RV Meetups, Foodie Finds & Camping In Seattle

We’re slowly making our way south like most snowbirds and couldn’t resist a stop in Seattle to meet up with fellow travelers and hit some foodie hot spots! We’ve been moving non-stop from our Alaska adventures, and we’ve logged so many miles, that we were ready to settle in for a week and come down off our insane travel high.

It’s funny how some big cities are totally RV friendly with city center camping, while others don’t know we exist, and Seattle, Washington seems like one of those places that hasn’t embraced RV’ers yet. A quick search on Google and you’ll see there aren’t many options when it comes to parking an RV, and most campgrounds within a half hour drive are not very desirable.  Sure you could try parking lot camping (we didn’t find any) or stealth camping (not really feasible in a 33’ RV with a tow car) which can get tricky…not to mention the crazy traffic and hilly, narrow city roads.

We settled on the “Seattle / Tacoma KOA” but it’s actually located in Kent, WA and not in the city.  Sure Kent has a cute little downtown main street but if I’m being honest there didn’t seem to be much going on here, but luckily we had a friend who’s a native, who woulda guessed?

We met up with a friend and fellow traveler (and Kent native) at the Wild Wheat Bakery.  Alana Morgan is world traveler that keeps a blog called Paper Planes and is currently living in Thailand (when she’s not in Kent, WA visiting her mom!).  We had read a recent article she wrote about traveling across Thailand in a Camper Van and we just had to get the scoop on that experience! Maybe we’ll sail over there one day and rent a camper van!  Oh yes, the breakfast was tasty too if you end up this part of town.

The campground isn’t much to look at but there were a few things we really enjoyed about the location:  It’s directly across the street from an Amazon facility so our “Prime” packages arrived next day, woo hoo!  On the south side of the park is the Green River Natural Resources Area with trails and viewing towers (see the photo below), all types of birds and waterfowl flying overhead, and at night the coyotes yip and bark in stereo giving the park the feeling of being surrounded by wilderness.  To the west of the park is the Green River where the pink salmon were running in full force (but our freezer is still full from Alaska) and along the river is a 19.6 mile multi-use trail for biking, running and walking. It really took me by surprise there’s all this wilderness surrounding our campground, it makes feel a lot more desirable.

From our RV Campground it took us about 20 minutes to get to downtown Seattle and it was a 25 minute drive to one of our favorite neighborhoods called Capitol Hill.  It’s a funky little neighborhood and home to one of our favorite restaurants/bakeries in the US cleverly named the Wandering Goose.  They make the best biscuits and if you like cinnamon rolls, then you’ll love their cinnamon roll biscuit (we sure did)!

We also made it a point to explore something new in Seattle and we ended up at the Washington Park Arboretum.  Miles upon miles of trails through the giant trees, along the river, over wetlands and on a series of floating boardwalks atop Lake Washington. Best part is we spent hours exploring and didn’t get charged a cent! Sadly, while we were in the neighborhood we completely missed the Fremont Troll, in fact we didn’t even realize he was there (so don’t miss him when you’re visiting)!

Because our RV park was south of Seattle we also took the opportunity to drive in to Tacoma and spend an afternoon with our longtime friends The RV Geeks and new friends RV with Tito.  Don’t know why we’ve never visited Tacoma before but we really enjoyed it.  We swapped stores over a craft beer and loaded tots at Harmon Tap Room (good brews & tasty tots) and then made our way to Ice Cream Social for some homemade ice cream (extremely tasty ice cream & crazy friendly staff).  Beer, Ice cream and friends makes for a perfect day!

Since there aren’t many options for RVing in the Seattle Area we ended up meeting several travelers staying at our KOA including an RVing newbie that calls herself a “Hobohemian” and started a blog called The Lady is a Tramp.  She should’ve called herself the secret agent because her rig looks totally normal on the outside but step inside and we were envious! Such a cool redesign!

The photos don’t do it justice, but a visit in the evening with the mood lighting on, sinking into her fancy sofa as she hands you a cocktail; let’s just say Sinatra would’ve approved.  A little word of caution, if she invites you over for a drink do NOT let her pour you more than one, she has a heavy hand…I think she’s gonna fit into this RV lifestyle just fine.

This was our fifth time to visit Seattle by RV and our first time to stay at the KOA.  I can honestly say I don’t think there’s a perfect option for camping in Seattle yet, but this experience in the Sea-Tac area has gotta be our favorite so far.

Do you have a favorite spot to park an RV in Seattle?  Any good Seattle travel hacks that might benefit other RVers?  Please share in the comments below, based on the sheer number of times we’ve passed through Seattle I’m sure we’ll be back again.

Disclaimer – We weren’t compensated for this story by anyone however we did use Kamping Vouchers we received from KOA to pay for our stay.