Thousand Trails Oceana RV & Camping Resort

We stayed at Thousand Trails Oceana RV & Camping Resort in Ocean City, Washington. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Another Thousand Trails park, with a path to the beach. Quite nice, other than only being 30 amp and no sewer.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2023-06-04
  • Check out: 2023-06-11
  • 7 nights

Weather:

  • Partly cloudy
  • High temps ranging between 58-66°F, lows around 47-53°F
  • 37 gusts on first day, less on subsequent days

Noise:

  • No road noise
  • No train noise
  • Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

  • #C31, back in, gravel
  • Needed to disconnect toad; parked next to coach
  • A little unlevel, but not too bad
  • Medium site: about 50 feet long by about 40 feet wide
  • Picnic table on gravel
  • Tall trees
  • (This site is planned for a cabin, but they haven’t installed it yet)

Utilities:

  • Only 30 amp power, somewhat conveniently located
  • 40 PSI water, very inconveniently located
  • No sewer

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 5-7 Mbps down, 1-5 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
  • AT&T: 9 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 30-130 ms ping
  • Verizon: 6 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Dumpsters
  • No pool
  • Path to beach

Our review on Campground Reviews:

30A, no sewer, still loved it

Thousand Trails parks are a study in compromise. We could have had a 30A FHU site at the front of the park by the main road but opted for a larger site without sewer, away from the noise. There are minimal 50A sites, and they were all taken; they also have no sewer. So we watched our power consumption and our tank levels while still thoroughly enjoying our location. The staff were all very friendly and helpful, but the pathway to the beach absolutely made this park a favorite. The mosquitoes do get a bit ravenous, so make sure to pack your repellent. We camped at Thousand Trails Oceana RV Campground in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: There are several units of Olympic National Park nearby that make for excellent day trips. Be prepared for a gnarly wait if you go to Hoh Rainforest.

Interactive map (zoom out a bit to see how close it is to the beach):

Campground map; the three circled sites were apparently the only 50 amp ones:

Map

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

The water tap wasn’t very close; technically in a tent site that isn’t on the map:

Water

Only 30 amp power available:

30 amp power

So I used a “dogbone” plug adapter to connect our 50 amp surge protector and cord:

Power

The power, water softener, and water filter:

Power and water

Entrance:

Entrance

Dump station:

Dump station

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Long-term sites:

Long-term sites

Tent sites:

Tent sites

Bridge:

Bridge

Bridge

Bridge

Games:

Games

Playground:

Playground

Path to the beach:

Path to the beach

Path to the beach

Path to the beach

Path to the beach

Travel from Seaside, Oregon to Ocean City, Washington

We drove our coach 119 miles, about three hours of driving, from Seaside, Oregon to Ocean City, Washington.

Here’s the map route, heading north:

Route

Interactive map, with potential stops marked; we didn’t stop at any:

We drove to an open area to hook up our truck to our coach:

Leaving campground

Toading up

Another RV toading up; they started before us, and finished after us; with our weekly practice, it doesn’t take us long to do:

Another RV toading up

Leaving the campground:

Leaving campground

Crossing the Astoria-Megler Bridge from Oregon to Washington; a little nerve-wracking, with a curved approach and high bridge, but it was fine:

Astoria-Megler Bridge

Astoria-Megler Bridge

Astoria-Megler Bridge

Astoria-Megler Bridge

Astoria-Megler Bridge

Astoria

Astoria-Megler Bridge

Low tide exposing the sandbar:

Low tide

Entering Washington state:

Entering Washington

We could have gone left or right, but I had decided on left to avoid some roadworks (planning the route pays off):

Turning left

Lighthouse:

Lighthouse

Tunnel:

Tunnel

Tunnel

Another bridge:

Another bridge

Aaaargh! COFFEE!

Aaaargh! COFFEE!

