A photo gallery of our "homes" away from home during the 2019 Summer Trip

We stayed at 20 different RV parks/campgrounds/resorts on our trip to Washington this summer and we have at least one photo from 19 of them to share with you.

I'll start off with a few generic photos of our "rig" after which the photos of the RV parks will appear in chronological order.

This is it, our 30-foot travel trailer. We have not had any serious problems with it or its predecessor. We did, initially, have some engine troubles with the truck struggling to pull it but those problems declined after we started using premium gasoline and buying it only from brand name providers. In terms of logistics and maneuvering, roads and campgrounds are usually not a problem. Getting in and out of gasoline stations presents the most challenges. The goal is to avoid getting into situations where you have to back up.

Even though she is in Washington Betsy is proudly displaying the University of Idaho Vandals shirt she snagged at a discount sale a few days earlier. This photo was taken at a pullout on Washington State Highway 20 which crosses the Cascade Mountains and runs through North Cascades National Park all the way to Puget Sound. The highway is part of what is called the Cascades Loop and is widely considered to be one of the most scenic highways in the state. It was also one of the most difficult "pulls" of the entire trip.

The living space is kind of like a small, linear, one-bedroom apartment.  We are always glad to get home and "spread out" but the trailer is not as cramped as you might think. It's actually pretty comfortable and very functional.

Stop #1 was Copper Breaks State Park which is not too far from the Oklahoma border in northwest Texas, about 400 miles north of San Antonio.

Stop #2 was a KOA in Dodge City, Kansas. We use KOA's primarily for short stays. They are usually overpriced and rarely much above average. However, they are almost always clean and seldom too far below average. In other words, dependable. And when you've got a 30-foot trailer attached to your vehicle there is a lot to be said for dependability.

  

Stop #3 was the Holiday RV Park in North Platte, Nebraska. We also stayed here one night on our 2013 trip to Oregon. The park is dated and nothing special, but it's very convenient, right off of Interstate 80.

Stop #4 in Cheyenne, Wyoming was one of those KOAs that falls into the aforementioned "below average" category. However, it was a super convenient on/off from I-80. Also, I needed a part for the trailer and there was an RV supply store right next door. So it was good stop.

Stop #5 was Peter D's RV Park in Sheridan, Wyoming. The place benefits enormously from the hands-on attention of Peter D himself. It's nothing special and the sites are pretty narrow, but it's clean and convenient and exceptionally well-run.

Stop #6 was another KOA, in Billings, Montana. The photo makes it look a lot better than it was.

Stop #7, yet another KOA, in Butte, Montana, was cramped and dated. However, on the plus side, it has beautiful, new bathrooms and showers and is conveniently located near downtown. It's also worth noting that there are not a lot of options in Butte.

A big plus for the Butte KOA was this sunset.

Stop #8. There was a lot to like about the North Spokane RV Campground in (surprise, surprise) the northern part of Spokane, Washington. For starters, a long, wide, level concrete pad and plenty of well-maintained grassy areas between the sites. They even had little street signs, the first time we've seen that. Yet, there was something about the place that was mildly off-putting. Maybe it was just too clean? Maybe it was the concrete-walled restrooms/showers that looked like something you might find in a prison? On the plus side it was just down the street from a Costco. However, it was also a long drive to the downtown areas that we visited most often. Maybe we're too picky?

Stop #9 was the City of Bridgeport Marina RV Park, which sits on the banks of the Columbia River not far downstream from the Chief Joseph Dam in Bridgeport, Washington. The downside is that it is, indeed, a city park and everything, including the restrooms, are open to the general public. However, we were there in the middle of the week and it was very quiet and pleasant. If we had kayaks we could have paddled around on the river. It was a nice place.

Stop #10 was the Howard Miller Steelhead Park in Rockport, Washington. It's a county park and it was our first stop on the west side of the Cascade Mountains. I think we got the best site in the entire place.

This is an "aerial" view of Howard Miller Steelhead Park that I took during a hike. The park borders the Skagit River and, as the name suggests, is (we are told) an excellent place to fish for steelhead salmon.

Stop #11 was the Pioneer Trails RV Resort in Anacortes, Washington, our first "resort" of the trip. Hardly. It was overpriced but functional and two of our six nights at this location (the second-longest stay at one location on the trip) were spent out on San Juan Island. Also, just out of view on the left side of the photo, there is a fence that made it very difficult to get the trailer backed into the site. The site also had a lot of slope to it that made it difficult to get the trailer unhitched. The shade was nice but the sap and cones from the trees were constantly dropping on the truck and the trailer. Needless to say, Pioneer Trails will not win the prize for best RV park (or resort).

