of irises just behind our trailer that was blooming (my favorite flower). There were squirrels and bunnies and ducks and a flock of peacocks that would wander through the park, the alpha male showing off his large feathery display several times a day. This KOA is very kid-friendly with a huge jumping pillow (about 40 kids would fit on it at once!) and a zipline too! We decided to ride the zipline and there’s a separate blog entry about that with videos 🙂
So, this RV park gets 5 stars from us!