Astoria, Oregon

Three kids, a mini van, and my swagger wagon packed, we headed southwest to Astoria, Oregon on June 21st.  This was to be our first "glamping" experience staying in KOA camper kabins.  Like a yurt, the kabins take the place of a tent, but with the added comfort of a mattresses, electricity, and heat. Therefore, packing was very easy for this camping trip:

1. Clothes
2. Sleeping Bag & Pillow
3. Towel
4. Portable Gas BBQ
5. Cooler ( I have a Coleman plug in cooler I can plug into car adapter as well as cabin)
6. Cooking Tools
7. Paper Plates and Plastic Silverware
8. Plug-in Electric Kettle
9. Beach Chair 

I am all about ease, so I'm not shy about eating with plastic and paper, and meals are quick and simple.  With hot water, we made instant oatmeal for breakfast and cup-o-noodles at lunch. Dinner was BBQ.

The trip to Astoria was only about 3.5 hours from Seattle.  We were delightfully surprised to find it across the street from Ft. Stevens State Park.  When we arrived, my kids burst out of the van with excitement, yet paralyzed with choices; beach, pool, bouncy inflatable, bikes, playground.  The fun choices were numerous, but I set my hook immediately and reeled them back to reality.  Oh... to hear the agonizing shrills of despair  as we took a whole 10 minutes to unpack the van and set our things into our KOA camper kabin.  Each kid took their sleeping bag, duffle bag and pillow into the kabin, and voila...we were done.  With electricity inside the cabin, I moved the cooler inside and plugged it in.  This proved to be a super easy way to travel with our food.

During our short 24 hour stay, the kids managed to fit most everything in from playing at the beach, bouncing on the inflatable, to swimming in the indoor heated pool.  The next morning, we did one quick load of laundry while we ate a free pancake breakfast, then took 20 minute to pack up and reload the car for our next glamping experience.  On our way out of town, we stopped by Ft. Clatsop, Lewis & Clarks' National Historic Park for a great education on Lewis & Clark and their winter fort on the Pacific Coast.

Check out the the following links for more details on these great locations: koa.com/campgrounds/astoria/ and www.oregonstateparks.org/park_179.php and www.nps.gov/lewi/planyourvisit/fortclatsop.htm

Ft. Stevens Park - Beach

KOA Camper Kabin

My daughter in our Kabin

Bouncy Inflatable at KOA

Old Ship Wreck on beach at Ft. Stevens State Park

My son raising flag at Ft. Clatsop

My kids outside replica of original Ft. Clatsop