Camelot Inn, Downtown Disney, Disney California Adventure

We normally stay in our motorhome when visiting Disneyland, but on this occasion we left our coach in Phoenix, and drove six hours to stay at the Camelot Inn, across the road from Disneyland.

Here’s an interactive map of the driving route from our site in Phoenix to the hotel:

And an interactive map of our walking route from the hotel to dinner and shopping in Downtown Disney, to Disney California Adventure, and back to the hotel:

Camelot Inn:

Camelot Inn

Our hotel room:

Our room

Our room

Our room

Our room

A short walk from the hotel to the crosswalk by the Disneyland entrance:

Short walk to crosswalk by Disneyland entrance

The Disneyland walk-in entrance:

Disneyland walk-in entrance

We walked past Disneyland to Downtown Disney, with a stop in the Pandora jewelry store:

Pandora

We had a reservation at the Céntrico restaurant for dinner:

Céntrico restaurant

Céntrico restaurant

Céntrico restaurant

Céntrico restaurant

LEGO Store:

LEGO Store

LEGO Store

Jenn bought some LEGO bonsai:

Jenn bought some LEGO flowers

A quick look through the World of DIsney store:

World of DIsney store

Then we went into Disney California Adventure for dessert:

Disney California Adventure

We happened to see a Lunar New Year parade:

Lunar New Year parade

Lunar New Year parade

Lunar New Year parade

Lunar New Year parade

Lunar New Year parade

Lunar New Year parade

Churro for dessert:

Churro for dessert

Happy 25th birthday:

Happy 25th birthday

Lunar New Year:

Lunar New Year

Cars Land:

Cars Land

Cars Land

Cars Land

Heading back to the hotel:

Heading back to the hotel

Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show

We attended the Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show in Quartzsite, Arizona. A two-hour drive from Phoenix.

This show has been an institution in Quartzsite for over 40 years. A big tent full of vendors selling RV accessories, with lots more outside. We weren’t in the market for anything, but wanted to check it out, since we hadn’t been before.

Quartzsite RV Show

Quartzsite RV Show

Quartzsite RV Show

Quartzsite RV Show

Quartzsite RV Show

Quartzsite RV Show

Quartzsite RV Show

Lots more vendors outside:

Quartzsite RV Show

Quartzsite RV Show

Quartzsite RV Show

Quartzsite RV Show

Quartzsite RV Show

Quartzsite RV Show

Quartzsite RV Show

Beer Belly’s adult daycare:

Quartzsite RV Show

Back through the tent:

Quartzsite RV Show

Quartzsite RV Show

Quartzsite RV Show

Quartzsite RV Show

An interesting experience. Not sure we’ll bother with it again in the future, but if we’re in the area, we might check it out again.

Encore Paradise RV Resort

We stayed at Encore Paradise RV Resort in Sun City, Arizona. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice 55+ community in the Phoenix area, where we spent three months; our longest stay to date. It was ostensibly winter, but had record unseasonal temperatures reaching 105° F!

Dates:

  • Check in: 2026-01-01
  • Check out: 2026-03-31
  • 89 nights

Weather:

  • Partly sunny
  • High temps 55-105°F, lows 38-69°F
  • Negligible wind, occasional gusts to 25 MPH

Noise:

  • Little road noise
  • Very distant train horn noise
  • Little neighbor noise
  • Frequent fighter jet noise weekdays (in flight path for Air Force base)

Site:

  • #832, back-in, sandy gravel
  • Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
  • Somewhat level site; low slope in front; used hydraulic leveling
  • Sandy gravel driveway about 45 feet long by 18 feet wide
  • Total site 55 feet deep by 45 feet wide
  • Just gravel between site on passenger side
  • Carport on driver side
  • 24 by 8 feet concrete patio
  • No trees
  • Clean site
  • Elevation 1210 feet, front facing south

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, conveniently located
  • 60 PSI water, conveniently located
  • Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • Starlink: 105-125 Mbps down, 25-35 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
  • RoamLink: 21-23 Mbps down, 4-8 Mbps up, 88 ms ping (RoamLink uses whichever is best of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile)
  • AT&T: 580-620 Mbps down, 13-17 Mbps up, 35-42 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
  • Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpsters
  • Pool
  • Cafe (breakfast and lunch, Tuesday to Saturday)
  • Lots of activities

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Since we were there for three months, we set up all the things:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Including making pizza:

Our site

Record heat:

Hot

A nice thing about this place is that Amazon, UPS, and FedEx delivers directly to the site:

Delivery to site

For USPS, they have mailboxes:

Mailboxes

Mailboxes

Mail room

Mail info

They also have a small on-site cafe (that is open to the public, though I doubt many outsiders patronize it); we thought we’d eat there regularly, but actually only went once — not because it was bad, we just never really felt like it (if they had been open for dinner, we might have gone there more):

Cafe

Cafe menu:

Cafe menu

Cafe menu

Cafe menu

Cafe menu

Breakfast

Lots of activities:

Activities

Activities

Activities

Activities

Activities

A popular pool (that we didn’t use; we’re not really into pools):

Pool

Pool

Pool

RV arrival area:

RV arrival area

Water feature at the front of the park:

Front

A nice pond and fountains:

Pond and fountains

I added a Pokemon Pokestop for that, and the front water features:

Pokemon Pokestop

Lawn bowls:

