Coming over to the state park campground was a sort of mixed blessing.  On one hand, it was nice to be out of the wind somewhat, with unlimited power and water.  On the other hand, after the wide open spaces of the boondocking area I found the campground to feel uncomfortably crowded.  What were all these RVs doing blocking our view?

Last night it was a little warm in the trailer at bedtime and I was grateful for the gift of air conditioning, but then again I wouldn’t have needed it if somebody hadn’t had a smoky fire nearby which forced us to close the windows to the cool night air.  That’s often a problem for us in state parks: people who must have campfires but don’t know how to make one that produces flames instead of smoke.  I swear there’s somebody out there selling green wood to tourists outside every state park.

One of the nice things about coming to the state park campground is that we often run into people we know.  Sure enough, half an hour after arriving we had a visit from (Airstreamers) Frank & Carol, who we have met in this park a few times before.  (They were also at Alumafiesta and like to read this blog, so here’s a shout-out to them.)  There are at least four Airstreams here but we’re not going to go knocking on doors.  Our visit is too short and I just want to chill out as much as I can.  If we had more time I’m sure we’d meet them all.

The reason is that we waited too long to book this stay.  Tomorrow is Good Friday and this is Easter weekend, which is a peak  time for families to go camping in southern CA apparently.  The best we could get was a Wednesday-Thursday stay, so we are going to have to leave tomorrow morning for some place that is either remote or unreserved.  That’s not really a problem given all the good free camping available in the state park.

Our two nights gave us time to get all the housekeeping done and have some fun too.  Eleanor ran some laundry today while I put in another half-day at work (more than I had planned for, but that’s how it goes sometimes), we charged everything up, and last night we had a nice dinner at the Palms Hotel on the patio by the pool.  I got a nap on Wednesday afternoon, which feels like a forbidden pleasure  especially in the Airstream on a sunny day with a dry breeze.

The big outing was this afternoon.  We loaded up the Mercedes with six of us (our friends came along) and hit a few favorite spots: the giant metal sculptures that dot Borrego Springs in the open spaces, a hike up to the Wind Caves, the winding canyon of The Slots, etc.  Nothing new on this voyage for us, but for Kyle-Mary-Kathryn it was all a great new experience and we enjoyed showing it all to them.

Tomorrow the females of our party plan to tackle the Palm Canyon trail, in hopes of perhaps spotting a Bighorn Sheep, early in the morning.  Sadly, Kyle and I will stay back and tap away at our computers, but by noon we will break away and hitch up the Airstreams to move again.