Category: Costco

Posted in: Costco, Exploring California, Halloween, Holidays

Finding a Pumpkin Patch in San Diego

Written by tepetravels 2 Comments on Finding a Pumpkin Patch in San Diego

One of our Halloween traditions has been going to a pumpkin patch with our friends Dave and Megan. We have been going for years, even before either of us had kids. We wanted to keep some of our traditions going while on the road, so we looked for nearby pumpkin patches. We planned on FaceTiming with our friends while they were also at a pumpkin patch.

This year’s group picture

We ended up choosing Bonita Pumpkin Farm. It wasn’t too far from our campground and it was listed as one of the “farm” locations for this company.

There was a line to get in, as they were limiting the number of people in the area (COVID). You entered under a tent, with hay bales and decorations for picture taking to the right, and the check out to the left.

Walking straight ahead through the tent area, there were rows of pumpkins. Off to the right were port-a-lets, a petting zoo (it looked like goats only), and a cut-your-own sunflower patch. They also offered a hay ride and a train ride. There was a small patch of pumpkins growing, just much much smaller than I was expecting. We did see large boxes of pumpkins behind the petting zoo by the bathrooms, so I think most of their pumpkins were shipped in.

Top Right Corner: You can see the small pumpkin patch and part of the sunflower field behind it.

The sunflower field was off to the right of the entrance tent, behind the petting zoo. You could use one of their clippers and cut your own for $2/stem. The sunflower field was bigger than the pumpkin field! They were really pretty (and one of my favorite flowers).

Back home, it can be a little bit of a hike through the fields to find the right pumpkin and they loved finding the biggest one. When they were younger, we carried the pumpkins, but as they got older we made it a rule that they have to be able to carry their own pumpkins. The kids have to be able to carry it back to the hay ride (to get back to the cashier), to the check out line, and to the car. It’s worked so far, and the kids love picking out their pumpkins. Here in San Diego, the pumpkins were a lot more expensive, so they had a price limit and ended up with smaller pumpkins that were very easily carried.

It was a different experience than I was expecting, or used to. I guess growing up in Ohio, we were spoiled and used to a larger sized farm for our pumpkins. It was still nice to catch up with our friends and do a virtual pumpkin patch together.

We did also get a larger sized pumpkin later in the day at Costco.

Comparison of Bonita Farm, Irons Fruit Farm, and Costco Pumpkins

Posted in: Animal Sightings, Costco, Exploring California, Sightseeing, YouTube Video Link

Swimming Mission Beach and Scooters

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on Swimming Mission Beach and Scooters

Today had a lot going on. Condensed version: swimming at the beach, electric scooters, hammocking, and sea lion watching.

We had walked the beach and visited beach areas, but we had not gone swimming in the ocean yet! Ben really wanted to go to the ocean, so we picked Mission Beach for our first swimming here. There is a lot more parking around here than at some of the other beaches. We brought the boogie board we bought at Costco for the boys to try.

The sun was out and the temperature was around 80. The water was colder than I was expecting it to be, but we adjusted pretty quickly. The waves were the perfect height for us, probably too small for surfing but good for the boys to try out the board. We had lots of fun in the water, but it definitely wore us out! The boys did ok on the boogie board. (VIDEO: Ocean Waves)

We rinsed off at the outdoor showers and headed back to the truck to get changed into regular clothes. We grabbed some tacos for a quick lunch. Ben had been craving fish tacos since we were so close to the ocean. We thought we could surely find much fresher fish this close to the ocean. The lobster was shipped in from Maine, but some of the fish was local. We tried two different restaurants at Mission Beach for the tacos: one was fresh fish, one was fried fish. Ben liked the fresh fish better, as you could actually taste fish not just fried.

After eating, we walked the boardwalk from Mission to Pacific Beach. It was fun walking and seeing the different storefronts. After the swimming and the walking, we were tired but still had to walk back to the truck. (I want to say it was 1.5-2 miles each way.) San Diego has a ton of rental electric scooters, both the traditional stand up and ones that have seats. We rented two different brands: Razor and Wheels.

I liked the Wheels better. They seemed to have better control over the speed (turn handle like a motorcycle), and two brake handlebars. The Razor did have a basket though. These things can really go! You have to download an app to rent and pay for the scooter. I think they were both $1 to unlock, Razor was $0.37/minute (plus a sales tax and a San Diego Registration Fee for $1.53), Wheels was $0.32/minute (with a Minimum Fare of $3.49). Razor actually unlocks the scooter when you scan to rent it. Wheels, however, just doesn’t have electric power, but you could still use it to scoot along with your feet (which we saw several people doing). You ride until you decide you are done (or the bike dies), and then you need to use the app to finish your ride/charge. The meter keeps running until you end your ride on the app. Both of them required that you take a picture of where you left the scooter as well. Wheels ended up being cheaper, as they had a cheaper per minute rate and did not charge a sales tax/registration fee.

