Lake Gaston August and October, 2017

We have friends who have a lake house on Lake Gaston so we planned a weekend getaway.  We weren't sure about the Thousand Trails campground on the lake as we had heard that the camp sites were not level.  Instead we stayed at a campground in Grand Rapids, NC.  It was called RV Resort at Carolina Coastal.  The sites were very level and had good space between them.  It really didn't matter where you stay, but we stayed in P16.  Next time we might take a site on the end of the row that has the gazebo next to it.  There are no trails, but there is a swimming pool, hot tub, and activity center. However, there is not much else to do around the area for us.


Hanging out at the lake house was fun, however Russ and I agree that being tied down to a place has limitations.  This house only had a small view of the water rather than the expansive view of the whole lake.  The family enjoys water sports so it works for them.  We enjoyed swimming the dogs in the lake.  The house also had a nice large screened porch so we could bring the dog crates and let them hang out with us.

We also had a great time socializing. Three really funny moments to mention so we can remember:
1) Logan is on a bland diet of barley and we had to fix more at the house.  It was in a pot on the stove.  Well, during the BBQ lunch when everyone fixed their plates, Jenna's husband Steve thought the barley was part of the lunch and grabbed a spoonful of it.  Poor guy was trying to eat it, but it had no flavorings whatsoever.  When we told him that it was Logan's food, he gave up the ghost.
2) Jenna had a few drinks and by evening she became quite comical in relaying a particular story.  Her husband kept teasing her and she kept poking back at him, exclaiming that Russ and I are so supportive of each other when we relay our stories.  Then he started to play the theme from Titanic as she finally got to her punch-line.  It was perfect.
3) Jessica's daughter went a little crazy with the makeup on the walls.  We weren't sure who had done it at first, but when the daughter came out covered in makeup it was pretty obvious who the guilty party was.

Probably the best part of the weekend was the boat ride out to The Point restaurant.  Russ rode in the truck so he could get back and forth to the dogs at the house.  Sorry he had to miss it because it was nice to get out on the water.  The boat was a smooth ride so it didn't whip up my neck at all.  I was concerned about that.

In October we decided to try a new trial in Youngsville NC.  Our RV reservation got mixed up at the show site so we opted to try Thousand Trails at Lake Gaston.  The reviews were correct, it is hard to find a good site, especially for a big rig.  I am glad we didn't try to get in during the August trip.  We found a site that worked for us, but there would have been only 2 or so that we could have made it in comfortably.  That said, the campground has a gorgeous view of the lake, plenty of room to walk, and a nice activity center and playground.

The dogs seemed to like the campground and it was easy to stroll Logan around.  The only negative is that the mosquitos were pretty bad near the water.  We were also 1 hour from the trial site so it is unlikely we would try to combine these two options again.