We enjoyed a lovely Father's Day weekend in Long Beach, WA. Since moving to OR, we have visited Long Beach quite a few times. It's only about 2.5 hrs. from home, making it the perfect place for a quick weekend getaway. Although we have visited many times, most of our stays have been in Hotels. This is only our second time camping there-and the first time in the RV. Exploring the Long beach Long Beach claims to be the "Worlds Longest Drivable beach". For this trip, we drove around, looked for shells and did some metal detecting while we were there. Unlike other beaches it's relatively clean (No rusty nails, and very few bottle caps). The beach, has been very windy every time we have gone there, but if you are into flying kites it's perfect for that! Strange sights on the beach While we were on the Beach we saw this creature. From far away it appeared to be a Penguin, but upon closer examination it was clear it had wings, After some google searching we believe it is a thick billed Murre. We also found a cabbage, Purple Sails (Velella), Whole Crabs, a Penny, beer can, 1-bottle cap, and a Fishing Lure. Good Eats Over the years we have found some great restaurants in Long Beach and the surrounding area. Although we didn't visit them all this trip, here are a few of our Favorites: Breakfast: Laurie's Homestead Breakfast in Seaview is well worth the wait! Lunch: Hungry Harbor Grille is convenient if you are down town and looking for something quick. On a nice day we enjoy eating outside on their picnic tables. If you are looking for a sit down restaurant, Castaways is a nice choice with a good variety menu. Dinner: Lost Roo is a short drive from downtown, but is always good. Bakery: The Cottage Bakery and Delicatessen is everything a bakery should be. It's fabulous (but cash only)! Ice Cream: It wouldn't be a trip to Long Beach without a trip to Scoopers. Family fun and roadside attractionsIf spending a day on the beach doesn't wear you out, you can find a lot of family fun activities in Long Beach. They have an Arcade, Go-Carts, tons of fun shops to browse, The "Worlds Largest Frying Pan", The "Worlds Largest Chopsticks", The "Worlds Largest Spitting Clam", and Jake the Alligator Man and other fun oddities at Marsh's Free Museum. Connor stopping by to say "Hi" to Jake the Alligator Man. Camping on the coast We stayed at Anderson's RV Park this trip. Some things we liked: It was quiet, and it was a reasonable walk to the beach. Be aware that none of the parks here are Ocean Front, as there are sand dunes separating you from the Ocean. Unfortunately the nightly rates here are spendy for a gravel parking lot with little space (and no privacy between spots). In addition to the high rates they also charge you extra fees above 2 people. They also charge for renting fire pits, and dogs. I wouldn't say this park is "Family Friendly". They provide a tiny picnic bench good for two adults. There are no activities for Children, and although they have a playground on their park map, the play structure was still in boxes (that have been outside for a while) waiting to be assembled. The bathrooms are very small, and provide little privacy with their short doors (although they were always clean). Next time, we are going to look at staying at the Pacific Holiday Resort or Cape Disappointment State Park and just driving up to Long Beach for the day. Have you been to Long Beach, WA? Do you have a favorite place to stay, visit or eat?
With Memorial Day right around the corner, many folks are looking for ways to Organize their Campers. Although we have recently traded in our pop-up for a Class C, we camped in our Tent Trailer for many years. Organizing such a small space can be a challenge, so I wanted to share some tips on how we organized and set up our tent trailer for quick getaways.
This was the floor plan of our Starcraft 2409 Tent Trailer. I find most of them have similar storage (or lack of). The red arrows indicate storage compartments that can be accessed from the outside of the unit.
For each trip we placed our Fire Prep Material (wood, newspaper, fire starters) in the front storage trunk (closest to the external door on the entry side of the trailer). When we wanted to to make a fire we just grabbed what we needed out of the access door on the front side of the trailer.
