Three Rivers, CA

Monday, 8/23/21.   Hey there!!👋🏼  I just realized that I haven’t posted anything since October 2020!!

Let me catch u up.  Since our  trip in October, for the most part, we have been  staying close to home.  On Tuesdays ‘date day’ we  take Shorty out for the day and hang out at the ⛱ beach.  We rotate between Torrance Beach in Torrance, Bolsa Chica Beach in Orange County or Point Fermin Park in San Pedro.  (Point Fermin Park overlooks the beach.)  I like to keep Shorty moving. I mean, why have an RV if he is just going to sit on the street or sit in storage, right?!

As with any vehicle, maintenance is required.  Well, Shorty got his schedule B Maintenance taken care of AND a set of brand new tires.  With servicing completed and new wheels, it was now time to plan a trip!!  🤩🤪  Soooo, I started looking at camping locations a few hours from home.  I settled on Three Rivers, at the foothills of the  Sequoia National Forest.

Three Rivers holds ALOT of memories for me.  Forty or so years ago my cousin Al and his buddies used to come out here to Three Rivers every summer to camp.   As they became older they started having families. So, all the guys, their wives and kids would all camp together.  Well,   one year My cousin Al invited my brother Bob to join them. My brother Bob invited me and my family to join him camping one year…that was about 35 years ago. Ever since that first time we have camped here SEVERAL times. Through the years, we have tent camped with my brother, cousins and friends. 

A couple of highlights: one year about a dozen or so of my cousins and their families tent camped here for about a week.  It was really cool because we all took turns cooking dinner for everyone. I recall my cousin Ernie grilled a huge🦃 turkey! Yes, a turkey on the grill!  He put it on in the morning and we all hung out at the beach all day.  After being in the sun and the water all day we were famished.  We had turkey, potatoes and something else, which I don’t recall.  However, I do recall that being one of the BEST camping meals we had that week.    Another time my youngest daughter Jessica and I came up here with my friend Naomi and her family, we had such a good time. The kids had a ball! We all tent 🏕  camped. Such fond memories. On another occasion Naomi and I needed a getaway so we camped here for a couple of days. It was so relaxing!! (High 5 Na! 🖐🏽😉)

The last time Craig and I were here was probably about 25 years ago, we rented a cabin.  (I got tired of having to put shoes on in the middle of the night to walk to the bathroom. And as we aged tent camping  just wasn’t fun anymore, even with cots.😉  )

Tuesday, 8/24/21

Here we are again at Three Rivers in our 60’s, in an RV. This camp resort has changed alot of hands and the grounds and facility overall have suffered. Three Rivers used to be lush with lots of grassy areas. Now it is dry, with no lush green camping areas, just dirt camping spots. The river that used to run thru it is now more of a little calm river, and the beach is now just a little pond for swimming, the level is really low with very little flow.  The showers used to cost a quarter for 5 minutes and were kept up really well. Now, the showers are free, but in poor condition, dirty bathrooms and torn shower curtains with no hooks to hang ones belongings. (I have an RV, why would I use camp showers, you might wonder.  An RV shower is small, so whenever we are at a campground or resort, I prefer to utilize their facilities.)  BUT, The plus is that the trees are still tall and beautiful providing shade throughout the camp grounds AND there is a pool. The camp store is still on premises, and they still have cabins for rent, a laundromat and there are still a few local restaurants about a mile up the road.

Today we started the day with our usual cup of ☕ coffee in our air conditioned RV. A HUGE change from tent camping!! 👍🏽 😊 I walked the campground reminsing about younger days sleeping in the tent and listening to the river at night. Sweet memories.

To give u an idea of the water level back in the day, the water used to cover the rocks u see in the pix above.🤪🤯 Whitewater rafting companies used to run thru this river. Years ago the river was fierce, we would sit at our camps and watch the rafts flow by.  In fact, the river was so fierce that it would sweep u away if not careful. Not anymore. #drought

Back to today, About 1p.m. we were getting hungry so Craig got our bikes 🚴‍♀️🚴‍♂️down off the rack so we could ride up the street for 🍕 pizza. It was about 🥵90 degrees, but there was a nice breeze and fortunately, it was only about a 15 minute ride on our bikes. We sat outside, in the shade, with a nice breeze and our bikes. We enjoyed our pizza and talked and laughed.  We were there a little over an hour then decided to ride back to camp.

After returning from lunch I decided to sit by the pool and enjoy the breeze, trees, shade and quiet. Feeling very zen, it was the perfect time to work on this blog. ⌨✏ Naomi, Linette and Muneca, you would love this calm, ✌🏽 peaceful setting.👇🏽

After sitting at the pool for a couple of hours, I headed back to grill some chicken for dinner. Menu tonight, grilled chicken, salad and watermelon. 

I had already determined that we were going to share our 🍉 watermelon with another family, hopefully one with kids.  Well, in an RV across from us there was a family of three, mom, dad and a little boy, about 5 years old. I walked over and told them I was going to cut a 🍉 watermelon and asked if they would like some, because the two of us wouldn’t be able to eat an entire watermelon.  The little boy jumped up and said, “well, I just love watermelon!” In the cutest little voice. His mom and dad both said, “he sure does!”  I said great! Come on, I am going to cut it now. So, I walked back and he was the first to come followed by his parents. He stopped to say hello to Craig and said his name was Saylor, we thought he said Taylor, but he quickly corrected us and said “No, with an ‘S.’  He was a cute kid! Smart too, full of confidence.  So, I cut some hardy slices and handed him one. I put several more slices on a plate and  handed it to his mom, and said, please enjoy! 😁 She and her husband smiled and thanked us.   They walked back to their RV, sat at the table and ate it. A short time later Saylor came running back to tell me that he was full up to here, holding his little open hand at his forehead. (So cute!)  I mirrored him, up to here? He said “yeah,” and ran back to eat some more 🍉  watermelon.😊

With dinner done, I cleaned my little grill, Craig made watermelon juice with the remainer of the watermelon and we straightened up and enjoyed the rest of the evening sitting outside listening to music, him reading and me blogging and playing games on my phone.  It is dark now, about 85 degrees. I could hear families talking and laughing around their campfires enjoying the cool evening breeze.

Until tomorrow.