I joined Thousand Trails recently thanks to a great deal and as my first park, I chose to go to Soledad Canyon Resort in Acton. This is an RPI park also off-season and open to the public if you like paying full price.
For me, the park is very special as I went to many company picnics here as a child thanks to my father’s employer. Back in those days, the pool was huge (to a child) and I believe it had a slide into it. There was a large multi-lane metal slide we went down on potato sacks elsewhere in the park. A small train gave rides around the perimeter. There was a cemented stream and fountains that flowed from one end of the park to the other. We always walked in the stream to get where we were going as it was always hot on picnic day. Soda pop, ice cream, cotton candy, hot dogs, and more were totally free and plentiful. A band played. There was free bingo with lots of great prizes in the grove near the fishing pond. Games like pushing a peanut with your nose, potato sack races, egg toss, filling a water bottle on someone’s forehead, etc. were played for prizes. It was wonderful to be a child back then when companies valued employees and their families… a long, long time ago. We always arrived excited, hungry, and hot. We left happy, full, cool, and exhausted.
Things have changed a lot since the old days. Flooding has removed much of the cement stream and it was not flowing while I was there. They still host more modest group picnics, insurance companies have destroyed it. Due to the cost of insurance, they have had to remove the slide and bury it. They removed the train and buried the tracks though the engine is now an ornament at the front gate. No more slide in the pool. A climbing wall they added later now sits idle behind a fence because of insurance. Is this really the kind of world we want where everything is so safe that no one gets hurt and no one has any fun? Do we want a world where our children learn to never take any chances? Yuck! It reminds me of a pool in a housing tract I lived in once where if you did anything more than stand in the pool you would get yelled at by a lifeguard. We stopped going to that pool. Our own bathtub was far more fun.
As an RV park, it is old, flood damaged, and worn. The electric is not working at many sites so be sure to test the outlet before setting up. There is a real train that runs right next to the front of the park and many don’t like the whistle blowing. Despite these things, I actually had a pretty good time there! I stayed up on the hill in the C section after reading rvparkreviews.com and seeing that recommended there. C section is better maintained, you don’t hear the train as much, and you get a good signal from Verizon up there for cell phone and Internet (if you are a Verizon subscriber). Everyone were very nice. I enjoyed the adult lodge, pool, and hot tub very much.
Location wise, it is surrounded by lots of great geocaches and is near the movie ranch and Vasquez Rocks where many movies are shot. A trip here would not be complete without going to Vasquez Rocks County Park with a picnic lunch to eat after climbing all over and taking pictures of the most photographed outcropping in the world which has appeared in more movies and TV shows than most actors. It has been seen in Star Trek, Bonanza, foreign legion movies, and so many others.
For more pics click here.
I got some geocaching in. I realized I was very close to breaking the next level so I spent an afternoon running around and collected at least one nice prize from a cache. Getting the one at McDonald’s wasn’t easy with all the muggles around but a second trip back at a better time was successful. Still 2 short of the next mark though.
My best childhood friend works in the movies so I got a chance to see her for a BBQ one night at my campsite. I haven’t seen her in around 25 years though we have kept in touch. It was so nice to see her again and catch up. Like me, the age is showing but I would still recognize her anywhere.
The Dang Cat got sick. She’s getting old too. I had to take her to a vet nearby. She’s doing better but needs a special diet and care now.
