2014 Eagle Creek Camping Trip Costs Update

My last blog post talked about the cost of our first vacation in two years...the gas cost, for example, was an estimate based on the type of car, its mpg, and distance of the trip. I was petting myself on the back for keeping track of the costs and how our vacation won't cost us as much as our last one did. Hmmmmmm.....well......

Extra Costs/Things I didn't factor in: 

• A car rental at Enterprise Rent-A-Car: we found out that the camp that we might be going to might have some rough terrain, so we decided to not use our barely-holding-it-together little chevro Aveo car and rent a compact car.
• Roadside snacks at each gas fill-up on the way to camp
• An extra trip back down the mountain because my in-law wanted us to make a phone call to his gf (no cell reception and she had no idea where we were) and to get him a few things such as a bow saw (for wood cutting) and ice. That's an hour of driving to the nearest town (Sonora) with good cell reception and an hour to drive back up to camp. This trip cost us an extra gas fill-up than predicted.
• Birthday gifts to my partner's little sisters at Sonora, Ca.
• A dinner for two at Marie Callender's restaurant on the way back from camp to home...we were stuck in traffic for nearly 12 hours and because we did not want to unpack the trunk to get at the gas stove and food, we took the stupid route and ate at the restaurant. We should have made some food that we can eat along the road BEFORE leaving the camp.
• After dinner, we filled up gas at a really really expensive gas station at the last gas stop before going up the Interstate 5 freeway grapevine...We did not plan well and needed to put gas in to drive the little rental car up the high grade. The price of gas per gallon at this gas station is $4.59!!! To fill up the tank, this one stop cost us $51.46! This stop alone is over planned half the gas budget.

Estimated Total Cost of Camping Prior to the Trip: $308.20

1) Food & supplies (grocery shopping prior to trip): $66
2) Gas: $103.2
3) Walmart camping supplies trip: $139 (hopefully these items can be used over and over again in the next few years)


THE REAL COST: $465.64

1) Food & supplies (grocery shopping prior to trip): $66
2) Gas: $36.13 + $51.46 + $16.17 + $28.58 = $132.34
3) Walmart camping supplies trip: $139 (hopefully these items can be used over and over again in the next few years)
4) Car Rental: $87.39 (entire trip)
5) Roadside snacks: $4.24 + $10.12
6) Birthday gifts for two tween girls (love them!): Crafting kit and Toiletry bags-$29
7) Restaurant Meal: $36.25

The Hindsight:

$196.14 is the difference between planned and real costs of the trip. It is quite a lot considering some of the costs could have been prevented.

The girls' gifts could have cost far less if we did not buy them at the last minute. I think they would have preferred something more personal and less costly.

We bought wayyy too much food to feed for just two and brought the majority of it back home.

The car rental...we really didn't need the car rental but i know that by not putting our little car through the trip, it will save us money in the long run.

We definitely did not need to stop at the restaurant when we had food in the trunk.

We definitely did NOT need to have bought all those camping supplies at Walmart prior to the trip because R's family had most of the necessary items like gas stoves, canopies, even toilets, covered. Now, I feel like we need to take more camping trips around our city just to justify buying all those camping gadgets.

Highlights of the Trip:

A forest fire broke out 1/4 mile away from our camp up the hill. We rushed toward the fire to help put it out but the professionals got the situation covered by the time we huffed and puffed up the hill and about 50 feet away from the fire.

First Vacation of 2014 - Wilderness camping

I'm so glad to have our first vacation of 2014 (hopefully, to be followed by many more cheap vacations) and it's going to be wilderness camping near the Niagara Creek area in Stanislaus National Forest. The bad thing is that the gas is going to kill us. We are going all the way up there because of my partner's family reunion up there. I would have been happier with a much closer campground. On the bright side, it'll be an adventure and there will be no daily campground fees.

At approximately 840 miles for the round trip with a car that does around 35-38 miles per gallon (yay for small cars!; we have a dinky little economy car that actually gets pretty good mileage) and at $4.30 per gallon, we estimate that it will cost around $103.2 just for the gas.

We went to Walmart and went crazy... justifying our purchase of a two burner propane camping stove ($29) by swearing that we will go more camping instead of thinking about outside of country vacations for the next few years. We also bought some more camping supplies such as insect spray, biodegradable soap, cordage, tent stakes and a cooler. I bought a solar shower bag and a privacy shower/changing tent on a whim ($44). That was the most expensive purchase but i'm thinking if we are going to go week long camping trips where there are no amenities (free camp sites/wilderness camping), I'd like to have the option shower if there are no rivers/creeks around! I'm already daydreaming of our next trip to Zion national park in Utah!

