Acorns, Down Limbs, Ninja Turtles and Pool Sharks at the Thousand Trails Harbor View Campground in Colonial Beach, VA

After a very busy week in Maryland the week prior, we drove about an hour and a half south to Colonial Beach, Virginia to spend the last week. It is pretty exciting to see the Welcome To {State} sign with each one we pass, although you can’t always get a decent picture of it!

This week was spent at our first Thousand Trails Campground, of many to come. Having a membership, we were ready to see what they had to offer, especially after reading so many mixed reviews online. We have learned that while it is good to read reviews and watch videos on campgrounds, it really is your own experience there that can make or break it.

This was not a Thousand Trails CG where you get to pick your site – they simply assign you one based on what type of site you need. Ours was a back-in site in the corner of the B-Section.

The site was ok. Just ok. Here’s what was wrong with it. Our trailer is 29 feet 11 inches. When we backed in it was kind of a raised site and the rear support jacks were over the edge a little bit. The leveling blocks weren’t able to be level so we had to be creative with the blocks to build it up. It just wasn’t ideal for support. (We should have taken a picture).

The site was dirt with many little rocks, dust, and acorns. Do you have dogs? Do you want them lying in the dirt and then going in the camper?

There was a small concrete slab, but it was big enough for just the table and to come out of the camper.

Granted our dogs have raised cots to lay on that they just don’t use. Not all sites did appear this way, but ours for sure was a dusty mess.

We were surrounded by beautiful oak trees. They were still green at this point, even though it was the middle of October. But the oak trees meant we constantly had acorns pinging loudly off the camper roof and all over the ground. Our dogs were up almost all of one night having to keep going out and go to the bathroom. We couldn’t figure out what they had eaten to make them sick. Well come to find out, acorns can be very dangerous for dogs’ digestive systems, and lo and behold the dogs were eating acorns every chance they got. It meant for a couple long nights while we were constantly trying to throw acorns off the site so they couldn’t get to them. Maybe our dogs just aren’t that smart!

One more thing that irked us was that at 8 a.m. after our first night there we could hear chainsaws. Looking out the camper’s window, we saw a group of men in hard hats from a tree company cutting limbs down from the power lines that ran above the campers in our row. Well, this lasted all day long. Branches and leaves were falling all around the camper as well as a lot of noise. I know work still needs to be done for maintenance but perhaps a notice from the campground to campers that could be affected by this would have been nice. Branches were falling on our bikes that were parked by our fence that we went out and moved. It was not ideal.

And to boot, this occurred all the next morning as well. Just a simple courtesy knock on the door from the company or the campground with a heads-up would have been nice.

But, campsites really are what you make it. We bring our home with us to each of these sites. We have our own chairs, food, and decor. It is home when you unpack and are all setup. This was no different. Sitting by the fire at night and seeing the stars was perfect. Walking and biking around the campground is nice no matter the campground.

We definitely can’t be all negative. We had such a busy week in DC the week before, that the wind and cooler temps we had this first week in Virginia gave us time to unwind and relax a bit. We spent several days inside tackling school work, blogging, playing games, and watching movies. Besides the dogs being sick, we did get some R&R this week.

This campground has a nice rec room with a TV and tons of VHS movies (including The Ninja Turtles which was a big hit!). The foosball table was used by us only once but the pool table was used almost daily. I’d like to say we improved as we went, but an onlooker may not say so.

We did get the chance to introduce the girls to Boggle which we’d been unsuccessfully looking for at stores. We played. It was fun. It lasted about 3 minutes. We probably won’t be buying it anytime soon.

What we are finding is good about Rec Rooms at campgrounds is they are all a little bit different. They have different games in them, many that you’d probably forgotten even existed. While some are outdated, they still are a nice place to go to get out of the camper for a bit, especially in the cold weather.

This campground had some fun things to do outside as well, but they were all quite run down. There was an outdoor pool and hot tub, although both were closed down seasonally. There was a 9-hole mini golf course that we tried out one day. It was what it was. It was free. We got to putt. Let’s leave it at that.

The best part about the mini-golf was that Emma found a Batman figure that she moved around some of the holes trying to putt around it and knock it over. Memories were made.

We were excited to have a pickleball court to play in finally, only to find out the material they made it on didn’t really allow the balls to bounce. We put the paddles away and played basketball instead. Any day we can still beat Emma at Pig is a good day!

We did have a few sights that we wanted to go see while we stayed in Colonial Beach, however realized once we were there that they were a bit too far away to make day trips, mixed with a lack of ambition to go that far. So we found some things to do that were a bit closer.

Leaving by bike right from the campground, there was a nice 2 mile loop around the Harbor View area. There were nice houses looking out at the harbor. It was nice to just ride the loop and move our legs each day. The water was beautiful from there.

We also discovered that the birthplace of George Washington was minutes from the campground. We used that as a history lesson day and went and viewed the museum and walked the grounds.

While the actual house had burned down, one was rebuilt in its place. It was a beautiful brick house looking out over Pope’s Creek. It left us some time to ponder about what life would have been like back then on a property like that.

In a building behind the house was the kitchen and laundry area that was used. The kids didn’t quite understand how washboards were used, so that may be another hands-on history lesson in the future. But leave it to our girls, they found a bird in that building that was stuck and couldn’t get out. Of course, they rescued it.

There was a nice walking trail with signs to read about historical facts. In crossing the bridge we were able to see a blue herron hunting. Check that out here:

This was definitely a historical place that we were glad we got to visit. We got another stamp added to our National Park passport from the gift shop. We also bought a small tin whistle and mouth harp (I think we’ll be trying this one from Amazon instead!) from the store thinking we’d be making beautiful music by the campfire that night, only to realize they were probably supposed to be for looks! Ukuleles it is!

Another spot we took a trip to see was the Voorhes Nature Preserve, also just a few minutes from the campground. It was a nice nature walk that was just under 5 miles when we were all said and done. We followed the yellow trail (see the map here) There were a few inclines, but mostly it was flat and followed the Rappahannock River.

On the way back we took a side trail to the Hollow Tree, and guess what – it was a hollow tree. You could stand right inside of it.

On our last day in the area, we took a drive over the actual Colonial Beach beach. Given that it was October, it was dead quiet. But the sand was soft and warm. The birds were flying around. And there were palm trees! What more did we need!

I’m sure this place is hopping in the summer. It was beautiful and definitely worth checking out if you are in the area!

Was this campground the most glamorous we’ve been to? No. But we did have a good time there and used the amenities that we wanted to. We got schoolwork done. We got physical activity. And we got to see some local sights. What more can you ask for?

Check out this shower curtain hanging in the bathroom. It really covers the main things you want when you go camping, and we could do all of these things at this campground. I’d stay here again when passing through the area.