It was lots of fun, although a little scary when we were near cars. I think it was probably a one time experience, but they were super nice to have when you’re tired and have to get back to your car!

Check back tomorrow for our adventure in hammocking and sea lions!

Posted in: Costco, Halloween

Mums, Costco, Pool

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on Mums, Costco, Pool

I really miss having more plants around. I didn’t have a lot inside at our house, just 4 plants at the kitchen window. I know some people travel with their plants, but we just don’t have the room in the kitchen for more than Nick’s Venus Fly Trap. Fall time always meant having mums on the front porch. Since we are stationary for a little bit, I wanted to get some for the outside of the RV.

After school was over, the boys and I went on a flower hunt. We ended up getting orange and purple small mums. I placed them on our picnic table near the front of the RV. We added a spider wreath to the front door and a skeleton to the ladder in the back. We have a couple of other decorations, but they are not up yet.

When Ben was done with work, we ran into…can you guess it?…Costco! This one had this amazing looking glass brandy holder in the shape of a dragon. I don’t even like brandy, but I was tempted by the cool packaging!

We found a few other neat things: a huge ball of Queso Oaxaca cheese, mantecada muffins (tastes like yellow cake), crab legs and lobster in the freezer section, and a money exchange station. Nick even got to try out a guitar. I bought a large yellow marigold for the front of the RV as well. I have noticed the Costcos around here do not have as many plants as back home, and definitely not any of the huge mums.

Outdoor food court requires a membership here, unlike at home. They had someone getting the drinks for you.
Posted in: Costco, Exploring California, Sightseeing, YouTube Video Link

Laundry, Costco, Walking the Beach in Mission

Written by tepetravels

Sunday was a beautiful morning. Ben and I took a short walk along the water and grabbed some donuts for the boys for breakfast.

After finishing a couple loads of laundry, we drove into another Costco (they have so many here!). One of Ben’s favorite things is to go to different Costco’s and see what they have. Sometimes we find new and different things. For example, Ben’s “favorite souvenir” was a collapsible storage/shopping box tote from New Orleans. That thing stays in the truck and goes everywhere with us. Ohio (or at least Cincinnati) based Costco’s sell wine and beer but not liquor, but Costco’s in different states do.

This one in San Diego looked like a warehouse with an all metal exterior. The food court was on the outside of the store, but did not have any self order/pay stations. This location also had a pick-up box, similar to the ones Amazon has everywhere.

This Costco also sold a few things that we hadn’t seen before in-store: boogie boards, Oreo popcorn, huge cans of tuna, shrimp chips (yup, made from tapioca flour and shrimp), Fish Skins (salted salmon to be exact), baguettes in the freezer section. I wish we had the room in the freezer because I totally would have bought the baguettes.

We also bought ice to keep everything cold while we explored the nearby area. We ended up driving to Mission Beach and walking around. It seemed like a nice beach with soft sand. There was some seaweed around, which seems pretty common around here. The beach area was pretty busy even with the water being cold! We didn’t go in all the way, just waded along the shore. Nick did some seashell hunting, although there weren’t very many on the shoreline. (Video: Walking Along Mission Beach)

Posted in: Costco, Exploring Nevada, Sightseeing, YouTube Video Link

Moving Day: Viva Las Vegas

Written by tepetravels

It was time to leave Utah and move on to Nevada. Our next stop was Las Vegas. Ben and I have both been here before, but it’s been about 14 years for me.

We got checked into our campground and set up. So far, this is not my favorite campground, but I will get more into that when we do our review.

After getting set up, we drove to Costco. (Are you noticing a theme yet? 😉 ) This Costco sold propane per gallon from a large tank and had a large wine and liquor selection. Ben bought me a wine advent calendar! The food court was similar to others we have seen (mostly pizza, hot dogs, ice cream), but it had a window where you could watch them make the pizza. They had a cool machine that puts on the sauce, which was fun to watch.

After putting the groceries away, we headed down to Las Vegas. Our first stop was the Fremont Street Experience. Masks are required in Nevada and it wasn’t anywhere near as crowded as I remember it being. There were several street performers/buskers, some of which were not wearing a ton of clothing. The ceiling still changes and is very bright. It was fun, but seemed to be half ads instead of the crazy light show I remember it being. It was still the first time the boys had seen it, so they thought it was neat. They had a Covid safety message that would routinely show as well. (YouTube link here.)

We then drove down the Strip. It was starting to really light up at this point, which is always amazing to see. Ben managed to have perfect timing in the traffic and we were stopped at a red light right in front of the Bellagio when the fountain show went off! It was spectacular as always. Driving past New York New York, the Statue of Liberty was dressed in a Raiders jersey and a mask.

