Taking the Kids Along : Is it Possible to Keep Everyone Happy on a Family Trip? Surprising Tales of Joy From the Vacation Front. : The Perfect Weekend Beach House For a Single Parent and Son

My getaway fantasy wouldn’t go away. It wiggled its way into my consciousness every time I got stuck in traffic or pondered ugly tasks such as checkbook balancing.

The more it resurfaced, the more appealing it seemed.

I would drive north with my 12-year-old son Shaun, winding our way up the coast until the sky turned smogless. (OK, this part I stole from the Nissan commercial in which a harried mother drives to a bed and breakfast that has left the lights on for her.)

But I embellished the fantasy. Our destination is a rustic beach house overlooking the Pacific. Besides a breathtaking view, the house has a wood-burning fireplace, beamed ceilings and a linen closet brimming with thirsty white terry towels that I don’t have to wash later. The beach is smooth and sparkling clean, as perfect for running and walking as for watching the sunset.

Could I afford this beach-bum fantasy? If not for a week, perhaps a long weekend? Maybe next week, which was Shaun’s spring break from school? A half-dozen telephone calls later, I decided I could.

Renting a beach house, as I found out, takes some sleuthing--there doesn’t seem to be anything like a “National Assn. of Beach House Rentals”--and some haggling. But even a three-day beach house escape, I found, can seem like a week off elsewhere. And there seems to be a beach house for nearly every budget.

Those who hope to wiggle their toes in the sand this summer should start planning now. It’s best, claims one beach property manager, to book six months in advance, but chances are good you can still snag a choice place for this summer. During peak seasons--July through August, Thanksgiving and Christmas--it might not be as easy as I found it this spring to talk landlords out of enforcing their standard one-week-minimum-stay rule.

The easiest way to start is to narrow down the area of your dreams. Then, consider two promising routes to rentals: the “vacation rental” columns of newspaper classified sections, and chambers of commerce--which often refer you to property management firms handling beach houses.

I first narrowed down my choices to two places: Cambria, a seaside village about 225 miles north of Los Angeles, and the San Diego area. From a visit 20 years ago, I remembered Cambria as a quaint and quiet town, full of good restaurants and interesting shops. And Hearst Castle was just a short drive up California 1. On the off-chance that beach bumming turned boring, there would be the option of hanging out at the historical monument where newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst once called home.

I ran the options by Shaun, who by now is used to these spur-of-the-moment vacation ideas.

For the past 10 years, we’ve almost always managed to take at least one trip a year. Sometimes they are brief and cheap, like our overnight to San Diego one year. That venture was planned as a one-week trip, but an unexpected car repair bill ate into the hotel room budget. A few trips have been more luxurious, like our one-week fly-drive to Ireland, where Shaun spent a lot of time gasping as I learned which side of the road was the “right” side.

All of our trips have two common denominators. The destination must have appeal for adults and kids. They are usually planned at the last minute--and the more last minute, the better they seem to turn out.

So, knowing he didn’t have a lot of time to ponder the destinations, Shaun’s hands-down vote was Cambria. (OK, maybe I did make it sound lots more appealing and exotic than San Diego.) But he had some serious preteen concerns: Would there be enough to do (“What if it’s, you know, boring?”)? Would the beach house have a television and a VCR?

I promised to find out. I called the Cambria Chamber of Commerce, which referred me to Don Bricker Property Management on Main Street. I called the firm’s 800 number, left a message, and got a prompt call back from associate Jone Ubbenga.

Yes, it was late to plan a spring-break getaway, since spring break was the next week, but she did still have some vacancies. There was a three-bedroom, two-bath beach house in Cambria--more room than we needed--or a two-bedroom, two-bath beach condo in San Simeon, seven miles north. The beach house was $95 a night, the condo $125.

I picked the beach house, which came with two televisions and a VCR. It fit my budget and fantasy more closely than the condo. The beach house sat directly across the street from the ocean, Ubbenga promised, with a wonderful view. I mailed the security deposit check of $150 that afternoon.

A few days later, we were driving north, wagering on exactly what “our” beach house would look like. I envisioned a rustic, cedar-shingled A-frame. Shaun bet it would be a rambling ranch-style.

His guess was more on target than mine. The house was relatively new--built in 1985--and sat directly across the street from the ocean, surrounded by patios with wind breaks on nearly every side. Out front was a covered carport. Inside, the Early American decor was odd, bordering on funky. But it was comfortable, private and had a fireplace.

The modern kitchen had a coffee maker, garbage disposal, dishes in the cupboard and condiments in the refrigerator. The linen closet was well-stocked. The master bedroom had a water bed, a great view of the ocean through French doors and an adjoining bathroom done up in delicate pinks. Shaun chose the bedroom across the hall, which had a television and an adjoining bathroom.

The beach was beautiful, complete with a running path up by the road. Getting down to the ocean required billy-goat agility--something Jone didn’t mention--but the breeze and the view made the climb well worth the muscle power.

Beach bumming took up major parts of each day, but there were plenty of other diversions. Sightseeing in Cambria, divided into its Victorian-era East Village and quaint West Village, has appeal for parents and kids. Shaun liked the Soldier Factory on Main Street; I liked the galleries full of expensive glassware and pottery. We both liked the homemade fudge we ate as we went from shop to shop.

The restaurants ranged from funky--Linn’s Main Bin on Main looks a bit like a warehouse--to nice--Mustache Pete’s had an outdoor but heated balcony and a California wine list that made selecting one difficult.

