Twanoh State Park - Hood Canal

Our first trip to Twanoh was on October 29th. It was one of those rare, beautiful late fall days in the NW. The campground is small but we found a spot right next to the creek. We even have power.
We saw quite a few people walking through the campground. We walked to the beach in the morning. Then we took a long (uphill) walk through the woods. We saw lots of interesting mushroom pickers along our route.Turned out we were the only campers that weekend. Even the campground hosts were gone. They had left their 5th wheel behind though. Got a little too quiet after dark for me. Plus it was close to Halloween. Spooky.

http://www.parks.wa.gov/parkpage.asp?selectedpark=Twanoh

Millersylvania State Park

Millersylvania State Park is on Deep Lake south of Olympia. Our last trip there was an overnighter on 2/11/06. We got to the park at 10:00 a.m (it's a 35 minute drive from our house). The mud puddles were still frozen but the sun was out. Luckily there were plenty of utility sites available. We used our furnace a lot that weekend. After lunch we went for a bike ride. It was cold but so quiet and peaceful.

Dinner was Trader Joes' Chicken Garlic Enchiladas. I love Trader Joes. That store makes camping so easy!

Millersylvania has lots of bike/walking trails through the woods. We like to stay here in the winter when it's not too crowded. The day use area gets crazy busy with swimmers and sunbathers on summer weekends.

Here's a picture of my favorite model.
http://www.parks.wa.gov/parkpage.asp?selectedpark=Millersylvania

Dash Point State Park - Federal Way, WA

Saturday, 3/18/06

Got up at 7:30, loaded the RV, and left the house around 9:00. Rving sure is easier than tent camping! We stopped by McDonald's for breakfast and still had camp set up by 10:00. It's our first time here but this seems like a great weekend destination. Our spot has power and we even have cell reception.

We walked a 1/2 mile trail through the woods to the beach.
The tide was way out... so I had fun looking for rocks. It's so nice to be outside.

After a grilled cheese sandwich lunch and a nap we went for a late afternoon bike ride. There are a maze of trails and we didn't have time to ride them all. We'll definitely come back to explore again.

Sunday morning we got up early. I dropped Dave off at work (more overtime) and then drove the RV home. I didn't get it parked in the normal spot but I didn't hit anything either. So it's all good.

Side Note: This park has an interesting mix of luxury motorhomes, standard RV's, trailers, and very old camping equipment. We had heard that there are lots of homeless campers that use this park. This might be true. We thought this park was great... everyone seemed friendly and the park was well-maintained.

http://www.parks.wa.gov/parkpage.asp?selectedpark=Dash%20Point

When The Tree Fell - Why We Quit Tenting

Dave and I have always loved camping. We have many fond memories of tent camping. The last time we tent camped it wasn't so fun. As you've probably guessed by now a tree fell on our tent. A rather tall fir tree. Luckily we weren't in our tent - but preparing to eat dinner with the rest of my extended family at a nearby site. My sister saw the tree start to fall and yelled - so we all looked up in time to see the it land on our tent (and my brother-in-laws' tent). And bounce. Who knew big trees could bounce?
Needless to say this put a damper on that family campout. So we all packed up (Dave and I had to wait for the Park Rangars with their chainsaws) and dispersed.
This happened in August of 1998... but I still get nervous sometimes, in the woods, when the wind blows.

So that's the story of why we gave up tent camping. For the next few years it was hotels and motels. Then, in the spring of 2003 we bought our first motorhome.

Dosewallips State Park - Hood Canal

We left Port Townsend by 11:00 and headed to the Hood Canal. Our plan was to check out Dosewallips State Park. We'd driven by this park a few times but never stopped. There were lots of motorhomes and fifth wheels in the powered section but we wanted to check out the river sites. We went through the underpass and there were another 20 or so sites. At least 10 of these were right on the river. There was only one other camper in this section.
We picked the perfect spot - and angled the RV in sideways for privacy. We were dry camped but our RV has plenty of battery power (Dave added an extra house battery) and lots of propane for the furnace. This campsite easily makes our top 10 list!

It was pretty cloudy but we bought a couple of bundles of firewood from the camp host and pulled out the lawn chairs. What a wonderful afternoon. Read and listened to the river.

Late in the afternoon we rode our bikes to the convenience store and picked up some snacks. The next morning we went for a walk and I got to look for rocks. Another great weekend. We are very lucky.

Fort Worden State Park - Port Townsend

We finally made it to Port Townsend in the RV. Port Townsend has been a favorite weekend destination for years. We love the shops and the parks. Before we had to stay in hotels. RVing is so much nicer!

We drove over on Saturday morning (4/1/06). We arrived at Fort Worden Conference Center (the park) just before 12:00. The office staff assigned us a spot in the upper campground. Warning: if you want to stay in the beach campground you need to make reservations! Our site was nice and large - and backed onto the woods.

I made us a quick lunch and then we drove into town to shop. There are signs for RV parking in the shopping district. We never saw the parking lot though because we found a side road with on street parking. After a couple of hours of shopping (birthday gifts, candy, and a great Tin Can Tourist book) we headed back to camp.

There seemed to be a break in the clouds so Dave took our bikes off the rack while I grabbed the camera. We rode up a nice trail onto the bluff. I was a little concerned by the coyote warning. But we had no animals or children with us so we went for it. The views were amazing. We explored the old batteries. It was a beautiful afternoon and a great workout!

After our bike ride we ate dinner and played games. Sadly, Dave beat me at Cribbage, and Trouble. Luckily I'm not a sore loser. I am not!

Sunday we went for another bike ride. Down to the beach this time. It was a beautiful morning. We decided to unplug and head towards the Hood Canal. Both Dave and I had taken Monday off and we wanted to explore some more.