Ahhh! The memories. Years ago, my husband, Ralph and I used a complimentary camp for 3 night’s free coupon for the Thousand Trails resort at Mt. Vernon. We were impressed and eventually bought a membership for the Thousand Trails system. There is one campsite in Canada at Cultus Lake. The other 60 odd RV resorts are mainly in the eastern and western coastal states. Resorts are also in Las Vegas, Sedona, AZ area, and a few in Texas. Membership also includes opportunities to add on memberships for other camping and resort systems.
Our membership allows us to stay at a resort for up to 2 weeks, and then we move on to the next resort for another 2 weeks and then sometimes return to the previous resort for another 2 weeks and so on. We spend months traveling in the system most winters and enjoy the WA and BC campsites the rest of the year. La Conner and Mt Vernon are both great locations to stay at in April to see the Daffodil fields and for the Tulip festival and again in mid August when we go to the Northwest WA state fair in Lynden.
Each RV park is different and unique. They all have family and adult lodges with satellite TV, pool tables, and food service. Scheduled activities run by the recreation director’s vary from park to park. Some locations are famous for their weekly “Bunco” games or their weekly “Candy Bar Bingo”or the weekly cinnamon buns. Each park has a specific memory linked to it, so when someone asks me which park is my favorite – my answer is always, “that’s depends.” Wilderness Lakes in CA for food service and candy bar bingo. San Benito in CA for bunco. Palm Springs, Wilderness and Pio Pico in CA for their pool rooms. Rancho Oso in CA for their working ranch with horseback riding. Seaside OR for the indoor swimming pool and Soledad, Morgan Hill, San Benito and Palm Springs in CA, Mt Vernon, Thunderbird in WA and many others for their swimming pools. La Conner in WA for their location – they don’t have a swimming pool, but you couldn’t pay a million dollars for a better view while sitting in the hot tub at sunset looking out at the islands on the ocean. And there is the yummy cinnamon buns at Camp Verde AZ.
And Palm Springs wins hands down when it comes to the weekly music jam sessions. Over the years we have been entertained by professionals as well as other talented campers. One of the regulars, Jimmy, has worked with the Ink Spots and many other stars and has many insider stories that he has amused us with over the years. One involved a song writer wanting a singer to record their song. The story was about how the record came to be. Apparently the singer would not even look at the song, so the song writer got the music to him by dropping it onto the singer’s property from a helicopter. And that is why the hit song got recorded. I just wish I could remember the names involved. Just know that it is a well known hit song and artist, I think the singer was Chris Christopherson.
Pio Pico in CA has an annual talent show. One year we were entertained by a concert pianist practicing as we enjoyed the Saturday morning pancake breakfast.
One year at La Conner, the lady that organized the weekly music jam session played an electronic keyboard. One night there was a man that played violin and another man that played trumpet. The orchestra sounds from the keyboard did not allow the others to really let go and get into what I consider “music jamming”. At the end of the session, while the lady with the keyboard was packing up, I encouraged the other 2 to give us a tune or 2, giving them an opportunity to really “jam”. Much to my dismay, the keyboard lady, started to unpack her keyboard to join in. Although she was very good, I think we all missed an experience of a true pure musical jam session.
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