We bought tickets for the Hearst Castle tour at the local liquor store and headed to San Simeon one morning. But the better bargain--and just as entertaining--was Jack Smith’s Hearst Castle Show, running nightly except Tuesdays in the “showroom” of the San Simeon Restaurant down the road from the castle. Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for kids.

But Smith, a former Hearst Castle tour guide with a quirky personality, discounted us on the spot for no apparent reason: “Five dollars for both of you,” he said as soon as we entered his show. Pretty cheap for two hours of schmooze a la Smith, who alternated the showing of silent film clips with Hearst family gossip, more trivia about the castle and jabs at his ex-wives.

While sipping who-knows-what from a glass, he asked all 25 or so people in attendance to tell where they were from and which tour of the real castle they had taken. If they hadn’t yet gone, he offered unsolicited advice on which of the tours was superior.

On the day we left, we drove again to San Simeon, curious about the condo I didn’t rent. Decorated spotlessly in whites and wicker, it seemed perfect for an adults-only weekend but anxiety-producing for parents who wanted their security deposits back.

I also couldn’t resist comparing our nightly rate to that of nearby bed and breakfasts and inns.

The Blue Dolphin Inn, a B&B; on Moonstone Beach Drive near our beach house, quotes rates of $95 to $175 during the high season (mid-May to mid-September, weekends and holidays) and rates of $85 to $165 for low season. The Cambria Pines Lodge, built in 1927, quotes summer rates of $60 per night, plus tax, for a room with two queen beds; $70 plus tax for a fireplace room. I thought our beach house offered more value and privacy for the money.

Privacy is one of the big drawing cards for beach house renters, say property managers, along with a feeling of homey comfort. “A beach house provides all the luxuries of being at home,” says Annie Hamm, property manager for California Coastal Properties in Oceanside.

Beach house renters “love to see and hear the ocean,” Ubbenga says, “and just be close to the water.” Some families rent beach houses as a home base for family reunions.

Rental fees vary widely. Our $95-a-night fee may have been the bargain of the century, although if families double up, beaching it can be much cheaper than a hotel for the week. The range of houses offered by Al Janc, of Beach and Bayside Vacations in Mission Beach, in San Diego, is fairly typical, he says. Janc rents in the Mission Beach and Pacific Beach areas.

He offers everything from a one-bedroom house near but not on the beach for as little as $400 a week, sleeping five maximum, to his waterfront palace. The latter is a “million and a quarter home,” first-class, that goes for $3,500 a week in Mission Beach.

In the summer, most beach house landlords require a minimum one-week stay, although some make exceptions. Many beach houses today are actually condos. Janc says only about 10% to 15% of his rentals are detached homes; in the future he expects this percentage to shrink even more due to costs. But there are still some locations where detached homes are the rule.

On Catalina Island, for instance, there are many detached cottages for rent, says Ray Jayne Flores, manager of Beach Realty in Avalon. But not all of them are right on the beach. Island rentals range widely, from $325 a week for a small apartment to about $1,800 for a large four-bedroom, Flores says.

Most beach rentals on Balboa Island are also detached homes or duplexes, says Jim Lindberg, an agent at Balboa Island Realty. Summer season runs from mid-June to mid-September, he says, and most beach houses rent for a one-week minimum stay. Plan to spend $900 to $1,200 a week, Lindberg advises.

If you’re thinking of renting a sand castle on Coronado Island near San Diego, take your checkbook. A city ordinace forbids rentals of less than 28 days, according to Lynne Floyd of the Coronado Chamber of Commerce. “And the majority are condos,” she adds.

Once you nail down your place in the sand, expect to pay a security deposit (ours was $150). About two weeks after we returned home, I got $70 of the deposit back; $30 was deducted as a cleaning fee. The other $50 arrived about a month later. It was held as a telephone deposit, just to be sure I hadn’t shared my beach experience with long-lost relatives in Australia.

Most rental agents discourage bringing family pets; some outright forbid them. Towels and amenities such as dishwashing soap and dishes are usually provided.

GUIDEBOOK: Beach House Getaway

Getting there: Drive north on Highway 101. At San Luis Obispo, jog left to take California 1. Proceed to the well-marked Cambria turnoff. From Los Angeles, it’s about 225 miles.

Where to eat: Mustache Pete’s, 4090 Burton Drive in Cambria, specializes in pasta, pizza, steak and seafood. Good fettuccine primavera and spinach cannelloni. Outdoor patio is comfortable even at night, thanks to heaters. Dinner for two, about $30 plus tip. Linn’s Main Bin, 2277 Main St., Cambria, is an upscale coffee shop that serves breakfast, lunch, dinner. Lunch for two, including great chocolate cake, about $18 plus tip.

What it cost: Our 2 1/2-day escape cost about $375. The breakdown, roughly, was $100 for meals, including $12 worth of groceries for eat-in breakfasts; $230 for beach house rental with cleaning fee; $30 for entertainment, including the Hearst Castle Tour and Jack Smith’s Castle Show; $15 for gasoline.

How to find a rental: Check the “vacation rental” columns in the classified sections of the local newspaper. Telephone chambers of commerce in the area of your choice. Contact property management firms directly. A sampling: Don Bricker Property Management, Cambria, (800) 464-0177; Coastal Properties, Oceanside, (619) 721-1000; Beach and Bayside Vacations, Mission Beach, (800) 553-2284; Beach Realty, Avalon, (213) 510-0039; Coronado Chamber of Commerce, (619) 435-9260; Balboa Island Realty, (714) 673-8700.