Mt Hood Village RV & Camping Resort, yet again

We stayed at Mt Hood RV & Camping Resort in Welches, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our third visit to this nice Thousand Trails Encore park; we stayed here last year in September, and the previous year in late July.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2024-08-25
  • Check out: 2024-08-31
  • 6 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly sunny
  • High temps ranging between 64-88°F, lows around 43-61°F
  • Only a little wind (fairly sheltered); gusts to 20 MPH

Noise:

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

Site:

  • Hemlock Meadows #94, back in, gravel
  • Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach (on gravel)
  • A little unlevel; high on passenger side and front; used hydraulic leveling
  • Gravel driveway about 50 feet long by about 22 feet wide, plus about 20 feet wide
  • 15 feet to neighbor on driver side
  • 18 feet to road on passenger side
  • Picnic table & fire pit
  • Somewhat clean

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, conveniently located
  • 70 PSI water, conveniently located
  • Good sewer connection, a little inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 20-35 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
  • Verizon: 1-5 Mbps down, 1-3 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
  • AT&T: 2-6 Mbps down, 0.05 Mbps up, 300-2,500 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpsters
  • Indoor pool
  • Unfortunately the onsite restaurant has closed

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Same as it ever was, minus the restaurant

We stay here every year to do errands in the Portland Metro area. We requested a site in the newer Hemlock Meadows area so we could use our Starlink, but our original assignment was in the trees in a site that would’ve been too short for us as well. Since we’ve been here several times, we knew we needed to confirm these things at check-in, and they were able to move us to a more appropriate site. The newer Hemlock Meadows sites are more open than some of the other areas of the park, so there’s no separation between you and your neighbors…but if they keep letting the weeds grow unabated, they may eventually give you some privacy between sites. The biggest disappointment was that the onsite restaurant closed, and I had been looking forward to their eggs benedict. Alas. We camped at Mt Hood Village RV Resort in a Motorhome.

The campground map:

Map

Interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

We were disappointed to discover that the Dragonfly Cafe & Bakery was closed down, having enjoyed their food during previous stays:

Dragonfly Cafe & Bakery

Tiny homes:

Tiny homes

Tiny homes

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

See our previous visit and the one before that for lots more pictures.

We enjoyed our stay here, and would definitely stay again in the future.

Travel from Shelton, Washington to Welches, Oregon

We drove our coach 187 miles, about four hours of driving, from Shelton, Washington to Welches, Oregon.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:

Route map

An interactive map:

A bay near Shelton:

Bay near Shelton

I-5 South:

I-5 South

Rest area:

Rest area

Another rest area:

Rest area

Deer next to the freeway entrance:

Deer next to freeway entrance

I-5 bridge:

I-5 bridge

Roadworks on another I-5 bridge, which caused major traffic delays:

Roadworks on I-5 bridge

Yet another rest area:

Rest area

Entering Oregon:

Entering Oregon

PDX airport across Columbia River:

PDX airport across Columbia River

Welcome to Oregon:

Welcome to Oregon

A glimpse of Mount Hood:

Glimpse of Mount Hood

Arriving at Mt Hood Village:

Mt Hood Village

Campground

Our site:

Our site

Shed

As mentioned, we bought a shed for our Washington home, to store stuff we want to keep for the future, but not carry around the country with us (storage space even in a 40 foot motorhome is limited!).

We got the shed from Home Depot, a 10 x 8 foot wooden shed with shingles on the roof. The purchase included delivery and installation, since we would not be home at the time; we wanted to have it ready for when we arrived.

Here’s the shed as installed, unpainted:

Shed

Shed

With the doors open:

Doors open

Inside:

Shed

Roof rafters

Window in door

Door latch

I caulked the joints:

Caulked

Then Jenn and I painted it, starting with the main color:

Painting

And the trim:

Shed

Nice.

U-Haul to move stuff from a storage unit to a shed

Ever since we started preparing for our current RV lifestyle, we’ve had a storage unit in the Portland area, somewhat near our old homestead. But paying for ever-increasing storage rental was getting old. So we bought a shed for home, and one of our projects during our annual visit home this year was to move the contents of the storage unit to the shed.

To do this, we rented a 15 foot U-Haul truck near the storage unit:

U-Haul pickup

U-Haul pickup

U-Haul pickup

At the storage unit, before loading the truck:

At storage unit

(Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of the loaded truck; it was full, just big enough.)

The truck at our shed:

At shed

Looking in the empty truck after we had unloaded it:

Empty

Not too hard. Nice to have our stuff at our Washington home.

Baseball: Seattle Mariners vs New York Mets

The second Seattle Mariners game vs the New York Mets, at the Mariners’ ballpark, T-Mobile Field was originally going to be an afternoon game, but was pushed back a few hours as it was featured on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.

