The Campfire Legacy

Let’s be honest, traveling with kids in tow can be stressful. Keeping everyone content is hard enough on a regular day, much less when you are exploring new and unknown places. So if your family is in search of a new and creative way to travel with your kids while spending more intentional, quality time as a family, then I highly recommend planning an RV vacation.

To some, the unknowns of the open road may seem daunting, but it's the best way to travel as a family. We say this from experience, by the way, as my husband and I have four children all under the age of fourteen, and we've explored 47 states with them in our Jayco Greyhawk Class C RV.

Campground Magic

Take our recent trip to the Temecula KOA at Vail Lake in California, for example. In late spring, our family loaded up the RV with all the necessities (pickleball paddles, spike ball, outdoor griddle, etc), and visited this little slice of heaven tucked away inside California’s southwestern mountains. 

Surrounded by mountain biking trails and sparkling lakes, we pulled into our site which was shaded by beautiful old oak trees within the campground's 385 acres of rolling hills and open space. Temecula is known for its wineries and mountain biking, but our family was more interested in unplugging together and indulging in all the amenities this campground had to offer, and there were plenty! 

Something For Everyone

There are many different ways to RV travel. You can camp at large resorts with amenities like water slides and rock climbing, or at small, family-owned parks where you’ll quickly make friends with the staff. You can camp in some vineyards or farms to enjoy agrotourism, or be self-contained and boondock (or dry camp) out in the desert without hookups, noisy neighbors, or distractions. 

That’s how our family preferred to travel when we started RVing, but as our kids grew older we wanted to expose them to new people and become a part of a larger community.  

Families that Play Together, Stay Together

When we are deciding on campgrounds to visit, activities and amenities are high on our “must-have” list. The Temecula KOA at Vail Lake did not disappoint in this aspect. 

At the campground, you could choose from: basketball, horseshoes, mini golf, disc golf, bike riding, lounging by the pool, hiking, equestrian trails, mountain bike riding, and most importantly (to us), pickleball. 

We picked up the sport while at a campground a few years ago and our family hasn’t stopped playing since. We can be on the court for hours honing our pickleball skills, perfecting our backhands, and indulging in family-friendly competition (trash-talking is encouraged). 

We also took advantage of the e-bike rental service. Riding e-bikes as a family is a memory we will never forget, as that was a family first for us. Our family of six cruised through the campground and the paved bike trails in the valley, soaking up that gorgeous California sun and the memories that would follow. 

Speaking of rental services, the KOA also had a golf cart rental service. We enjoyed the luxury of a golf cart that accommodated all six of us comfortably and rode all around the huge campground. The golf cart made it easy and convenient to pack up the family and head to the pool, or to play mini-golf after dinner, which we did several times throughout our stay. 

At the end of the day, we crashed at our spacious and clean campsite. We didn’t have many surrounding neighbors so the kids were free to run around and just be kids — playing ball with one another, scraping knees, and being their own best friends. We hardly spent any time inside our RV as the sunsets, campfire, and large oak trees motivated us to eat outside for the majority of our meals. 

This KOA was our favorite for several reasons, but what really stood out to me was their bar, café, and convenience store. We had everything we needed—eggs for our pancakes, chocolate for our smores— and even awesome souvenirs and gifts.