Camping During COVID — Part 4

Hello Friends, Foodies, and Fellow Campers,

Gourmet Girl Gail here writing from sunny Santa Barbara. I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving, however you celebrated during this year of COVID. I stayed low key and cooked a small turkey with my neighbor, ordered sides from Lazy Acres (yum!), and three of us dined al fresco. It was lovely. And all this in between RVing on the central coast of California.

One of our last outings was to another Hipcamp, the Windwood Ranch, which sits on an oak covered plateau above the wine country of Paso Robles.

The 30-acre property has incredible sunset views from innumerable vantage points.

For over a century the land was known as the Dresser Ranch, owned by one of the early pioneers of San Luis Obispo county.  To the West is the Santa Lucia Range, and just beyond the famous Hearst Castle, Big Sur, and the Pacific Ocean.  Tom Petty spent the night on the ranch in 1986 after headlining and closing out the Mid State Fair with living legend Bob Dylan. So it makes sense that all of the tents, teepees, and vintage trailers are named after musicians! Below is the Janis trailer.

Next door to it is the Bowie Airstream.

Here’s the Zeppelin. It was locked so we weren’t able to view the interior, unfortunately.

The tent teepees are a wonder to behold. Two are named Eagles and Marley. I can’t remember what the third one is named, but there are a few more glamping sites spread around the property.

And here’s our setup with water and electric hookups.

Next to my Roadtrek was the Crosby tent. It was booked the whole time we were there. Other than that, only a handful of other guests showed up during our stay.

Hipcamp just held its annual awards. Windwood Ranch was a finalist among the best Hipcamp RV spots in the U.S. and I voted for them. Abigail seconded my vote! I think mainly because she got so many belly rubs during the sunset hours!

It was another great adventure with many more to come. We’ve added Harvest Hosts to our outings, and I’ll write more about them the next time.

Until then, stay safe and healthy. What will your new normal look like this year? Let us know in the comments here.