Calling All Campers - CAUTION PICTURE HEAVY

Ahhhhhh - Vacation! Is there a better word?

Chuck and I were so excited to take our vacation this July as we were trying out a "new" KOA. New for us, not new for them! We took a few days and headed up to the Manchester Beach KOA in Mendocino!

We rented one of these :-)

Which was FABULOUS!! I've done tent camping and RV camping as a child but Chuckles had only ever tent camped and had only spent a brief amount of time in my parents RV. But after this trip he was hooked. Since the weather was very cold at night he was extremely excited to get into a nice warm trailer with a real bed!

This KOA had this amazing sign right across from our camping spot! 

So of course we took the dogs! This was more than just a dog walk my friends it was a massive dog park.

Normally we stay away cause Roxy does not normally do well with random dogs but since there were not a lot of campers we got to take the dogs twice a day each day we were there!

Buster was in heaven as soon as he was released and we threw the ball! Yes he is that dog from Eddie Murphy's Doctor Dolittle!

And to our suprise little Miss Roxy took off like a bat out of hell and barely stopped to breathe! She seriously ran all over this place, no ball needed!

After putting in some quality time at the dog park we still wanted to go on a walk around the KOA and they had this pretty view! Unfortunately the beach directly connected to the KOA is a "No Dogs" beach so we never got to step foot on sand but we felt the coastal breeze, heard the waves, and still got pretty pictures!

After our long walk we took our pooped puppies back to camp where the temperature did not improve. So Roxy got herself all wrapped up and took a nap

While we got out the Yahtzee, the beer, and our food to BBQ!! Despite the cold on the first day we still had a blast and the next day it was sunny to the point where we both got a little sunburnt!

Because of the chilly weather we decided to start our campfires at 6 and ended up each night in the trailer in between 9 and 10. What really blew our mind was that even at 9 when we'd head inside it was still bright out. I'm not talking super bright but enough light out that we didn't need a flashlight!

Of course we had smores!

The next day was much better! We spent the morning at the dog park along with a nice walk, then settled back at camp in the brilliant SUN!!

Look at how happy Buster-Roo is! He was exhausted but he just loved the dog park and he loved spending the whole day outside!

I of course spent some quality time reading my book!

While Roxy sunbathed!

Chuck bbq'ed us some Bacon Chicken Sandwiches for lunch - SUPER YUM!

Then after another campfire we retired our sunburnt faces to get a good nights sleep before heading out the next day!

The ride up we took one road but had the pleasure of traveling down HWY 1 for the ride home and took in the beach scene the whole way home!

Don't worry we were at a complete stop! While we were both sad to be leaving camp, we were also happy to be heading home!

Roxy was ecstatic! She doesn't seem to be a big fan of camping!

And Buster seemed to be in the same boat as us, sad to be leaving the beautiful outdoors, but he was happy to get home and slept all afternoon!

I would highly recommend the Manchester Beach KOA! The location is gorgeous, the staff was extremely friendly and helpful, and if you go you might as well rent the RV cause it was awesome! I did miss our cabin camping but at the same point we would have frozen our butts off at night!

All in all a great vacation that was too short (aren't they all) but we cannot wait to go back and spend an entire week here!!

I hope everyone has been able to take a vacation and get away this summer or that you will be able to before the summer leaves us!