Staysail RV, Oak Harbor, WA - Aug 2009

Well, it's been a stressful week, but we are over the worst and things are looking up. Last week, our eldest dog Rudy (who suffers from congestive heart failure), began to struggle with his breathing. A call to our vet in San Antonio gave us the advice to immediately increase his diuretic, but to get him to a vet (a cardiologist if at all possible) as soon as possible. A quick check online and we found one near Seattle, so we called and got an appointment. We left Salt Creek on Sunday morning and drove to Lake Pleasant RV Park in Bothell, WA (about 175 miles away.) Rudy spent most of the day on Monday at Seattle Veterinary Specialists in Kirkland and, after a number of tests, was found to be doing ok, but needed to be put on higher doses of all his heart medications. I'm happy to report that he is doing much better and is breathing comfortably again. With congestive heart failure, we know that his time with us is limited, but we are trying to keep him happy and comfortable for as long as we can.

We stayed at Lake Pleasant RV park in Bothell, WA because it was the closest RV park to the veterinary clinic.
It was a pretty nice park -- quiet and clean. We had a nice site that backed up to a little pond and lots of ducks and geese in our back yard.
We might have stayed longer, but Seattle was suffering through a record-breaking heat wave and we wanted to get back to somewhere on the water where it was cooler, so we left and headed for Whidbey Island.

Without reservations, RV sites are hard to come by during the summer, so we were just winging it and hoping that we'd find a spot at one of several of the parks that I had on my list. Our first stop was at Staysail RV Park -- a city operated park in Oak Harbor. There were only two sites available, so we grabbed one and spent the night. It was a lousy site -- a very narrow spot in a gravel parking lot. It was noisy and had nothing to look at but a parking lot. We were disappointed, but decided to stay a night and then go out the next day and look at other campgrounds in the area.
As luck would have it, the next morning, when I was out taking Rudy for a very early walk (his new medicines have him going pee quite often) I passed the best site in the park and noticed that the current occupants were packing up. I asked if anyone had spoken for this nice, grassy site (with a view of the bay) and they said "no", so I told them we wanted it and I would be back soon to "stake my claim."

I hurried back with my chair and book and sat there so it would be obvious to any other wannabes, that this was our spot. In the meantime, Frank packed up the RV and was ready to move as soon as the current occupants departed. We got set up in just a few minutes and were tickled to get what we consider the best site in the park. We're at the end of the row and have room enough to angle our rig so that we maximize our view out to the grassy field behind us and to the bay beyond that.
Our open view out to the grassy fields is delightful and we can even see the water in the bay and watch as the boats go in and out of Oak Harbor Marina.
At high tide, the beach is fairly narrow, but you can walk on it all the way down to the marina. The shoreline is littered with driftwood and we often see people strolling along and gathering pieces as well as kids building forts out of the logs.
The park has lots of activities. With several playgrounds, two pools and a swimming beach, the park is popular with families. There are several paved walkways making it a hot spot for walkers, joggers, bike riders and dog owners.
On Thursdays we are entertained with Concerts in the Park. Our site is just across the field from the bandstand and we can sit outside and enjoy the music.
Last Tuesday, the park was host to "National Night Out" and hundreds of people showed up to enjoy the festivities. The event featured booths set up by several civic organizations as well as all of the public safety groups -- including the police, firefighters, EMS, sheriffs, FBI, border patrol and even the Navy Search and Rescue. We felt very safe that night!
A group of restored classic car enthusiasts were in attendance also. They were previewing a few of the models that will be here this weekend for the official event.
There are only a handful of sites in this park that are really nice. The rest of the spaces are tightly packed and don't have views.
We're glad that we got the site we did and, at $20 a night for full hookups, it's a great deal. Since the park does not take reservations, we can stay in this site for up to the limit -- which is 30 days.

To add icing on the cake -- we are thoroughly enjoying the cool weather. Daytime highs that rarely get over 70 degrees and nighttime lows in the mid 50s. We have had clouds in the morning, but the sun manages to break through in the afternoon. We love it and plan to return to the area next summer.