Refugio State Beach offers excellent coastal fishing as well as trails and picnic sites. Palm trees planted near Refugio Creek give a distinctive look to the beach and camping area. A bike trail along the beach bluff connects the beach with El Capitán State Beach, 2.5 miles east. This beach is unique among Santa Barbara beaches. Many locals find that they come here rather than other beaches closer to town. It just feels different than the others. It might be the abundance of picnic tables and grills or maybe its all the quirky little palms that dot the thin strip of border grass. It could also be the camp grounds that bump right against the beach.
The campground is more primative than I expected. If you are going to setup your chairs on the sand and spend the day in the ocean or on the sand any site in this loop will work. If you are like us and just like to sit close to the water and people watch and view the ocean you will want an end site in the loop. We had site#35 and I think it was the best because when we were backed in the door opened to the site and to the view of the ocean. There were alot of tent campers and the campgrounds allowed clothes lines and towels and bathsuits hanging on them. So some of the campsites looked a little messy and crowded. The people were all friendly, the site behind us with the vintage tent turned out to be neighbors of one of Robin's aunt's when they lived in Sierra Madre so we had a nice visit with them and shared Robin's dessert with them.
This was Robin's first experience with dutch oven cooking and as you can see from the slideshow it was a huge success. She really enjoyed that style of cooking. I am sure I will be on the receiving end on lots more dutch oven cooking.
It was a great weekend the weather was sunny, the wind sometimes a little cool. Good food, good ocean views, and good neighbors made for a great weekend
