Seattle Area

We are going to be in the Seattle area for 3 or 4 days in September. I'm looking for a campground that accomodates big rigs (my 43 ft. Newport) that we can use as a base to do some touring. Anybody have a recommendation. When we leave Seattle, we'll be headed to Portland, OR so I'm thinking something South of Seattle, but open to any suggestions.

Thanks

Can't help on campground in Seattle area, but you are going to LOVE LOVE LOVE Portland in September. Probably the best month of the year in Oregon.

Your best bet would be the Washington State Fairgrounds in Puyallup - any month except September (that's when the fair is going on and they chase out anybody except vendors). So that one's out.

We stayed in the Seattle KOA and hated it. (Bad area, very few sites that would accommodate your rig and that's where our bikes were stolen last year). Did I mention that for all that, it's like $60 a day? Ugh.

The city of Auburn runs a really nice park, $25 a night water/electric. Plenty of sites that would accommodate your rig. Might give them a call. Realize we're slowly moving away from Seattle at this point. (Website link)

Those are the only three we've stayed in around that area.

Almost forgot - we've stayed in a campground over in Gig Harbor. That would involve paying a toll every time you went back over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge towards Seattle or Tacoma ($6 for the truck, $12 for truck and trailer - it is a one-way toll coming in, no toll going out). Depends on how much you might be driving back and forth that direction.

I know you wanted the south side of Seattle, but if you considered the northside, we found a park on port Townsend that we will stay at as well as a couple of state parks across the water. Absolutely beautiful area, well worth checking out.

Pleasant Lake RV on the North side of Seattle. Chris

http://www.goodsamcamping.com.s3.amazonaws.com/gsparks/LakePleasant/LakePleasant.html

X2 on Pleasant Lake RV. We stayed there in 2014. Very nice.

Take the Boeing plant tour if you have time. Very interesting.

Thanks for the responses. Malcolm, I knew there would be tolls to stay on the Gig Harbor side of the water, but I didn't realize they were that high. Thanks for the recommend on Pleasant Lake Snoking & Bogie. That's one of the parks I looked at on-line. Might have to be that one because it sure doesn't look like much is below Seattle. The Boeing plant tour is on our "to do" list. Thanks for the tip.

klindgren said:

Thanks for the responses. Malcolm, I knew there would be tolls to stay on the Gig Harbor side of the water, but I didn't realize they were that high. Thanks for the recommend on Pleasant Lake Snoking & Bogie. That's one of the parks I looked at on-line. Might have to be that one because it sure doesn't look like much is below Seattle. The Boeing plant tour is on our "to do" list. Thanks for the tip.

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Keith, you and Carol will enjoy the Seattle area! We love visiting there when we visit our granddaughters.

There is a nice little Air Museum at Boeing Field in Seattle. http://www.museumofflight.org/

Chris

SNOKING said:

There is a nice little Air Museum at Boeing Field in Seattle. http://www.museumofflight.org/

Chris

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The air museum is a great place to spend the day. It is not so little though.

Steve

sjandbj said:

The air museum is a great place to spend the day. It is not so little though.

Steve

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Lets see, 1, 2, .... I guess it was 20 years ago that I visited it!!! The Air Force one at Wright-Pat is a big one! Pima Air Museum in Tucson is a must see if in the area. Chris

klindgren said:

We are going to be in the Seattle area for 3 or 4 days in September. I'm looking for a campground that accomodates big rigs (my 43 ft. Newport) that we can use as a base to do some touring. Anybody have a recommendation. When we leave Seattle, we'll be headed to Portland, OR so I'm thinking something South of Seattle, but open to any suggestions.

Thanks

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You DO realize that Seattle and Portland are about a 4 hour's drive apart on I-5??

I guess the first big question on Seattle is how far of a commute to downtown Seattle can you tolerate. There is nothing I know of for big rigs within about 15 miles of downtown Seattle. Some places in the Eastern suburbs, North and South of Seattle. If daily ferry rides aren't out of the question there is a great publicly owned site on the water in a former military fort at Fort Townsend, West of Seattle on the Puget Sound edge of the Olympic Peninsula.

Lake Pleasant is a very nice park. Nice people. We use that park sometimes when we winterize and need to be somewhere we can leave the slides out for a day (to let carpets dry after shampoo'ing). We live just a few miles South down I405.

There's a place near Monroe I want to try... pictures all look pretty good. But, no personal experience with it. It's only 20 min from our place, so about an hour from downtown Seattle (no traffic).
http://www.rvonthego.com/washington/thunderbird-rv-camping-resort/

State parks in both WA and OR are great... and reserve-able.
WA: https://washington.goingtocamp.com/WashingtonStateParks
They post pictures of most sites with dimensions, so you can normally pick one you'll be comfortable in. We ran into a tree problem in OR last summer, but the ranger was able to get us a new spot, no problem.
Dash Point, Kanaskat-Palmer, Kitsap Memorial and Manchester look relatively close with some big-rig spaces.

The fairgrounds in Monroe might have spots, too... the fair runs late Aug/early Sep, so it might be open, depending on your schedule.

Thanks for all the tips everyone. I made a reservation at Lake Pleasant yesterday afternoon. Really looking forward to a couple of day trips into Seattle and a couple of days touring the surrounding area.

We also recommend Lake Pleasant. If you are going to be traveling in the area be sure to get a GOOD 2 GO pass for your truck. Good on I405 and the 520 floating bridge, all of which have tolls. The lanes on I405 from Lynnwood to Bellevue now are HOT lanes which means they cost more during commute hours. Be sure to take the Underground Tour in Seattle...worth the time. Also there is a Safeway Fuel Station across from Lake Pleasant RV Park. Good diesel prices and they dont sell the biodiesel garbage. Eat at the Ivar's in the shopping center. Good for lunch or dinner. Also highly recommend the Boeing plant tour. We have stayed at Lake Pleasant for three winters and leave every April.