Day # 18 - Oregon Coast

Finally…a REAL campground. The only state campground we are staying at, is this campground on the Oregon coast a few miles north of Newport called Beverly Beach campground. It is run by the State of Oregon. Oregon has a reputation for great state run campgrounds and from the several we have seen they deserve their reputation. This is a beautiful campground with very large old trees providing full shade over the entire park. Plus it is right off the 101 (also known as the Pacific Coast Highway), so it is only a 5-minute walk from our campsite to the beach.

I want to put in a quick side note here. Some who may not be avid campers might not realize that there are basically 2 kinds of places to camp. Private RV resorts that are owned by a “for profit” person or company; and State or Federally run campgrounds on public lands. For the most part they are very different animals. The private RV Resorts will vary in amenities, but assuming you use a rating service like Woodall’s (http://www.woodalls.com/) to stay in the better places, they will all have pools, playgrounds, a camp store, Internet access (Wi-Fi), and probably a restaurant open for breakfast and sometimes lunch and dinner. They will have a game room, sell ice-cream and offer full hook-ups on every site (Full hook-ups is the designation for being able to provide electricity, water and sewer at every campsite. If you have a camper, and want to be able to use the campers sink and toilet just like you do at home, this requires you be attached to a fresh water line and that your waste tanks be hooked into a sewer inlet for your toilet and sinks to drain into). The downside is that all private RV Parks pack the campsites very close together. So it is common for the campers on either side of you to be about 20 feet or less from your camper. This is about enough room to fit a picnic table on the strip of grass between the sites, but not much else. And trees….forget about it. They take up room that could house an extra site or two. It is understandable and I don’t have any problem with someone laying out their available space in the most income efficient manner. But it is the big drawback to staying in a private RV resort.

State or National campgrounds rarely have full hook-ups and almost never have a swimming pool. Sometimes there is a nice camp store or even a park lodge where you can eat, but not always. What they do have is trees. And space. As a rule, a state campground will have several times more space between your site and your neighbors than a private RV Resort. And that is certainly the case at this campground. There is a good 80-feet between us and our neighbors. And our site is completely shaded by big old pine trees. After spending the last 20 days crammed in at RV resorts between the big 40’ motor homes, it is nice to be at a campground again.

Enough of my Soap box….We left our campsite in Washington later than we had wanted. And I needed to stop by the Portland Camping World store (http://www.campingworld.com/) to pick up some supplies, so by the time we made it to Beverly Beach it was almost 3:00. We got set-up and made a quick dinner at the camper and then decided to take the kids on their first beach. I know being from Ohio it is weird that the first time our kids touch an ocean it happens to be the Pacific. I don’t have a good reason…it just worked out that way. All three kids were very excited and Sarah liked watching the sun setting over the water. It was nice that it was a pretty clear night (don’t get that many in Oregon) and it was a beautiful sunset. After collecting some shells and getting splashed by the very cold surf a couple of times it was back to the camper for bed.