Getting back on the highway to drive home, we saw a glitter covered minivan. The back said “life without sparkles…is not life at all”.

Posted in: Costco, Food, Injuries

We Needed Some Down Time

Written by tepetravels 2 Comments on We Needed Some Down Time

We are not as young as we once were. We were both stiff and sore this morning after the hike yesterday. (Really, it was just Ben and I. The boys were ready to go again.) We kept it pretty simple today to allow our muscles to recover.

We went out to breakfast at Hash House A Go Go in St. George. The chicken and waffles and the bacon mac & cheese were the best of our dishes we tried. Our other dishes were the roasted chicken hash and biscuits and gravy. I got a crazy (and good) caramel mocha coffee.

After breakfast we did some grocery shopping at Target and Costco. Will was also looking to trade in a book at a Little Library. Hurricane, where the campground is, didn’t have any registered on the website. We found two in St. George and decided to check them out as well. The boys didn’t have much luck at those two, but we found another one while driving around. Will did find a book at that one, so he was happy.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, doing laundry, and the boys got to play pool for a little bit in the campground clubhouse.

Posted in: Broken/Damanged Things, Costco, Newbie Mistakes

Moving Day: Goodbye Moab!

Written by tepetravels

It’s moving day!

We had a good start, finished packing up inside and worked on the outside. I went to line up the truck and bumped the hitch into the trailer. It wasn’t raised up with the jack yet. I obviously needed coffee and to not rush. Luckily nothing happened, but not a great start to my morning.

The drive was uneventful (thank goodness) to our next campground in Hurricane, Utah. We checked in and they led us to our campsite. It was a back-in and they helped direct us in. We set up the RV. It was pretty hot out (104 degrees F), but at least the site had some shade! I am so glad we had a 50 amp site and could run both A/C’s.

The town was bigger than I thought it would be. There were several restaurants and grocery places close by. The one grocery store was within walking distance!

We ran into St. George (about 10-15 minutes away) to go to Costco. This Costco was not very different from others we have seen, although they did sell ice and had diesel at the fuel station. It was very crowded. It was the least amount we had ever spent: $34, including a pizza!

Yes, I do get a picture of Will at every Costco 😉

We unpacked the groceries and Ben took the boys into town to try to find a replacement cup and forks. I got to read for an hour by myself! It was so relaxing. The boys came back, but didn’t have much luck at the nearby store. We called it a night and settled in.

Posted in: Costco, YouTube Video Link

Costco, Rain & Hail

Written by tepetravels 2 Comments on Costco, Rain & Hail

We drove to a different Costco (they’re like Pokemon, gotta try them all!) This one had a liquor store in a separate room in the front of the store. Other than that, most of the stuff was pretty similar to what we have at home. I have found a raspberry pastry/danish in Montana and Colorado that I am becoming addicted to. It is so good! I didn’t see it back home, but maybe it’s there now. (It’s with the cookies!)

First time I’ve seen dividers at the sinks

We grabbed a pizza for dinner (I love the self service order stations they have out here.) on our way out and packed up the truck. A thunderstorm rolled in, so we thought we would wait it out. It was about a 30 minute drive back to the campground, so we sat and ate the pizza while watching the rain.

This is where it started to get a little dicey. (And unfortunately I did not have the dash cam running.) The wind picked up and a severe thunderstorm warning went out. We started getting hail. The truck was pretty exposed in the parking lot. The one thing we do know about Colorado is that they must get a lot of hail damage from storms, because there are signs and shops everywhere to repair hail damage. We noticed all the trucks hightailing it out of the parking lot to find shelter, so we followed suit. The wipers were on high and we could still barely see out the windshield. Our fellow trucks had stopped at the nearby strip mall and jumped the curb to wait under some trees. We joined in the crowd. The truck was mostly covered.

Once the hail stopped, it was still raining pretty hard, but our phones were still going off with weather alerts. We decided to head back to the RV. The roads were insane. Flash Flood Warnings and Emergency Alerts were going off almost constantly. Storm drains couldn’t keep up with the deluge of water and roads were covered in gushing water. The normally dry culverts were rushing like rapids. I am so glad we were in the truck and sat higher up. If we were in a car I would have been terrified.

We made it back to the RV safely and we luckily didn’t any damage to the truck or RV.

I do have a video of the rain and hail we got on the cell phone with a few still photos.

Posted in: Bike Rack, Costco

Bikes and A Rack

Written by tepetravels

We didn’t really have a plan where to store the bikes when we bought them. The back bumper of the RV can only support 150 pounds. I was worried about being too close in weight with the combined weight of the bikes and a rack. We also did not have a rack attachment for the front of the truck.

Back bumper is welded on, so can only hold 150 lbs.

