This stop we went to a park that we have passed many times but have never stopped at. Yanks is in a curious location, kind of in the middle of nowhere. It's right off highway 101, between King City and Soledad. (Yep, Soledad is were the State prison is located). There is not a whole lot in the area, and much of the agriculture appears to have switched to growing grapes.
Diane picked the park after reading many rave reviews about the park itself. It's only about ? mile off of 101, but surprisingly the road noise isn't bad,, and was never an issue at night. The surrounding area is all farm land, so not much extra traffic in the area. There is a building project across the street from the park, and word is that it is going to be an Air Museum that will be owned by the park. A large plot of ground has been leveled, and there were stacks of sewer pipes waiting to be installed. However, talking to a park employee, the plot has been in that condition for quite a while, as progress is slow.
The park itself is really nicely done. All of the sites are concrete and in varying lengths up to 100' long. There is free wifi and cable, and the landscaping is beautiful. Each site has a cement patio in addition to the parking pad. The patio is 30' long, and in the middle of most sites. However, there are dual sewer connections so you can position the RV in place to be able to best utilize the patio.
The landscaping between the sites are a variety of plants and wood chip planters. At the ends of each row are large grass areas that were meticulously cared for. If there was a down side to the sites, I would say that the roads are a bit narrow, so carefully swing wide when entering or leaving a site to avoid crushing the plants. One triple axle 5th wheel cut it close and dug a pretty good trench getting out. The maintenance crew was on it immediately and filled the hole, and washed down the street.
The park has a pool and spa, a nice workout room, and one of the nicest dog parks I have seen, We paid $60 a day (including tax) for a 70' deluxe pull through site. Notably, the taxes were almost $10 a day! Gotta love Ca. Our T-Mobile air card worked well here, about the same as Verizon.
The restrooms are handicapped accessible and are beautiful as well. This park definitely rates a ?10? in my book.
SEA CLIFF STATE BEACH
Aptos, Ca
Only about 70 miles from Yanks was our next stop on the Ca coast. Sea Cliff is a State owned/ran RV camping and day use area. We were in the full hook up area at the far north end of the park, and there are 3 dry camp lots, A,B and C as well. The dry camp spots are pretty much asphalt parking area with lines painted on the ground for your site. They were approximately 27X60'.
The full hook up sites are narrow long sites with each one having 6? raised curb planters on each side. Unfortunately the planters were sand, and grassy weeds that were in dire need of cutting. The FHU sites had a heavy duty picnic table and raised fire pit at the front of the site. The sewer hook up was at the back of the sites, so bring lots of sewer hose. They are approximately 39X56'.
Each site backs up to a public walkway that is about 8' wide and runs the length of the beach. On the other side of the walkway is the sand and the waves. On the front side of the sites is the road, and a embankment that's about 100+ feet tall. It used to be that there was zero cell signal in the camping area, but there is usable signal now probably from added cell towers in the area.
The FHU sites are 30 amp only, but with a little moderation the 30 amp was not an issue. We paid $65 a day plus tax for weeks visit. I love the relation of the sites to the beach, but the overall park is in dire need of maintenance. There is much weeding that needs to be done, the entrance road in front of the sites which is up against the embankment is over grown with trees and shrubs, and several large pot holes need filling in the road. The restrooms are typical for a public beach location, block walls and sparse on the inside. They are handicapped accessible, but there are NO hot showers available. Only cold water outdoor showers. Another point to keep in mind, they had me read and sign a small slip of paper upon checking in that advised among other things that there was a theft alert as chained generators and ice chests have been stolen.
One downside that Diane doesn't care for is the recent change in the Ca reservation system. Ca no longer uses ?Reserve America? for it's parks. Instead they have put in there own system called ?Reserve California?. And in Diane's own words, ?it sucks?. Reservations now have to be made exactly 7 months from the day you want to arrive for your stay. So getting a site, any site is challenging at best. The site says that reservations can be made in as little as 48 hours prior, but then it becomes pure luck. Especially in the popular summer months.
As a side note, fuel stations for larger rigs are hard to come by in this area. I am getting low, at least for me. I am down to about a ? tank and I like to fuel at around ? way mark. There are several places to get gas, but they just are not set up for a large rig and a tow car.
I very much like Rving at the beach, but as you can see there are trade offs.