We just finished a 4 night stay at the Thousand Trails preserve in Mt Vernon/Bow, Washington. I do like this campground. The vast majority of the sites are separated from other sites by a row of hedges, bushes and/or trees. Each site is deep, wide and pretty darn private. They are very well shaded. The campground has similar facilities to those that I have observed in other TT Campground in Washington State. There is a pool (large), a clubhouse, a playground, easy hiking trails, clean (not what I would call modern, but definitely kept up) restrooms, putt-putt golf, rental cabins and yurts. Every staff member we spoke to was polite and helpful. With Mt Vernon and Burlington 6 miles south, and Bellingham about 15 miles to the north, there are plenty of services nearby, including healthcare, RV repair, Walmart, restaurants, casinos, gas stations, etc. (Incidently, we paid $3.95 per gallon for diesel while we were there.)
Verizon cell service was fine; we had 4G with 3-5 bars most of the time. The Wi-Fi at the clubhouse was decent - not slow but not fast. We have suspended our Millenicom for the summer because we are going to be at home most of the time. I suspect it would have been fine given that the cell service was good.
My only "complaints" and I use the term loosely because things are what they are:
For a few of the days, we had unseasonably warm weather for this area. The voltage in the park dropped in late afternoon when people were returning to their rigs and starting up the AC. Our EMS (electrical management system) shut off our power. It was mildly annoying, but once the temperature cooled down, the voltage went back up. We just made it a point not to run too many electrical things at the same time.
Also I think having to do with hot weather, there was an annoying batch of flies that had apparently just hatched. It was really most bothersome the first night, and eventually they went elsewhere. We had a citronella candle burning whenever we sat outside in the afternoon and evening. The mornings were fine.
As I had said earlier, the park is heavily shaded, which of course means satellite reception is difficult. Had we brought more cable, Kim thinks we could have picked up a signal. Those who were camped around us had their dishes out by the roads. We just put ours away and started re-watching The West Wing (one of my favorite all time shows) on dvd.
The park sits not far off the I-5 freeway, and you do hear freeway noise. It is mostly background drone, but if you are bothered by it, be aware. We were in spot B-39 and it did not bother us. We heard it, but could easily ignore it. One night, we did hear train whistles. It was also the warmest night of our stay, and I think we just weren't sleeping well because of the heat. I understand there is a race track nearby as well. I've heard complaints about the noise on the weekends, but we were only there during the weekdays, so I cannot comment on that.
Although, it seems I wrote more about the cons than I did the pros - I liked this campground and we will stay there again. It is great for us for a quick getaway.
Oh, and I forgot to mention something that most TT members know to ask.....Are all sites FHU? NO! That's not a criticism. This particular park is an older one. I'm sure it has a septic system, rather than being hooked to a sewer line. I know they are on well water too. There are some FHU sites. These are typically ones nearest to the restrooms. In this park, the majority of the sites are water and electric only. This is neither good nor bad; it is just the way it is. I think it is an individual choice as to whether you deal with it, or camp elsewhere.
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