Top Campgrounds! 5 BUCKET LIST RV Resorts for RV Life (Big Rig Friendly)

In this video we are going to give you our top five picks for campgrounds that you absolutely must see, so stay tuned. We are Charity, Ben, Dakota and Trinity. We decided we didn't want to wait for a life of adventure, so in 2017 we bought our first RV and set off to live a life of travel in the USA. We've visited over 38 states in three years and have many more to go. Follow along to learn all the best places to see, RV and travel tips and much more. So over the past four years of living RV life we have stayed at dozens and dozens of campgrounds from the east coast to the west coast and of course there are always those campgrounds that we walk away from and say that was one of the best campgrounds that we have ever stayed at. So in this video we're going to let you know which ones that those have been over the last 12 months for us and the reason that we're bringing this video to you now is so that you can start doing some trip planning and making some reservations for some of these campgrounds that we'll book up fast, so you want to get on that now. And speaking of which, we have a great resource for them, don't we Ben? Charity put together an amazing trip planning guide that you can access over at gratefulglamper.com forward slash planner and best of all it's free. This is the exact same template that I've developed and used for all of our trip planning and we wanted to make it available to all of you so you can download that for free to start planning your trips this summer. So let's jump right in and talk about some of our most favorite campgrounds and so number one on the list is actually a campground that when we asked our kids what their favorite campground was from the last 12 months this was right at the top of their list. So Golding's campground which is right outside of the Monument Valley area of Utah and we love this campground for the views. You really almost felt like that you were in that Disney movie Cars with just all of like the red rock formations that surrounded the campground. You can actually take a hike right from the campground you don't even need to leave the campground there's hiking trails right there. They even have like their own private little arch right there at the campground and it's just an absolutely amazing place. Lots of stray animals but don't let that like be worrisome that's just kind of typical for a lot of the Navajo people that let their animals roam. So it's not that they are wild strays they belong to somebody they just happen to kind of have free reign. And we actually went during the pandemic and we pretty much had the campground to ourselves. This was a campground and as you can see it's pretty much empty. Now one thing that you might want to note that if you do go to Golding's campground is that there really is going to be no internet so just be aware of that and you'll be okay. Just plan for being unplugged for a few days they do have Wi-Fi it's not really the best so again just kind of plan on being out of pocket during your stay which is always a welcome break. If you go to Monument Valley there's plenty to see there's you've got Forrest Gump Hill which is the iconic scene from the movie Forrest Gump, Mexican hat. There's lots of off-road trails too so plenty to just kind of do and see on an outdoors level if you choose to visit Monument Valley and highly recommend that every RVer put that on their list at some point in their RV journey. Number two, Disney's Fort Wilderness. This is probably the most fun campground on planet earth. One of the reasons we love Fort Wilderness is because it is like the full-on Disney experience. Anything Disney does is just over the top on the experiential side so you feel like you're in the woods. All of the shops and things like that really have that kind of old-time western feel. All of the cast members that are working in the stores are in that typical kind of frontier type dress. It's just very much an authentic feeling of being at some fort in the wilderness even though you're in Florida so it's a very very cool experience. There's a few things that you need to know before you go. One is that you're going to want to book in advance. Way in advance. You know during the time that we're in right now it's a little harder to get a campground reservation anyways so you probably are already aware of booking in advance. Especially during around peak times for Fort Wilderness which is like Christmas and Halloween because people decorate their sites to the nines. You really need to book that way in advance to be able to even get in during those times. The other thing to know is it is not the cheapest campground you're going to ever stay at but you are paying for that kind of Disney experience so we feel like it's something that every RVer should do at least once in their RV journey. There's actually plenty of things to do in Fort Wilderness so you can actually rent a golf cart on-site or off-site. Actually we prefer off-site and you can drive around to see everything that there is. If you go on Halloween and Christmastime there's all sorts of fun activities to check out. And they have ferries that take you to Disney as well. There's plenty to do within Fort Wilderness. You don't even hardly have to leave the campground but plenty of options of just things to see right there at the campground because it's so huge and you can ride bikes if maybe a golf cart isn't your thing you can ride bikes around the campground too. Huge huge campground and we just love it. So number three is the Pacific Dunes RV Ranch which is actually in Oceano, California. Now we love this place because of the dunes that are right there. This is actually a park that's within the Thousand Trails system so if you're a Thousand Trails member check into it. I think it's an encore park. We're not a Thousand Trails member so I don't have all of the scoop on like how that whole thing works and which ones. That's a whole nother video for another time. But needless to say if you are a Thousand Trails member you can check that out to see if you can stay there for free. Now side note you can still stay at a Thousand Trails park without being a Thousand Trails member. We've stayed at many Thousand Trails parks. We're not members and you can just pay their going rate. However here is an inside tip sign up for the Thousand Trails email list and I get emails with discount codes frequently so you can get a discount code when you make your reservation by using whatever code that they send in the email. So something to know before you go. Now the campground isn't anything to write home about. It's not a very high class resort or anything like that. I mean it is within the Thousand Trails system so you're not really going to expect any resort type campgrounds. But outside of the campground is really where it's at because it seems like every day the kids wanted to go out to the sand dunes because they wanted to hike the sand dunes and run and jump off the side of the hill and roll down the sand and slide down the sand. You can actually even hike down to a private beach there which is I think about like a mile hike. It was a three quarter mile hike one way so it was a mile and a half through very deep sand. If you are in shape then that's a fun hike. If you have any sort of physical limitations probably not on the list. So if you do choose to go to Pacific Dunes a couple of things that you want to do while you're in the area. Pismo Beach is just a short ten minute drive and there's plenty to do in that area. There's a beautiful pier. Santa Cruz is a thirty minute drive just north. And