Vail Lake RV Park in Temecula - a new Rice family favorite

We definitely will add Vail Lake to our list of favorite RV destinations close to San Diego, to use for a quick getaway or to try out a new rental unit. Vail Lake has 500 spots in a beautiful woodsy area near Temecula, about 45 minutes north of San Diego. Our site was big - so big we did not have to unhook the boat we brought to use at the lake - we just backed the 40 foot RV and boat into the spot. The park's big attraction is a water slide, although that was closed when we visited (rats!). There are 3 big swimming pools (one shallow one for toddlers). The water was quite cold, which took a little getting used to, even with the 100-degree-plus outside temperature. The main office complex for the park included a miniature golf course, a bar with pool table, restaurant, ice cream bar and stage. Friday night, we sat at the patio tables and watched a very good band (the bartender told us it was a group of teachers from Vista High School - I did not verify that). Kids and parents danced in front of the stage. Our 3-year-old Nicholas danced like something out of a music video, which makes me wonder what he has been watching with the older kids!

Our visit was in September, with a very small crowd. It might have been a different experience on a more crowded summer weekend. We noticed that Halloween is a big holiday at this campground - they already had the decorations up when we were there and they told us they were fully booked for that weekend.

The park is a few minutes' drive from Vail Lake, a private lake where members can fish, waterski, wakeboard, etc. We arranged a trial day at the lake to see if we wanted to buy a membership. When we arrived, we thought the lake was too choppy to wakeboard and ski, but we found that there is a protected area that was still glassy, a long, narrow strip of water with hills on both sides, perfect for such sports. We probably won't buy a membership any time soon, but it's a great sports lake if you live close by and would use it every weekend.

Which RV did we take? Well, we had just gotten this 40' Fleetwood Discovery on the lot, but it was not officially in the rental fleet yet. Someone dropped it off to either have us store it or rent it out for them. It was quite nice inside, with 4 slides and two sofas, so it had more sleeping room than our two Monacos. But towing the boat up to Temecula, the engine ran hot, and we found some other broken things inside the RV, so it probably won't make it into the rental fleet, unless the owner wants to pay for repairs up front!