jimpink

After a day of hiking at the Hoh Rain forest we weren't sure where we were going to stay. We originally pulled into a campground before this one that was completely booked so we continued south keeping a look out for other campgrounds. We saw the sign for South Beach and took a chance. They have a unique reservation system where can look at the bulletin board and find a spot that doesn't have a card in it. If you find a site you like and it's not taken you drop your card in the slot and put your 15.00 in the box! Kevin the camp host came around on his bike to help us out and we ended up with a nice site in the "second" row. I loved this campground in that it had a special vibe. Maybe it was the way the sites were set up? I don't know but we loved chatting the night away with many of the other campers!

Pros:
Extra large sites
Mostly level
Ocean front
Whale watching and beach combing
Cement picnic tables
Fire Pits (Part of the Olympic National Park so fires were allowed)
Bathrooms and showers (I did not look at either)
Fun, casual vibe
Seemed like mostly local Washingtonians
Cons:
No hook-ups

Easy in and out
Clean
$10.00 gets you the key or
Free with gas purchase
No diesel

Astoria was our stop for the day/night while driving down 101 southbound. There are only two choices that I know of; this one and the highly sought after Fort Stevens State Park which had no availability at all, even in late September and rain looming. We called and were able to secure a grass spot at Lewis and Clark for the night. We were told that we were lucky because as soon as it starts to rain we would not be able to camp on the grass and it's the only availability they have. She also told us that there was a cruise ship coming in that day and she wouldn't recommend ANYONE come to Astoria while it was in port! We of course had no choice and took coveted the grass spot called D6. When we arrived we were escorted to our spot via a lady on golf cart. She explained that she would give us 4 "shots" at backing into our spot before she would "take over" what ever that means? Luckily we made it on the first try, I think she was disappointed. The spot was lovely, grassy and large. It overlooked the pond and golf course with the Larger RV's parked in large gravel spots across the way.
PROS:
It was available
Clean and Tidy
20 amp service
Water
CONS:
No sewer
No flexibility
-We asked for a late check out, which was a no! We rushed into town to see the Column and the Sunday market and were back by 11:00 to leave!
- No dump station but there was an empty spot in a full hookup area that she let us use on our way out. Otherwise she told us there is someplace at a water treatment center that has a dump station.
Overall, we would stay again if passing through Astoria and the State Park is full.

We've stayed at Happy Traveler RV Park for three years in a row, for two weeks each time. We have never had the same site, but each has been fine. The sites are small but private in this older campground which has tall hedges on either side. I read a review about garbage not being at the site but each site has its own trash which is picked up twice weekly.
We love the location of this park and it's walk/bike ability to so many attractions including downtown. Two hiking trails are directly behind the park and it's an easy drive to Joshua Tree, Salton Sea and Desert Hot Springs!
The park allows kids from April to November, so as you can imagine it's pretty quite and low key during the "sno-bird" months.
There is a large pool, spa, laundry, showers and a club house/game/yoga room.
Yes, this park might need some updating but we like the quirkiness and the people, even the long term residents have become friends!!
The price per night reflects the weekly price, I think the daily price is $90.00?

I didn't appreciate the political flag flying in front of the park. Simple as that. I own two businesses, and I don't think making political stances is appropriate. If this doesn't bother you, then by all means, stay at this very lovely, very well-kept park. The only other thing to be aware of is the lack of privacy between the sites, they are very close together. Price paid reflects Good Sam discount.

We were in Bellingham to move my son into his new house and had planned on "camping" in his driveway, that didn't work out so we scrambled to find a last minute place. We took a chance on Larrabee State Park and it worked out great. We didn't understand the reservation system in that you can't reserve for same day arrivals but they post on the board available or unreserved sites, that was helpful but we needed more than one night so we were able to tract down a ranger who was extremely helpful and we were able to settle into site T-10 for 3 nights.

Pros:
Great location; close to Fairhaven, hiking trails and beach
Helpful rangers
Sun and shade
Drive through sites
Clean bathrooms (didn't look at the showers)
Picnic table, Fire Pits
Full Hook-ups

Cons:
Drive through sites are unleveled and steep
Close together sites
Train runs through several times a day (didn't bother us, we liked it)
You can hear slight highway traffic as well