We also got Chromecast, since we no longer have cable, to watch netflix and our hard drives that are full of movies and tv shows (obtained from a friend) on our TV. Now, there will be no need to buy a smart TV! Chromecast cost $35 at Walmart. We used to use our old PS3 to stream movies to the TV but our PS3 has decided to not get along with us lately and we can't afford a new PS3 or PS4. So for now, Chromecast is a more affordable option than Roku. More on this later after we play around with it more.

Total Cost of Trip for Two:    $308.2
Food & supplies: $66
Gas: $103.2
Walmart camping supplies trip: $139 (hopefully these items can be used over and over again in the next few years)

It's a lot higher than I'd like it to be and more than we can afford right now but a lot less than the vacations that people around me are taking this year!

We leave tonight, Wednesday, at midnight and come back on Sunday. We desperately need a getaway!

Santa ana art walk Free!

Going to a free art walk in Santa Ana this Saturday. Budget for parking and dinner for two will have to be at $20. It does suck sometimes to go to even free events with rich friends! Because you know that they will want to dine at expensive restaurants!

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Free art exhibit tonight

Tonight, we are heading to a free art exhibit in the neighboring city. It's called Cat Cult exhibit in Costa Mesa. It's supposed to be a medley of mediums depicting Cats as the subject. Since I like all things weird and funny, we are going! If we can walk to there, we would to make this a truly free experience but it's more than a couple of miles so we are spending the gas to go (within a 10 mile range).

I don't know...lately, I seem to get the best experiences from free or low cost entertainment.

In a couple of weeks, we may be going to a free gathering....a drum circle at the beach. Excited for that one and hopefully, we will make a few friends along the way.

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Budget Fun

Lately, I have been itching to go out more and have fun but it seems like even going to the fairgrounds costs at least $15 per person in parking and admission fees.

But over the past week, I have been getting my fun fix the budget way. We have been exploring hiking grounds that we've never been before. We went exploring around Dana Point Harbor and in the process, climbed...a lot..of stairs. I have even lost 3 pounds in the process even though this may just be water weight. I have been walking around the local wetlands area.

Last night, a friend of mine was able to get free pre-screening passes for A Million Ways To Die In The West with Seth McFarlane. The night was a lot more fun than we had expected. The radio station that hosted the event held fun games and competitions. I'd rather have this interaction with the rest of the audience than a ton of movie previews before a movie begins. I signed up for chances to gain more free movie passes in the future since we love going to the movies. The movie was hilarious and better than I thought it would be.

All in all, the memorial day was great fun with free home BBQ, courtesy of my sister and her family with exploring new trails. I can't wait for the weekend to be over to go exploring in another local area! Now...if only gas prices could be lower.......

Where are Storms when we need you?? Waste of $50

Last Year, as part of the "employee appreciation program" at R.'s work, there were several discount packages and coupon packages available for purchase. I know, instead of performance incentives and awards, they get this at year's end. Lol.

Anyway, R. called me on the phone and asked if we wanted to get a package or two since we had not gone on vacation or anything for over a year. The first thing on my mind was "I'd like to learn how to snowboard this winter season" so, I asked him to buy a ski/snowboard package. He bought a package for $50 that gave 8 lift tickets, two "Learn how to ski/snowboard" tickets, and a couple of Buy One, Get One free lunch tickets. It's basically a coupon package for Mt. Baldy in California. It's the most local place to go skiing. I didn't want to drive to Mammoth or anything too far. It seemed like a good deal at the time.

I should have paid more attention to the weather. Of course, California has suffered and suffering from a prolonged drought season with little to no rainfall/storm events and since we bought that package, I have been checking every weekend to see if there is snow or not and there hasn't been an opportunity to use this package at all. Why did I pick, of all seasons, this season to buy a ski/snowboard package without doing more research.

Of course, since the tickets were bought in October 2013 for the 2013-2014 ski season, so there was that possibility/hope that we'd have at least one chance to go snowboarding. Now, the only option I have left is to use the tickets for "scenic lift ride"....which is basically, getting into a rickety lift ride that goes up and down a mountain with some trees to gaze at. We'll still do that just so that we are not just throwing $50 away but I'm not sure if we would even be interested in going to Mt. Baldy four times (8 tickets, two of us).

I guess, at this point, I'd be happy to have any getaway even if it's not going to be as spectacular as we had hoped.

Has anyone used/bought any discount packages through the "employee appreciation" program and not regretted it?

Budget Fun in Orange County?

Finding a truely cheap way of having fun in Orange County is not hard. There are plenty of free parks, community events, hiking/biking trails within walking distance, and plenty of meet-ups with various interests.

However, some of the Orange County festivals with cheap admission fees can result in spending more money on things that you normally wouldn't pay as much for. For example, food at festivals. Our experience at a local festival, called Sawdust Festival, turned out to be more expensive than we anticipated......Not so Budget Fun in Orange County..