For our first camping trip of 2024, we decided to combine trips and save some money! My cousin was getting married at the Avalon Yacht Club and we wanted to see what options might be available for overnight stays. After checking hotel costs and Airbnb, we decided to use the trip as a shakeout for any remaining issues on the camper. There were a couple of campgrounds just outside of Avalon and we landed on Avalon campground since it was one of the only campgrounds open that early in the season and a decent price. The trip from MD was short and uneventful (the best kind of towing trips) and it only took us about 2.5 hours to get to the campground. With rehearsal dinner on Friday night and the Wedding on Saturday, we didn’t have much time to explore the area or even check out the campground. The amenities were ok, they were re-mulching the playground while we were there and there was basketball and a baseball field available for use. The campsites were small but not terrible and we lucked out with being early in the season and getting an end site. However, I don’t know how we would have been able to back in if someone would have been staying in the site across from us, the roadway was pretty narrow. The kids had fun playing mini golf on Saturday at the campground and it was reasonable price. Our biggest complaint with the campground was that they locked the bathrooms overnight and didn’t open them until 8am….hopefully there was another bathhouse for tent campers or I’m not sure what they would have done!?! Our favorite part of the campground was actually the Woodland Village shops and florist that were located directly next store. The nursery had a ton of flowers and variety of plants, and the shops were cute with some nice souvenirs.
Made my first truly boneheaded move with camper on this trip. We had Chesaco RV winterize the camper while they were trying to fix some old warranty work that they didn’t do right the first time. I could have sworn the anode rod was back in and the hot water tank valves turned on before we went to Avalon….I was wrong. We turned the electric hot water heater on and weren’t getting any hot water. I went out to check the heater and realized the anode rod was still out. I screwed it back in and turned the valves under the counter to get the hot water heater full but the damage was already done. Luckily heating elements are cheap and easy to repair, we ordered one as soon as we got home and it went in with no issues. Also, benefit of having electric and gas hot water heaters, once we had the tank full of water we could still use gas to get hot water even though I burnt up the electric heating element. We also had an issue with the lock on the camper door, somehow when Kristen and I were walking out the lock must have flipped. So while we were trying to get packed up, we had to detour into figuring out how to break into the camper. The murphy bed was down, so there was no way to slide in through the front outside storage compartment. I also tried having Autumn push out the sliding drawer under the dinette and crawl through that storage compartment but apparently they have release levers and wouldn’t slide out. I could see the keys laying on the kitchen counter and luckily we were able to thread a long stick from the front storage compartment, along side the sofa arm, and up to the counter. Knocking the keys on the floor was easy but getting them pulled over to the edge of the compartment where we could reach them was very frustrating and time consuming….but Kristen was amazing (and much more patient than me) and figured it out.
We’ve stayed in Cape May several times and my family used to take summer vacations to Wildwood, but this was our first time in Avalon. In the off season it was a quiet little town with a small boardwalk, city playground, and plenty of beach access. The kids also liked walking along the seawall near the inlet. Hope even found a nice conch shell along the rocks on our last morning….great way to end the trip and start the short drive home.