Lawn bowls

Pickleball:

Pickleball

And more:

More games

Garbage:

Garbage

Recycling:

Recycling

Propane fill:

Propane fill

The park is split into two parts, the pet area (where people can have dogs) and the non-pet area (where they can’t); we were in the non-pet area, as an indoor-only cat doesn’t count as a “pet” (fair enough; he’s in charge, and we’re his staff):

Pet area

“Stop; it does matter”:

Stop; it does matter

Free fruit:

Free fruit

Other sites; the vast majority of the community are park models:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Aerial views of our site (a couple of days before departing, after packing up our stuff) and other sites:

Aerial view of our site

Aerial view of our site

Aerial view of other sites

Aerial view of our site

Aerial view of other sites

Aerial view of other sites

Quite a nice community. We’d stay here again. The jets were somewhat annoying, but we got used to them after a while.

Travel from Palm Desert, California to Sun City, Arizona

We drove our coach 252 miles, about four hours of driving, from Palm Desert, California to Sun City, Arizona.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:

Route map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Entering I-10 East:

Entering I-10 East

We got a little bit of fuel at California prices:

Fuel stop

Back onto I-10 East:

Back onto I-10 East

Foggy:

Foggy

Rest area closed:

Rest area closed

Another rest area:

Another rest area

Rest area

Interesting homebrew van:

Interesting homebrew van

Paladin in a box:

Paladin in a box

Arizona state line, and also Mountain time zone:

Arizona state line, and also Mountain time zone

Welcome to Arizona:

Welcome to Arizona

Arizona Centenial:

Arizona Centenial

Airstream trailer:

Airstream trailer

Interesting mountains:

Interesting mountains

Westbound freeway closed for hours due to accident:

Westbound freeway closed for hours due to accident

Westbound freeway closed for hours due to accident

Another fuel stop to top up, since we’ll be in one place for three months:

T/A fuel stop

T/A fuel stop

Filling diesel:

T/A fuel stop

Filling DEF:

T/A fuel stop

Exit to AZ-303 North:

Exit to AZ-303 North

Overpass:

Overpass

Exit to Bell Road:

Exit to Bell Road

Arriving at Paradise RV Resort:

Arriving at Paradise RV Resort

Registration parking, where we filled in the paperwork and untoaded:

Registration parking, where we filled in the paperwork and untoaded

Guided to our site:

Guided to our site

Duran Duran concert in Palm Desert

We attended a Duran Duran concert in Palm Desert, California.

Concert selfie

A not-great DJ played some 80’s music as an opening act:

DJ

Duran Duran arrive:

Duran Duran arrive

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

After a couple of songs they had technical difficulties, losing sound from the stage, which put the show on hold for about 20 minutes:

Technical difficulties

 

Duran Duran concert

They eventually got it working; on with the show:

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Duran Duran concert

Galleta Meadows Estate sculptures

We visited the Galleta Meadows Estate sculptures, large metal artworks of various animals (and a Jeep) around Borrego Springs, California.

Our approximate route from the campground:

We first went to the Montezuma Valley Road Lookout for a picnic lunch overlooking the valley:

Valley

Then back down the hill and explored the sculptures, which are scattered around outside town. Most you can drive right up to, but some you need to walk a short distance.

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Sculptures

Thousand Trails Palm Springs

We stayed at Thousand Trails Palm Springs in Palm Desert, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our fourth stay here. Like all other Thousand Trails campgrounds, they have switched to assigned sites, which is more of a challenge here, since many sites are tricky to squeeze into, with palm trees and sewer ports in random places.

This campground is split into two: the left side (from the front) is 30 amp pull-through sites, and the right side is 50 amp back-in sites.

We were initially assigned a pull-through site on the 30 amp side of the park, but the gate agent assured us it had 50 amp. Of course, once we got there and tested it, it did not. So we contacted them and asked for another site, and were eventually assigned a back-in site on the 50 amp side, which wasn’t too hard to get into (for TTPS anyway).

Dates:

  • Check in: 2025-12-14
  • Check out: 2026-01-01
  • 18 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly sunny
  • High temps 69-80°F, lows 55-60°F
  • Negligible wind, gusts to 9 MPH

Noise:

  • Some freeway road noise
  • Some train noise, but no horns most of the time
  • A little neighbor noise

Site:

  • #339, back-in, sand
  • Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
  • Somewhat level site; high in back; used hydraulic leveling
  • Sand site about 65 feet long by 26 feet wide
  • Just sand between sites
  • Picnic table
  • Tall palm trees
  • Somewhat clean site
  • Elevation 120 feet, front facing NE

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, fairly conveniently located behind site
  • 60 PSI water, somewhat conveniently located behind site
  • Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (less than 1 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • Starlink: 95-190 Mbps down, 25-30 Mbps up, 39-40 ms ping
  • RoamLink: 35-52 Mbps down, 40-52 Mbps up, 95 ms ping (RoamLink uses whichever is best of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile)
  • AT&T: 600-670 Mbps down, 46 Mbps up, 25 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
  • Campground Wi-Fi: paid; not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpsters
  • Pool

See our previous reviews on Campground Reviews.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

The site we were initially assigned: “No 50 amp!”, which my tester confirmed:

No 50 amp

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Holiday lights:

Holiday lights

See posts of our previous stays for more pictures. We’d be happy to come back here again.