The Aurora RV Park & Marina is a work in progress. I can see what they want to make this campground into, but the reality of what it’s currently status is makes it difficult to stay there. I did get to try a couple of the different blends of Nature’s Coffee Kettle while I was there. Unfortunately I did have to cut my trip short as there was a mandatory evacuation order put into place due to wild fires.
Campground Review
First off this park is designed for RV use, but the owners have converted a few spaces for tent camping. During my visit I stayed in a tent. I booked the site through booking.com and paid $22.00 a night.
The Good
Each site has its own water sipget and two electrical outlets that work well. There was plenty of space at the site to setup two 4-person tents. The site is at the North end of Clearlake and you have some pretty spectacular views all day long. There is a beautiful public BBQ sitting area right next to the private beach. You can use the canoes, kayaks, or paddle boat all free of charge and they provide life jackets. There park does provide WiFi at no additional cost and it worked reasonably well. The mangers there are very friendly and approachable. They checked on me multiple times to make sure everything was okay.
The Bad
At the time of my visit the campground was undergoing renovations. The office area where the bathrooms/showers, laundry room, and community lounge were all at some stage of construction. THe bathrooms were clean, but only one shower and toilet worked. There was no mirror in the bathroom during my stay. I could not for the life of me get the shower to spray warm water at all so I had a week of cold showers, which wasn’t too bad given how hot it was. I did report this to the mangers, but the issue never got resolved. For tent camping the site were too close together and no picnic table was provided at the space I was at. If I had booked through AirB&B I would have been in a different area that had a picnic table.
Product Review
As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get to test products in the field. At The Aurora RV Park & Marina, I tested two different blends of Nature’s Coffee Kettle. I tried the Colombian and Sumatra blend. Overall I would give this product a 4 out a 5 stars.
What I liked about camping with the Nature’s Coffee Kettle:
- Portable and easy to pack. It takes almost no space at all as it is completely flat when empty.
- Easy to make. Boil water and pour into the kettle and wait. That’s it!
- Easy to clean. Once you’ve had your coffee take out the coffee pod and dispose of it. Rinse out the kettle and your done.
- The kettle is reusable! You can re-order new pods and keep using the kettle
- Many different things you can brew. Currently they have variety of coffee blends and tea blends. They also have Hot Chocolate, but that comes in its own kettle.
- Some of the best coffee I have had while camping. The coffee was really good! Way batter than my normal percolated stuff.
THings to be aware of
- You have to be really careful when pouting the boiling water into the kettle. It is easy to still some of that water on yourself (I did this).
- The pouch is not insulated so if you want to drink hot/warm coffee you got to drink quickly.
