Placerville (Shingle Springs), CA - KOA Family Vacation #2 2013

Our site for the week, loved it!

We have one more week of family vacation before school officially starts on August 15th.  Wow this summer just rolled by for us!

We decided another new adventure location needed our attention.  We heard from several folks about a KOA in Placerville.  We locked our reservation in and headed out on August 3rd. 

Saturday, it took us about 2.5 hours to reach our destination.  We some how ended up with one of the better campsites in the park.  With shade and nice yard area.  It is extremely hot in the summer in Placerville.  We hit a nice range of 88-91 which is way better than 100!  The location is a little close to the Hwy 50 so you do hear the traffic quite a bit.  There are a lot of space but not a whole lot of full hookups.  There are plenty of water and electric sites as well as many tent sites.  Of course there are the KOA cabins.

They do have a nice fishing location but this year they did not get many rain storms so the fishing hole was pretty dry.  But imagine it is pretty nice in the spring.  We also were not able to burn wood fires due to high risk fire danger.  Fine with us it worked out, but I believe some people were a bit a upset.  But really think about the risk, I am totally OK with the choice of the fire department.

Fishing moat area - to dry this year to fish

Another nice feature is that there is a shuttle to and from the Red Hawk Casino.  I always save my loose change for the local casinos.

The area is surrounded by brown wild grass and many oak trees.  You can see some homes in the distance. 

We had 3 woodpeckers in the campsite across from us that loved the sprinklers.

 

 

Sunday, we just hung around camp.  We swam, took in the scenes, ate, and relaxed.  I made BBQ ribs in our dutch oven.  I have not used it in a while so it was fun to use it again.  In about 2.5 hours I had a wonderful dinner.  We are making it for sure again.



Dave and Amanda enjoying a refreshing swim

Monday, we headed to Old Town Placerville and took in the shops and ate at the original Mel's Diner.  The milkshakes and burgers were a carbo overdose but yummy!  We purchased a few things here and there.


Historical Landmark under construction - Dave was disappointed.  I like the painted windows.




Love all the old cameras - The shop was closed :(



Mermaid shop - it was closed too... darn it!

 

We headed back to camp, took a swim in the pool.  We then came back to the trailer and took a nice little carb nap.  We found Amanda and Peanut already snoozing away in the camper when we returned from the pool.  The evenings we always take Peanut for a little stroll.  I made blackberry cobbler in the dutch oven and we had hot dogs for dinner.

Blackberry cobbler - Dutch Oven Style

Tuesday, we hung out at camp again and watched Peanut hunt the elusive blue bellied lizard on the our oak tree in the camp site.  She was about to climb the tree it was so totally funny.  We also had a squirrel that found some type of park or something that would be a good nesting material and that was a very interesting thing to watch as it tried to ball up what he could in his little mouth.  Peanut was very captivated by that show.  Tonight we are going to head to the Red Hawk Casino for a buffet dinner and a little cash winning, I hope!  Momma needs a new lens for her camera!  This evening we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

Wednesday, we woke up to a very foggy campground.  The coolest it has been since we have been here.  We rolled out of bed at about 10:00 a.m. and then started our Monkey Bread in the Dutch Oven (aka as Monkey Brains).  They were yummy.  We then headed to Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park. It was quite toasty there.  We had fresh squeezed lemonade, refreshing.  We forgot Peanut's leash so my camera strap doubled as a dog leash.  Just had to be careful I did not drop my camera ( I am a klutz).  It was interesting, to walk around.  Plenty of white water rafting companies around the area with the American River right here.  We then headed home and started packing up a few things.  It is frozen lasagna night, less work for me.    My eye is giving me some issues, I am hoping it is not my retina, but will find out when I get back home. 

Peanut and Amanda hanging out.  'Camera strap doubles as dog leash' or new camera in the form of a doxie

 Some of the buildings and equipment of on the park property:

Thursday, we head home to start getting ready for the new school year.  We will be off on more adventures in October in the RV but right now, home is the location.

We will be visiting this KOA again, maybe in the Spring would be nice.

Have a wonderful rest of the summer!
Christine