then if you do go down to Pismo make sure that you get some cinnamon rolls from Old West Cinnamon Rolls. Now this isn't sponsored in any way but I'll put a link below because we think they were just that good. Yep. So if you're hiking the sand dunes you might want to go get a roll after that to replenish your calories. So as we're going through this list of campgrounds you're going to have to let us know in the comments maybe what are some of the best campgrounds that you've ever stayed at and then we'll kind of have to compare notes and see what other campgrounds that we definitely need to check out. Number four is Watchman Campground at Zion National Park. Why do we love it? The first thing is the views are incredible and there's quite a bit to do around the area. There's the narrows that you can go hike. There's a lot to do even around the campgrounds. So the kids and I took our bikes around the campground quite a bit. We even got in the water. There's a creek running through the campground that we played in. So something to know if you go. Number one you've got to make those reservations in advance. Number two there is no full hookups at this particular campground. It's only water and electric. There is a dump station so make sure that you're emptied out before that you set up because you're going to need to use just the water and electric. And the other thing to know is that we've got a 40-foot motorhome and we fit but it was a little bit tight because we also needed to put our jeep on our site. So they can accommodate longer length rigs but it could be just a little bit of a tight fit so that's something important to know if you've got a longer rig. What to see and where to go in the area is pretty self-explanatory. Just hiking. You can even take a scenic drive if hiking isn't something that's within your physical ability. The views are amazing and the narrows is really a bucket list hike for many people. We did do it with our two kids so it is something that can be done with children if maybe they're just a little bit older. Definitely wouldn't do it with a toddler but if you've got elementary age kids or older you can definitely hike the narrows while you're there with your kids and it's definitely a fun thing to do and a must do while you're living the RV life. Little pro tip. Definitely rent some of the shoes at the local outfitters in the area because it'll just make your experience a lot better walking over all the big boulders and stuff. We were all hiking in keen sandals. I wouldn't do that again. A little more difficult. We'd definitely get the nice sturdy boots and neoprene socks and a walking stick so if you go definitely make sure that you take advantage of that you'll just have a better experience. Number five is Rambler's Rest. Now this campground is located in the Venice Florida area and we fell in love with this campground when we went just a matter of a couple of weeks ago for several different reasons but something to know if you go is that this is another park that is within the Thousand Trails system so if you are a Thousand Trails member that would be something that would be at your advantage and again we stayed there. We're not Thousand Trails members but I got another discount code in my email for our stay so we were able to stay at a discounted rate. There are a lot of snowbirds that are there during the winter. There are a lot of kind of like tiny home type setups where there are a lot of people that come and stay there during the winter months and then they go back to their homes which are in the more northern part of the U.S. hemisphere during the summer months but we just love that particular atmosphere. The kids actually commented that they probably felt the safest at this campground out of any campground we've stayed at and it's not like we stay at sketchy places but just the atmosphere of this particular campground with a little bit of a more mature demographic really just kind of made our kids feel very very safe there. Yeah they were super friendly and great with the kids so they have a dog park, they've got a swimming pool, they've got all kinds of different activities, a playground, tennis, a hot tub. This campground really impressed me. It's definitely more of an RV resort type of campground versus your no frills type of campground. Now one thing to note though, if you do go here, if Wi-Fi is important to you or mobile wireless is something you need, you're not going to get very good service at this campground or anywhere in this area. It just seemed the whole Venice area of Florida didn't have the best cell service so just something to know before you go. So if you do choose to visit Rambler's Rest or even just the Venice Florida area, some things that you absolutely must take advantage of is run down to Casperson Beach. Now this is the shark tooth capital of the world for fossilized shark teeth. Now when we went, the weather wasn't cooperating, we didn't have a ton of time to be sifting through the shells that you want to sift through to find shark teeth but we still found five of them and we didn't have a ton of time and we were there at totally the wrong time of the day. You want to go lower tide versus higher tide. So we have talked to other RV families that have found dozens and dozens during their visits because they hit the timing correctly and they had more time than what we had. It's also very close to the Sarasota area so there's tons to do there. Siesta Beach, it's rated the number one beach in the USA. That's a must-see if you're living the RV life. So make sure that you put this campground on your list of places that you want to visit or just even that whole area of the Gulf Coast of Florida on your list of places to go while you're living RV life. Is this thing on? Hello? And if you'd love to support us, oh gross, yuck. Thanks for watching. Thanks so much for watching. No, seriously, come on, we've got to end this video, okay. So thanks so much for watching and until next time, we'll see you on the road. Why didn't you not, okay, come on, seriously. Thanks for watching. One of us can say it. Okay, alright. Really, dog? It can be, really? We'd absolutely love to know. So let us know if you've stayed at any of these five campgrounds and what your thoughts were. Or let us know what your top campground is, I'd actually love to know that. A lot of the campgrounds that we've stayed at, like for example, Golding's, I had no video. So we love to be able to see other campgrounds from other RVers. We'd really appreciate it if you leave us a comment below and just let us know what are some of the must see places or some of the best campgrounds that you've ever stayed at because we'd love to add them to our list and just let others in the community know as well. And we'd love it if you would give us a thumbs up if we provided any value. That definitely helps YouTube give this out to more people. Also hit the subscribe button and tap that little bell. That way YouTube will send you a notification on your phone or email when we upload a new video. If you know other people that are wanting to make travel plans this year, make sure that you share this with them. You can just give them a good idea of some places to see that are still within the United States this year since international travel is still always out there. And if you'd like to support us and keep these videos coming, you can do so on gratefulglamper.com forward slash Patreon. Also we set up a Discord channel guys. So if you go to gratefulglamper.com forward slash Discord, you can chat with other RVers for free. Thanks so much for watching and until next time, we'll see you on the road.