Stop #12 was a biggie: the Gig Harbor RV Resort in Gig Harbor, Washington. We spent 19 nights here; three times longer than any other RV stay on the trip. The "resort" itself is pretty basic but quite pricy. The sites are level, the laundry facilities were functional, bathrooms clean, etc. Probably the biggest down side is that the sites have a fine, powdery gravel base that can stick to shoes, especially when it rains. The enormous upside was the location;  walking distance to downtown, an easy connect to a bike trail that goes all the way to Tacoma, close to a Costco and easy access to the highway to Bremerton and the terminal for the ferry to Seattle. The options for RV parks in the Seattle area are pretty limited and we think we hit the jackpot when we found this place.

We stayed here at Gig Harbor so long it deserves two photos. We were in the last slot on the right at the top of the road.

Stop #13. I chose the Shady Firs RV Park in Randle, Washington months earlier because it is about halfway between the visitor centers at Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument and Mount Rainier National Park and, also, because there did not seem to be any other obvious better alternatives. However, when we got there we saw a confederate flag hanging on a pole by the road and we were sitting in the truck debating whether or not to leave when the owner walked up. She seemed friendly enough, we had a reservation and we didn't really have any place else to go. So, reluctantly, we stayed and it was fine. As the photo indicates there was nobody around us and the site was pleasant and woodsy. And it was indeed a good location for day trips to Rainier and St. Helens.

Stop #14, the Columbia Sun RV Resort in Kennewick, Washington, is the highest-rated
RV park/campground/resort we've ever stayed in; getting a 9.5 on a scale of 10 at rvcampgroundreviews.com. I'm not sure it's a 9.5, but it was very nice.

Stop #15 was the Hi Valley RV Park near Boise, Idaho where we forgot to take a photo. We stayed at the same place on a trip to Oregon in 2013 and didn't take a photo then either.

Stop #16 was the Smokey Mountain Campground in Castle Rocks State Park in the southeast corner of Idaho, just a few miles north of the Utah state line and adjacent to City of Rocks National Reserve. This was a very nice campground in a beautiful place. The sites were roomy, secluded and paved.

Stop #17, the Lucerne Campground on Flaming Gorge Reservoir, is about as far northwest as you can get in the state of Utah. In fact, you have to drive into Wyoming to get to it. It's a very nice place with wide, level, paved sites and, as you can see in the photos, beautiful sunsets. We had three nights scheduled here but stayed for only two because we determined the roads we had planned to take into Colorado were too gnarly. So we changed our route, which lengthened the drive. (story to be continued in the caption for the next photo).

Stop #18 at Elkhead Reservoir State Park near Craig, Colorado was a bare bones campsite with no potable water anywhere in the park. But were very happy to get it. Because we changed our route plans and left Flaming Gorge a night early, this was the only time on the entire trip that we did not have an advance reservation. Unfortunately , it was a Saturday night in August just a few weeks before kids were starting back to school. So Colorado's RV campers were out in force. The state park where we had reservations the next night was full, the KOA in Craig was full, another state park in the area was full. Basically, this out-of-the-way, bare bones park was our last good option and, on the first pass through, it appeared that all of the sites here were also taken. But then we found this lovely, elevated, east-facing site that allowed the trailer to cast its shade on us as we sat outside toasting our good fortune.

Stop #19 at Rifle Gap State Park near Rifle, Colorado was, perhaps, the nicest place we stayed on the entire trip. Spacious, secluded, paved sites with full hook ups, nice views and modern, clean bathrooms. RV campgrounds don't get much better than this folks.

Stop #20 was the Snowy Peaks RV Park in Buena Vista, Colorado; a place we have stayed many times for many weeks/months since 2012. In fact, because we also neglected to take a photo here this year, I had to go back in my files to find this photo that was taken on August 10, 2018. Snowy Peaks is not the greatest RV park in the world. The facilities are dated, the sites are gravel and close together. But it is well-maintained and often filled with "mature" fellow Texans like us. Mostly, we really like the location and Snowy Peaks has served us well over the years. From here we closed up the trailer, put it in a storage space in BV and took off for Wisconsin.