Artwork in Raymond:

Artwork

Artwork

An advantage of a motorhome is I can get up and use the bathroom while Jenn is driving — a very rare occurrence, since there is some risk in moving about while in motion, and we prefer to take rest stops so we can both take a pee break, but on this occasion Jenn didn’t need to stop:

Inside while driving

Pilings:

Pilings

Rusty building and structures in Aberdeen (a rather ugly city):

Rusty building and structures

A mural helps a little:

Mural

Rusty bridge:

Rusty bridge

We paused in a slow vehicle turnout to let other vehicles pass:

Slow vehicle turnout

Slow vehicle turnout

Bridge:

Bridge

Our destination, Thousand Trails Oceana:

Our destination

Checking in:

Checking in

Our coach in front of our site, preparing to back in:

Our coach in front of our site

Dryer vent padding

Our coach includes a washer and dryer, which is very convenient when we’re living in it full-time. But in strong winds at certain angles, the flap that covers the dryer vent would bang in the wind. It is sheltered with a hood, but that doesn’t always help:

Dryer vent

The flap under the hood, that covers the vent outlet:

Dryer vent

To avoid that annoying banging, which would disturb us at night, I added some strips of self-adhesive felt around the flap, to muffle the sound:

Dryer vent

Dryer vent

That solved that little annoyance quite satisfactorily.

Thousand Trails Seaside

We stayed at Thousand Trails Seaside in Seaside, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice Thousand Trails park.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2023-05-28
  • Check out: 2023-06-04
  • 7 nights

Weather:

  • Partly cloudy
  • High temps ranging between 58-65°F, lows around 46-51°F
  • A little wind

Noise:

  • No road noise
  • No train noise
  • A little neighbor noise

Site:

  • #158, back in, gravel
  • Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
  • Rather unlevel; took us a few tries, and needed blocks under the front jacks
  • Medium site: about 50 feet long by about 40 feet wide
  • Picnic table and fire pit on grass

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, inconveniently located
  • 65 PSI water, inconveniently located
  • Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 25-29 Mbps down, 4-10 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
  • AT&T: 4 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
  • Verizon: 4 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Dumpsters only by entrance
  • Indoor pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Large, busy park

First, a very important tip, especially when staying at a Thousand Trails or other first-come park: Do not arrive on the Sunday of a three-day weekend. We forgot about Memorial Day when we planned our route, and trying to find an open 50A site was diabolical on Sunday afternoon. Another rig that pulled in behind us was faster unhooking their toad and zipped ahead of us to take the last available site. Rude. So we drove around the north section (where the 50A sites are) for quite a while with no joy. Fortunately, a seasonal resident was just about to move from their temporary site to their permanent one and flagged us down. We waited while they packed up and moved, then we were able to pull into a nice end site near the bathroom block. Normally, I don’t like being so close to the bathrooms, but we needed to sanitize our water system, so it was very convenient. The site itself was incredibly unlevel and it took us quite a while to get as close to level as possible but never got completely there. Once we got situated, it wasn’t a bad place to stay, however. We camped at Thousand Trails Seaside in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Pizza delivery from Angelina’s right to your site. Drive up to Washington and check out the Cape Disappointment lighthouse. Dinner at Mo’s and a walk along the promenade are great ways to spend an evening.

Interactive map:

The map, with all available north-side sites when we checked in circled:

Map

Our arrival experience wasn’t ideal, but mostly on us: we foolishly arrived on Sunday of Memorial weekend, when almost all sites were occupied. The only vacant sites were reserved for seasonal sites. But the people that had reserved one of those directed us to the site they were moving from, which was quite a nice location, albeit not very level:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Painted rocks left on the picnic table by the previous occupants:

Painted rocks

Utilities:

Utilities

Utilities

A large grassy area next to our site; not having a neighbor on the driver side was nice:

Grass next to our site

Another nice thing is Angelina’s Pizza delivery on travel day:

Angelina's Pizza delivery

Angelina's Pizza delivery

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Cabins:

Cabins

Tent sites:

Tent sites

Oops, a trailer took a corner too sharply and hit a rock (with a loud crunch):

Trailer hit rock

Tennis courts:

Tennis courts

Indoor pool:

Indoor pool

Indoor pool

Clubhouse:

Clubhouse

Playground:

Playground

Bathrooms across the grassy area from our site — we usually don’t use campground bathrooms, but this time having them nearby was helpful, as we sanitized our fresh water tanks, which means not using our own bathrooms for several hours:

Bathrooms

Bathrooms

Bathrooms

Pet exercise area:

Pet exercise area

Pet exercise area

Pet exercise area

Pet exercise area

Travel from South Beach to Seaside, Oregon

We drove our coach 125 miles, about three hours of driving, from South Beach, Oregon to Seaside, Oregon.