We also used this storage box to store our food box (See how we packed it here), Sleeping Bags, and drying rack. We kept our camping chairs stored under the banquette bench (which also has an accessible door to the outside for easy access). Under the second bench seat we stored our manuals, a small toolbox, and a few extra blankets. We packed our suitcases, Swim Bags, Pillows and Cooler in the trunk of our Jeep. Once we popped the tent trailer and unloaded the font storage box, Hubby worked on the outside connections and I headed inside with the bedding. My son used the left bunk. All we needed to do is add a fitted sheet, and unroll his sleeping bag. His Luggage Stayed on his bunk during the day, and we moved it to the Dinette at night We limited my Son to his back pack for anything he wanted to bring, which he also kept stored on his bunk.
For our bunk, I did the same thing for bedding, and our Luggage sat on top of the storage cabinet next to our bunk. Our Bathroom bags/Swim Bags stayed at the end of our bunk during the day, and we moved them to the banquette in the evening.
Our food storage bin (Check out this link to see what we pack in our food bin) was kept on top of the the storage cabinet next to my Son's bunk. This is directly across from the kitchen area and easily accessible. We would just take items out as we used them.
When purchasing items for your trailer, it's helpful to look for things that will do double duty. It's also helpful to purchase items that collapse, or nest inside each other or are smaller sized.
Now I can't take credit for the packing (my hubby has mad puzzle skills). We stored the following items in the lower storage cabinet (between the oven and the sink):
While we are traveling we store the following items inside our Trashcan: Bug Spray, Dish Soap, Sunscreen, Chlorox Wipes, our Sink plug, and paper Towels. After we set up we take these items out and store them behind the sink while we are camping.
Below, our food bin we have a teeny tiny cabinet. We store our Toaster, Paper Plates and our Nightlights in here.
Above the food storage bin we are fortunate to have a collapsible hanging rod. This is where we hang out coats when not in use.
My best organizing find was our Hanging purse Organizer. In such a small space everything needs a "home". This organizer provides a home for all of those misc. things. We store all kinds of different things here: Our electronics, sandals, small toys and books, basically anything that is nice to have accessible but not laying around the trailer. We no longer trip on shoes, or have to constantly clear the clutter from the dinette. After returning from a trip we would air out the Trailer, and bring in items to be washed. Clean silverware, cooking utensils, pots & pans, cups, bowls, and sheets would be returned to the trailer before we closed it for storage. Using this method we were able to pack and unpack pretty quickly for our last minute getaways. I hope you have enjoyed my Tent trailer tour. Keeping your Trailer organized will allow you to enjoy your time with loved ones a little more. The time goes by so fast. I'm looking forward to sharing our Class C tour with your very soon! Happy Travels! We enjoyed a camping trip for Mothers Day Weekend. We are always on a look out for new places to take the RV for weekend getaways. For this trip we booked a lovely spot at Detroit Lake State Park. Some of the criteria we have when choosing a park for a quick getaway weekend are: 1. It's less than a 3 hr. drive from our hoe 2. It's pet friendly 3. There are some sight seeing opportunities This park met most of our criteria. Normally it would only take about 3 hrs. to get there, however we left around 3:30 pm and hit Portland Traffic (and a few accidents along they way) which turned our trip into a 5 hr. drive. If we visit again we'll need to leave on a Friday Morning to avoid this traffic. It was Pet Friendly, in fact there were quite a few a dogs (and cats) in the park. The kiddo enjoyed checking out all of the pets. This park is set on a beautiful lake. The campsites set on the Lake would be the ideal choice. This site uses affiliate links The kiddo dipped a toe into the lake but it was still a bit too cold for swimming (some kids were testing it out though). If you have a boat, this park has it's own boat launch, and there are also plenty of spots to fish. Our campsite sat a little higher up, but it still had a nice peek-a-boo view over looking the lake. We had a fun time making Pizza's with our Pie Irons, and we even tried a new dessert recipe for Chocolate Marshmallow Puffs from a Little Bit Me. Connor loved this ooey gooey dessert, but I just wasn't happy with how the croissant dough cooked in the pie irons-it might need some modifications. We didn't tow the Jeep this trip so we were limited to just what the park had to offer. We took quite a few walks around the park, but most of our Trip was spent relaxing and just enjoying nature. Even Sparky got in a camping nap on this trip. Do you have a favorite weekend camping spot to enjoy with your family?
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AuthorHi, I'm Melissa.. Mom to Connor. Archives
February 2017
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