Reviews written by clgfoster

Value is in the proximity to really what I'd call a "signature base" - but you do feel like you're socked away in an industrial park. We've been here before and it was packed; this trip, in the heat of summer, it was rather open! Campground staffer (manager? not sure) was an extremely polite fellow Texan. Female on phone who made reservations very polite as well. Main base itself is just plain awesome.

For Cleanliness I would give it a 5; however, for hospitality, a 1 is fair rating. The "service" reminds me of those "do it yourself" parking lots sans attendant. Check in and check out are completely on your own. We arrived after 2200 and after hearing nothing back from whats-his-name neither by email and certainly not by phone!, we did a drive through, picked an appropriate spot, and hunkered down for the evening. Departure the next day was the same - in fact, there was an "Open" sign hanging from the tightly-locked-and-no-answer-when-I-knocked door! Man, how do I get this guy's job!?!! If you're self-sufficient like we are, this is fine, as long as there are no disproportionate responses for you making such command decisions. If you think you need a little help, don't even bother. The base itself was awesome - we enjoyed the gym, the kids loved the sprinkler park. PX, Commissary, 24-hr gas station, the museum...this base provides all creature comforts. And as active duty Navy, I can never quite get over the awesome Air Force facilities we keep running across! Finally, because we never heard from him, I'm not sure if we're paid up or not...but he had a credit card to hold it, so I'm guessing he ran and charged it...who can say, really?

We just returned from two weeks on the beach at Del Mar, one week while I did some reserve duty, a few days hangin' with the wee ones in the sand, with drill weekend on the end. By far the best and cheapest beach front in SoCal. It's our second trip there, first being a quick overnighter on the first row about a month ago. Spring starts getting busy and although I was on the second row this time, I was on that row all by myself! and during the week I had awesome views of the beach and ocean. Maybe a dozen rigs total spread out over the CG. The weekends, however, were completely insane. I'd go to work Friday and come "home" to a totally different and packed beach. Everyone seemed to respect the quiet hours at 2200, but the only downside was the thick smoke created by all the fire pit rings in the second and third rows, comes right in the trailer, due to placement of pits vis-a-vis the RV sites and prevailing winds. It would've been nicer if our upwind neighbors would've doused their fire with water or sand when turning in for the night. (I snuck out and finally did it myself!) The first row doesn't have that problem, so if you get a spot there, you're fine. I never used bathroom/shower facilities, but did a walk through. Nothing fancy but seemed okay. Laundry was further down the beach where the day visitors hang out, in between camp sites and cabins, and there's a playground on the beach near the cabins. Staff was perfectly nice, even the evening security guards (young Marines wanting additional income) were pretty knowledgeable. I wish they had WiFi - wouldn't matter for a weekend trip but for two weeks or, like some of my during-the-week neighbors, four weeks!, it would be nice for taking care of business, paying bills, etc. Overall, a great trip on a great beach!