We purchased a week here several years ago sight unseen for $57 (plus closing costs) off ebay and have been very happy getting what I consider a steal. After using our week the first two seasons, we opted to rent it out the past two years to help defray the MF's we accrue with our collection of weeks.
This year our renter backed out and at the end of the day I used the week. My wife toyed coming down but is still in her probationary period of a new job so I came alone to use it as a retreat to play and focus on weight loss efforts, particularly plugging into a program called Venice Nutrition (www.venicenutrition.com). (I'm also a Weight Watchers member, but looking to switch to VN.)
As our home is only a 75 mile drive to the resort, I loaded up several sets of my toys to entertain me and much to my surprise, some went unused. This post is to share what I used the most, in part to help anyone else who might stay here, although I'm sure their focus will be different from mine.
1) Kitchen!!!! Yes, most T/S's have a kitchen and SCI's is somewhat infamous for have a very small galley kitchen which sits in the living area. Still it's very well equipped with all the things you'd use except for a conventional oven. This was a good thing though because on Friday I went to a local Weight Watchers meeting and I was down three pounds! I'm ashamed to say however I changed the blender's shape as I stuck the plastic food container in the bottom rack of the dish washer and it changed from being round to square. The container is polycarbonite and I simply should have known better, just didn't think.
I took the thing to the front counter tonight and they were going to let their management decide what to charge me.
2) Bicycle. I drove down my cargo bicycle which is a normal bike with an xtracycle kit www.xtracycle.com extending the rear wheel back by approx 12 inches and has cargo hauling features, while riding like a regular bike. I logged 57 miles with it over 4 days. I took it to Dana Point Harbor, to San Onofre State Beach, to the local Ralphs grocery store and to the San Clemente Pier. It was perfect for getting groceries and hauling my beach stuff back & forth. I was very happy having a bike here, but should note there are many hills in the area and you should already be conditioned to riding if you are thinking of using it for transportation. I suppose most folks would simply load a bike into the car and drive them to were ever one was going to ride, but in my case I can honestly say that was four days out of seven I didn't drive at all. In addition to saving gas, you don't pay a parking fee when you ride a bike to these places!
3) Beach. The beaches here are a main attraction if you let it be. They offer some of the best surfing around as well as a great place to work on a tan and read, which I did a fair amount of. A bike to the beach was very practical.
4) Exercise gear. Part of my plan was to get in activity. I walked, jogged, biked (of course) and went to the gym on one day, as well as swim and body surfed several times here in the ocean. The pool was also available for much of the stay but I prefer the ocean.
5) Scuba Gear. Catalina Express (CE) is a service which goes to Avalon on Catalina Island from Dana Point 2 - 3 times a day. CE is also offering a promotion for free passage on your birthday which came this week and I took them up on the promotion, using it to go to the underwater park off the Wrigley Casino building on scuba. It made for a very nice day trip for me but longer stays are possible, so long as you leave for the island on your birthday. You must sign up in advance on their website to take advantage of it. I should also note Lagana Beach, approximately 14 miles to the north has some great beaches to snorkel and scuba at, as does much of San Diego to the south.
5) Surf Board. Some of the best surfing in Southern California is within a mile of SCI. San Onofre is hosting a pro surfing contest this week and normally a place I go to surf several times when I stay here. Ironically, I haven't surfed yet but plan to go first thing tomorrow morning for an hour or so & get back in time to check out @ 10 am.
6) DVD's. Since most of my meals were cooked in the unit & most of my daytime energies involved the ocean, I spent my nights here on the computer using the free wifi or watching movies I brought with me. SCI has a lending library of 100 titles they make available to guests free, btw. We happened to have the TV series "West Wing" on DVD which I hadn't watched in a long time, and they still hold up & kept me out of the bars here.
7) Adele's (on site restaurant). Adele is a San Clemente native with a passion for food. She say's diet is a four letter word, so her menu didn't exactly mesh well with my weight loss efforts, but I did eat here for breakfast and dinner on my birthday and may have breakfast there again Sunday after I'm finished surfing and checked out. While there are plenty of nice places in San Clemente don't overlook Adele's.
What I didn't use much of...clothes. Since I was often a beach bum riding a bike or exercising, shorts and a t-shirt, running shoes &/or flip flops and a hat were all I needed for most of the week. A hawaiian shirt and jeans with casual shoes were enough for the night I ate out. Since I didn't wear many clothes I didn't take advantage of the washer/dryers on property (coin operated).
Last thing I'll note that I'm somewhat proud of...I brought a half case of diet coke from home and purchased a 24 bottle case of water from the local grocery (Ralphs). I drank maybe 5 of the diet cokes this week & all of the water. That alone was a great shift from previous habits. I also made several pitchers of iced tea.
SCI can be a somewhat overlooked resort that is well run and well positioned to be a central spot to play in Southern California. I can't believe the week is essentially over and with the refurbishments to the place (see other thread), I'm very happy having used my week here and would have no hesitation returning again in future years.