Here’s the map route, heading north:

Route

Interactive map, with potential stops marked:

Our bedroom with the slide-outs in; Paladin just sat in his bed while the slides were coming in. We store the steering wheel table, the bedroom air cleaner, and other stuff on the bed for travel:

Bedroom with slides in, and Paladin

Jenn bringing in the front passenger-side slide-out, via the switch on the side of the chair (Tiffin puts it there to help ensure the chair is moved forward before bringing in the slide, to avoid hitting it):

Bringing in the front passenger-side slide-out

And the front driver-side slide-out:

Bringing in the front driver-side slide-out

Leaving the campground:

Leaving the campground

Entering tsunami hazard zone; there are signs like this all the way up the coast:

Entering tsunami hazard zone

Newport:

Newport

Newport bridge:

Newport bridge

We enjoy seeing an instance of our favorite coffee stand, Dutch Bros Coffee:

Dutch Bros Coffee

Parts of the coast highway can be prone to slips; here’s the remnants of a previous slip:

Repaired road

Repaired road

The coast:

Coast

Lincoln City:

Lincoln City

Espresso in a fun building:

Espresso

Tiger:

Tiger

It’s marshmallow harvesting season!

Hay bales

Bridge near Tillamook:

Bridge near Tillamook

Tillamook Creamery; we would have liked to visit the world-famous Tillamook Cheese Factory again (we haven’t been since they built their new visitor center), but it didn’t work out this time:

Tillamook Creamery

An old smokestack:

Old smokestack

A nice house:

Nice house

Pronto Pup giant hot dog:

Hot dog

Mural:

Mural

We stopped for lunch at Lakeside Hideaway in Rockaway Beach:

Lunch stop

Menu:

Menu

Menu

I had a clam chowder:

Clam chowder

And we both had huge club sandwiches (with one of each of ours saved for leftovers) and tots:

Club sandwiches and tots

Back to our coach:

Back to our coach

Paladin waiting for us:

Paladin

Rock:

Rock

Tunnel:

Tunnel

Tunnel

Paladin keeping an eye on the Bluefire dash on my iPad:

Paladin and iPad

Seaside:

Seaside

Rope course:

Rope course

Our destination, Thousand Trails Seaside:

Thousand Trails Seaside

Checking in:

Checking in

North side drive:

North side drive

As usual for Thousand Trails, we parked our coach and drove our truck around to look for a site:

Our coach

Thousand Trails Whalers Rest

We stayed at Thousand Trails Whalers Rest in South Beach, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Some Thousand Trails campgrounds turn out to be great places to stay. This was not one of them.

Though it actually wasn’t too bad, but not very big rig friendly, with tight roads and we struggled to find a suitable site.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2023-05-22
  • Check out: 2023-05-28
  • 6 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly cloudy
  • High temps ranging between 56-61°F, lows around 49-52°F
  • A little wind, but sheltered by trees

Noise:

  • A little highway noise
  • No train noise
  • A little neighbor noise
  • Can hear the ocean

Site:

  • #79, pull through, concrete
  • Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
  • Fairly level (many sites here are not)
  • Very small site: about 45 feet long by about 15 feet wide
  • No picnic table etc
  • Tall trees

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, inconveniently located
  • 65 PSI water, inconveniently located
  • Loose sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • AT&T: 55 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 65 ms ping
  • Starlink: 70-110 Mbps down, 7-20 Mbps up, 30 ms ping, unusably spotty service (too many trees)
  • T-Mobile: no service
  • Verizon: no service
  • Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

  • Garbage bins only by entrance
  • Indoor pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Tight roads, tight sites