So far, Nick’s had been laying down in their room. Eventually we tried hooks to hang it off their bunks. That way did work, although we kept hitting our heads on the hooks when we went to get anything from the under bunk areas.

Will’s was wrapped in the outdoor rug and placed on the dinette once it was folded down for travel. (Which of course meant that everything was covered in a layer of dust/dirt when we unpacked again. Not a huge deal, but a little annoying.)

Once we got to a campground, we could chain them up outside, so it was a lot easier.

Ben saw a bike rack he thought would work while he was walking around the campground. It attached on the front of the RV, over the jack. After looking online, we found it at Camping World: the Jack-It Double Bike Rack. I checked online and it showed they had some in stock, so we headed over. Nope, they didn’t have any! The guy at the parts department told me to never trust the website, as it doesn’t update stock often. I called another Camping World to make sure they had it in stock and asked them to hold it for me (it was another 40 minute drive). They did hold it for me, and we also found a collapsible dish drying rack.

On our way back home, we stopped at Costco for some groceries and a pizza. Ben surprised me and bought me an electric bike for an early birthday present so I could ride with the boys, even if my ankle or knee are bothering me. The boys were very excited that I could ride bikes with them. Ben even took a ride on it.

Once home, we unpacked groceries and started to work on installing the bike rack. It took a little finagling to get it into place. To install it, we had to remove our electric jack. We then had to angle the Jack-It just the right way so we could slide the electric RV jack through the opening in the middle and not squish the jack’s electric cord.

We got it attached and arranged the bikes on it. We may have to play around with it a little more to get the bikes situated just right.

Posted in: Animal Sightings, Campground Review, Costco, Exploring Colorado, Hiking, YouTube Video Link

Cherry Creek State Park Campground: Campground Review

Written by tepetravels

For our stay in Denver, we stayed at Cherry Creek State Park. It was actually in Aurora, Colorado, but it wasn’t a long drive to get into downtown Denver. The nice thing about the park is that you seem tucked away from everyone, but stores are 10 minutes or less away. There were several Costco’s, Targets, and Kings Soopers (Kroger’s for those from back home) within 20 minutes or less. There was also a Camping World and Cabela’s within 40 minutes or so.

To camp in Cherry Creek State Park, you need a state park pass: $80/annual or $4/day. We ended up getting an annual pass because we weren’t sure how many state parks we would be visiting during our stay in Colorado. You can buy online and print out a temporary number. A physical pass will also mailed to you.

There is a welcome office with small shop (postcards, firewood-although there was a wood fire ban in effect when we were there, ice cream bars, etc). When we were there, the office closed at 4:00pm.

The campground is pretty spread out, with a mix of tent and RV sites. RV sites areas are a mix of back-in and pull through. Some sites have shade and others were in full sun.

Setting up after getting backed in

It looked like all the RV spots had a concrete pad, a fire pit/grill and a picnic table. I was really happy with the layout of our site. It felt roomy. We could even put up Ben’s pop-op gazebo/clam shell shelter, for an outdoor space. The hook ups were on the opposite side of the picnic table (at least for our spot) and on the same side as the RV hookup connectors. It made for an easy set up.

The main shower house had bathrooms, showers (paid), food vending machines, and laundry. The laundry was $1.50/load on both the washers and dryers. There were 4 of each machine. There was also a vending machine with single load detergent and fabric softener. It looked like they were $1 each. Showers were $0.50/3minutes. There was a change machine located outside the laundry room to provide quarters for everything in the bath house. The food vending machines sometimes gave change back in $1 coins!

Although you can see the road in the distance depending where you are in the campground, you don’t get a lot of road noise during the week but some on the weekends. However, you will get airplane noise as it seems to be in the flight path of Denver airport.

There are several hiking trails in the park. Cherry Creek also has a dog park area, a lake (boat rentals available), and a horse rental area. There are a lot of bikers in the park (the bicycle kind) as well. We did not get to swim in the lake, although there is a beach area. There were signs warning of blue-green algae, so we stayed out of the water.

The boys have made another campground walk-through video. Although it was really hot that day, so they stayed on just our section of the campground.

If we were in the Denver area, I would stay here again.

SUMMARY OF CAMPGROUND:

Our Rating: 4 out of 5 hitches

Cell Phone Reception: AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile

WiFi: Yes

Laundry: Yes

Bathrooms/Showers: Yes, paid showers

RV Sites: Pull Through, Back-in

Pop Up Tents/Gazebos/Outdoor Rugs On-Site: Yes

Amenities: Picnic table, fire pit/grill

Cabins: No

Tent camping: Yes

Full Hook-ups: Yes. 20/30/50 amp sites available.

Pool: No

Food On-Site: No

Camp Store: Yes, very limited

Fishing: Yes, need license

 

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