This year our renter backed out and at the end of the day I used the week. My wife toyed coming down but is still in her probationary period of a new job so I came alone to use it as a retreat to play and focus on weight loss efforts, particularly plugging into a program called Venice Nutrition (www.venicenutrition.com). (I'm also a Weight Watchers member, but looking to switch to VN.)
As our home is only a 75 mile drive to the resort, I loaded up several sets of my toys to entertain me and much to my surprise, some went unused. This post is to share what I used the most, in part to help anyone else who might stay here, although I'm sure their focus will be different from mine.
1) Kitchen!!!! Yes, most T/S's have a kitchen and SCI's is somewhat infamous for have a very small galley kitchen which sits in the living area. Still it's very well equipped with all the things you'd use except for a conventional oven. This was a good thing though because on Friday I went to a local Weight Watchers meeting and I was down three pounds! I'm ashamed to say however I changed the blender's shape as I stuck the plastic food container in the bottom rack of the dish washer and it changed from being round to square. The container is polycarbonite and I simply should have known better, just didn't think.
I took the thing to the front counter tonight and they were going to let their management decide what to charge me. 2) Bicycle. I drove down my cargo bicycle which is a normal bike with an xtracycle kit www.xtracycle.com extending the rear wheel back by approx 12 inches and has cargo hauling features, while riding like a regular bike. I logged 57 miles with it over 4 days. I took it to Dana Point Harbor, to San Onofre State Beach, to the local Ralphs grocery store and to the San Clemente Pier. It was perfect for getting groceries and hauling my beach stuff back & forth. I was very happy having a bike here, but should note there are many hills in the area and you should already be conditioned to riding if you are thinking of using it for transportation. I suppose most folks would simply load a bike into the car and drive them to were ever one was going to ride, but in my case I can honestly say that was four days out of seven I didn't drive at all. In addition to saving gas, you don't pay a parking fee when you ride a bike to these places!
3) Beach. The beaches here are a main attraction if you let it be. They offer some of the best surfing around as well as a great place to work on a tan and read, which I did a fair amount of. A bike to the beach was very practical.
4) Exercise gear. Part of my plan was to get in activity. I walked, jogged, biked (of course) and went to the gym on one day, as well as swim and body surfed several times here in the ocean. The pool was also available for much of the stay but I prefer the ocean.
5) Scuba Gear. Catalina Express (CE) is a service which goes to Avalon on Catalina Island from Dana Point 2 - 3 times a day. CE is also offering a promotion for free passage on your birthday which came this week and I took them up on the promotion, using it to go to the underwater park off the Wrigley Casino building on scuba. It made for a very nice day trip for me but longer stays are possible, so long as you leave for the island on your birthday. You must sign up in advance on their website to take advantage of it. I should also note Lagana Beach, approximately 14 miles to the north has some great beaches to snorkel and scuba at, as does much of San Diego to the south.
5) Surf Board. Some of the best surfing in Southern California is within a mile of SCI. San Onofre is hosting a pro surfing contest this week and normally a place I go to surf several times when I stay here. Ironically, I haven't surfed yet but plan to go first thing tomorrow morning for an hour or so & get back in time to check out @ 10 am.
6) DVD's. Since most of my meals were cooked in the unit & most of my daytime energies involved the ocean, I spent my nights here on the computer using the free wifi or watching movies I brought with me. SCI has a lending library of 100 titles they make available to guests free, btw. We happened to have the TV series "West Wing" on DVD which I hadn't watched in a long time, and they still hold up & kept me out of the bars here.
7) Adele's (on site restaurant). Adele is a San Clemente native with a passion for food. She say's diet is a four letter word, so her menu didn't exactly mesh well with my weight loss efforts, but I did eat here for breakfast and dinner on my birthday and may have breakfast there again Sunday after I'm finished surfing and checked out. While there are plenty of nice places in San Clemente don't overlook Adele's.
What I didn't use much of...clothes. Since I was often a beach bum riding a bike or exercising, shorts and a t-shirt, running shoes &/or flip flops and a hat were all I needed for most of the week. A hawaiian shirt and jeans with casual shoes were enough for the night I ate out. Since I didn't wear many clothes I didn't take advantage of the washer/dryers on property (coin operated).
Last thing I'll note that I'm somewhat proud of...I brought a half case of diet coke from home and purchased a 24 bottle case of water from the local grocery (Ralphs). I drank maybe 5 of the diet cokes this week & all of the water. That alone was a great shift from previous habits. I also made several pitchers of iced tea.
SCI can be a somewhat overlooked resort that is well run and well positioned to be a central spot to play in Southern California. I can't believe the week is essentially over and with the refurbishments to the place (see other thread), I'm very happy having used my week here and would have no hesitation returning again in future years.