The thing about Thousand Trails is that your overall experience of the park is very much colored by what site you manage to snag. When we rolled into this park on a Sunday right around check-in time, there were very few sites available that would fit our 40′ motorhome. We were told not to even bother checking the north section of the park across the road but that there were “plenty” of sites available on the south side, which was not entirely true. There were several sites, but the only one available that would fit us was a pull-through in the middle of two others, which was so tight between our neighbors that our slides were nearly touching. There was no room for a picnic table or any outdoor living. It was, however, surprisingly level. We did try backing into a site that might have been long enough, but again, was so narrow there was no outdoor living space, and the trees were so low our roof would have dragged on the branches. If you have a small trailer or a Class B, this might be a great campground. For a larger motorhome or 5th wheel, I can’t recommend it. It is also close to the beach if you enjoy playing Frogger in real life. We camped at Thousand Trails Whalers Rest in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: When in Newport, eat Dungeness crab. Clearwater Restaurant on the historic bayfront was a nice option for fine dining. Take a day trip up to Yaquina Head lighthouse and Devil’s Punchbowl.

Interactive map:

Campground map:

Map

A helpful page of site lengths and other info. Lots of the sites were too short for our 40 foot motorhome, not to mention our truck:

Site info

We disconnected our truck and drove around (a couple of times) to find a suitable site. A few candidates are marked; we initially chose site #48, though it was rather narrow, so we then chose #64. But when we drove our couch around, we couldn’t back into that site due to trees and vehicles. Fortunately, we had noticed one of the few pull-through sites available, #79, so we proceeded on to that one. Rather narrow, but we fit (barely):

Our site

More spacious after the motorhome on our passenger side left:

Our site

Later, both sides were vacant for a few days:

Our site

Our site

Our site

And still later, when a trailer arrived next to us; you can see how narrow these sites are:

Our site

Our site

Once several sites cleared out during the week, we considered moving to another site, e.g. we liked this #74, but decided it wasn’t worth the hassle for a few more nights:

Other sites

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

A very tight corner:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Dump station:

Dump station

Apparently they gathered all of the garbage bins by the entrance, due to bears in the park:

Garbage bins

Activity center:

Activity center

Game court:

Game court

Entrance sign:

Entrance sign

This campground is split into north and south sides; we were on the south side. The north side seems to be mostly seasonal (long-term) sites. Here’s its entrance:

North side entrance

Cabins:

Cabins

Clubhouse:

Clubhouse

Mini golf:

Mini golf

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

On the south side is a path to the beach:

Path to the beach

Path to the beach

Path to the beachPath to the beach

Have to cross Highway 101:

Across Highway 101

Lost Creek State Park:

Lost Creek State Park

The ocean:

Ocean

Travel from Eugene to South Beach, Oregon

We drove our coach just 90 miles, about two hours of driving, from Eugene, Oregon to South Beach, Oregon.

As mentioned last week, we had an appointment at Oregon Motorcoach Center for some servicing, so we drove from our overnight county park stay to the motorcoach center, and killed a few hours in their waiting room and going out to lunch, then we were on our way to our next stop, back at the coast.

Here’s the map route, heading north then west:

Route

An interactive map, with potential stops marked; we didn’t need to stop:

After our service appointment at Oregon Motorcoach Center, we headed north on 99W:

Heading north on 99W

Barns:

Barns

Hazelnut trees:

Hazelnut trees

A bridge over the Willamette River in Corvallis:

Corvallis bridge over Willamette River

Corvallis county court house:

Corvallis county court house

The Corvallis Meat Pie Shop, featuring Aussie-style meat pies; we enjoyed sampling their wares the last time we were in town. Alas, just passing through this time (and no parking for a 60-foot coach and toad!):

The Corvallis Meat Pie Shop

Bigfoot:

Bigfoot

Historical society building:

Historical society building

Trees:

Trees

Newport bridge:

Newport bridge

Newport bay:

Newport bay

Our destination, Thousand Trails Whaler’s Rest:

Our destination, Thousand Trails Whaler's Rest

As is common with Thousand Trails, we parked our coach by the entrance, unhooked our truck, and drove around to find a suitable site (which was a major challenge here; see tomorrow’s post):

Our coach by the entrance

Security gate:

Security gate

A very tight curve; this park isn’t particularly big rig friendly:

Tight curve