Thousand Trails Leavenworth, Washington

As I said in my previous post, we are spending the summer checking out the various Thousand Trails preserves in Washington and Oregon.  Our first stop is the Leavenworth Preserve.  It is only 90 minutes to 2 hours from home, depending on traffic in Monroe, WA and/or how many times one or the either of us has to stop to pee.

We made reservations for Monday - Thursday.  We choose to do short trips during the week so that camping spots are open for families on the weekends.  Most school districts are still in session, so the campground is pretty empty.

It's quiet here.  It's green.  It's very clean and the staff is very friendly.  I caught my husband Kim enjoying a few minutes of peace and quiet after we finished setting up.

One of the complaints I have been reading on the Thousand Trails Facebook page is about how the annually leased sites look junky.  I'm happy to say that this is not the case, at least at this preserve.  I counted less than 10 annually leased sites, out of 266.  Now they were some of the nicer sites, in my opinion, but that is the way it goes.  Here is a picture of one of the long term leased sites.

In this particular park, there are three sections.  We are staying in the Meadow View section.  Very quiet and peaceful.  I had good Verizon cell service.  We have our Millenicom service on hold for the summer so I'm not sure how good the wi-fi connection would be.  We could get no DirecTV signal, and the park staff told us this was the best part of the park to pick up satellite.  For that reason alone, I could not stay here long term, but that's just me.  Four days is pushing it for my TV habit, but I did have things recorded on the DVR that we could watch, plus I had DVDs available, so I am surviving.   In this area, most of the sites are separated by trees which gives you a sense of privacy.

I found the other sections of the park less desirable.  Not that there was anything bad about them.  The spaces were smaller and closer together, and not all sites had FHUs.  The Lake View section was pretty, but there are geese (and the poop that goes along with them).  No fishing or swimming in the lakes.

Timber View is the Encore (public) Section of park.  I find it nice that this preserve has limited the areas open to the public for camping.

The Lodge and Clubhouse are nice.  They do have wi-fi here.   The upper floor has tables for cards, or laptops.  There are a few TVs. Downstairs is a big room with the ping pong and air hockey tables and games as well as the laundry.  There is putt-putt golf next to the lodge.  And a beautiful looking Olympic sized pool!

So questions for this afternoon:  Beer or gin & tonic?  Putt-putt or pool?  Sometimes retirement requires you to make those tough decisions.