We were there very early, having done the ballpark tour beforehand, so had ample opportunity to sample more ballpark food:

Burgers and fries

Pizza

Julio Rodríguez exercising, having been on the injury list until this game:

Julio Rodríguez exercising

Marking the batting boxes:

Marking the batting boxes

Jenn with inflatable trident:

Jenn with inflatable trident

Pitching:

Pitching

Batting:

Batting

Cal on base:

On base

ESPN Sunday Night Baseball:

ESPN Sunday Night Baseball

Pitching:

Pitching

Run scores:

Run scores

Salmon Run:

Salmon Run

Salmon

Home run:

Home run

Two runs score:

Two runs score

Even though I’ve been in this ballpark more times than any other over the years, and had explored in the previous game, plus the guided tour, I still wanted to explore some more, to take pictures from other angles and places:

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Seattle

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

“Hotdogs from heaven”, a Mariners innovation where they drop hotdogs on little parachutes:

Hotdogs from heaven

Hotdogs from heaven

Hotdogs from heaven

The wave:

The wave

Cal Raleigh is nicknamed “Big Dumper” (because he has a big butt), and they played on that by having him read out messages to dump people:

Big Dumper

The M’s did rather well:

Scores

Mariners win:

Mariners win

Mariners winning dance

Sweep:

Sweep

Cal interview:

Cal interview

Mariners win

Baseball: Seattle Mariners vs New York Mets

While our coach was at home, we spent a couple of nights in a hotel in Seattle (across the road from the ballpark), to attend a couple of Seattle Mariners games vs the New York Mets, at the Mariners’ ballpark, T-Mobile Field (which I’ll always think of Safeco Field).

The first game was an evening one.

T-Mobile Park

We went in early via the bullpen gate, and grabbed some nachos from Edgar’s Cantina:

Edgar's Cantina

Nachos

The crowd out by the bullpens:

Crowd

Out-of-town scoreboard:

Out-of-town scoreboard

Retired numbers:

Retired numbers

Dave Niehaus, late voice of the Mariners:

Dave Niehaus

The Walk-Off Market, where you can just pick things up and walk out, via Amazon technology:

The Walk-Off Market

Root Sports TV set:

Root Sports set

Root Sports set

Welcome to T-Mobile Park:

Welcome to T-Mobile Park

Later we got some clam strips from Ivar’s Seafood & Chowder:

Ivar's Seafood & Chowder

Clam strips and fries

Cal heading to the bullpen:

Cal heading to the bullpen

Cal info:

Cal info

Heading back:

Heading back

Catching:

Catching

Catching

Batting

Batting

Baseball

Run scores:

Run scores

Pitching

Salmon run:

Fish race

Fish

Sweeping

Cameras

Exploring the ballpark:

Consessions

Consessions

Ballpark

Screen

Ballpark

Hydro Challenge

Seattle skyline:

Seattle skyline

Retractable roof over train tracks:

Retractable roof over train tracks

Hit It Here Cafe:

Hit It Here Cafe

Hit It Here Cafe

Ballpark

Moose:

Moose

Getting a lead

T-Mobile Park

Lights

Selfie

Pitching

Mariners win:

Mariners win

As soon as most people left, flocks of seagulls swooped in to scavage the waste food:

Seagulls scavaging the waste food

T-Mobile Park

We like it when the Mariners win.

Our Washington home

We stayed at our official domicile, aka Mom’s house, in Shelton, Washington.

It was good to be home! An opportunity to catch up on dentists, doctors, optometrists, etc, and of course with family.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2024-08-03
  • Check out: 2024-08-25
  • 22 nights

Weather:

  • Partly cloudy, rain
  • High temps ranging between 68-88°F, lows around 52-60°F
  • Wind gusts to 20 MPH in the area, though much less when sheltered amongst trees

Noise:

  • No road noise
  • No train noise
  • Occasional neighbor noise

Site:

  • Front in, concrete in front, gravel in back
  • Disconnected toad; parked next to coach
  • Fairly level; high in front; used hydraulic leveling

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, located on house in front of coach, used extension cord
  • 37 PSI water from the house
  • No sewer hookup; used tote or macerator and hose to dump into house septic system

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • Starlink: 11-18 Mbps down, 9-11 Mbps up, 45-65 ms ping
  • House Wi-Fi: 9-11 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 20 ms ping
  • Verizon: 3-5 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 45-75 ms ping
  • AT&T: 0.5 Mbps down, 0.01 Mbps up, 120 ms ping, negligible service
  • T-Mobile: no service

Amenities:

  • House

Our coach parked in front of the house:

Our coach by the house

Our coach by the house

Our coach by the house

Our coach by the house

We added an RV electrical outlet box on the house, so were able to have 50 amp power:

Electrical outlet

Starlink dish on a flagpole:

Starlink dish on flagpole

Nice to have full hookups at home. (I’ll have a blog post about the sewer options in a couple of weeks.)