OT--Ideas for good campground in S. California?

[sadie427]

Hi all--We're going to visit our families in March and want to go camping for a few days with DS and my in-laws. They live in Lancaster-Palmdale and we don't want to drive more than two hours from there--we were thinking the Santa Barbara area. The campground would need to have RV hookups (for the inlaws, we plan to sleep in a tent) and would need to be open in March. I would want it to be near some nice day hikes. MIL looked into a few places, but Jalama Beach isn't open in March, and Leo Carillo doesn't have RV hookups. Do any of the S. Cal folks have any suggestions? TIA.

BTW, I'm not crazy to go camping with a 7-month old in S. California in March, am I? I thought sleeping between us in a tent he'd be pretty cozy. I don't remember it being too cold in March there-we could always cancel if it's raining, and the RV would have heat, although I really don't want to sleep in the RV if I can help it.

[jec2]

This is my neck of the woods. Hopefully I can help. I need to jump in the shower and get DH out the door. I'll post later with some more info. But, there are some beautiful spots along the coast and up in the Santa Ynez valley--Lake Cachuma, which is just a stone's throw from wonderful wineries (and Neverland Ranch--hee hee). Some have yurts and other tent cabins as well as RV hook-ups.

ETA: Ok, I've got a few moments:

Here's a link to some local camping spots
SB County Parks
http://www.sbparks.org/DOCS/locate.html

State Parks: From Point Magu up to Gaviota are basically SB area Parks. OOps, here's the link
http://parks.ca.gov/parkindex/region_info.asp?regiontab=0&id=6

I haven't camped much around here except for the Channel Islands (can't take an RV). But have spent the day up at Lake Cachuma and have camped further North at Limekiln, which is gorgeous. I have a friend who just camped up the road two weeks ago, but can't recall if they went to Gaviota or elsewhere--I've got a call into her to double check.

Hope this helps.

[Melanie]

(gggrrr....@#*!@#!* site lost my thoughtful post, so here's a quicky one):

I've liked Refugio, but I think it's north of Santa Barbara and Sycamore Canyon. Keep in mind, that was maybe 10 years ago. I also liked Castaic, but we were tent so I don't know about the RV section personally. Just make sure to wear a life jacket if you go boating. My friends made fun of me for wearing one on a lake and then someone drowned that year.


Here's a good-looking searchable site:

http://www.rvandcampoutwest.com/

Have a Great Trip!