Castle Air Museum RV Park

There must be a different camp host in 2023 as we really enjoyed our stay. They got us reserved in a pinch, over the phone, and had a spot ready for us 6 hours later!

Positives
-super friendly and attentive host, thanks Don!
-big rig friendly, easy in and out
-level concrete spots with full hook up and 50 amp. There are 12 spots.
-not a lot of road noise and other RVers keep to themselves
-nice green lawn behind rigs for your pups!
-felt safe, lots of lighting
-free passes to air museum! Pretty cool to check out!
-close to a Costco, Walmart, target. Walking distance to a food truck lot with great dinner options.
-good cell reception and starlink works great.

Negatives
-$45/night for bare bones…but when you are in a pinch and need electric, it is what it is!
-still a family of cats. They didn’t bother us nor the dog but they are there.

In a pinch, we’d be back! Don the camp host is a superstar and made us feel very welcomed and cared for!

Great host. We showed up without a reservation and wanted to go to the air museum. There were no spots left but the host pulled some magic and squeezed us in. This is a former Air Force base the apartments mentioned in another post are old barracks. Didn't bother us a bit. Adjacent to the museum. You can see many planes from the rv site. You do need to drive around the block to access it. No biggie. Very pleasantly surprised. Definitely recommend the museum to any air plane buff and this park for an overnight stay. Big grass area for dogs and level pad sites. Some long term folks but all very nice and no garbage hanging around. Good WiFi and Cel reception. Trains all day and night but didn't bother us. But if your a light sleeper put a fan on.

We saw the road side billboards and thought an RV park at an air museum sounded awesome...boy were we disappointed. Upon arrival we discovered that the RV lot is actually about 1mi from the museum next to a medium sized community hospital/urgent care and directly next door to and in full-view of a very run down/trashed apartment complex.

We had tried to get in contact with the camp host to make reservations but after multiple messages left on different days we never heard back. We took a chance and pulled in on a Monday evening and the camp host greeted us by looking at us quizzically and asking if we "needed anything". Upon hearing we wanted to stay the night she said she couldn't offer us full hook-ups. We said that was disappointing and that we were hopping for full hook ups vs just water/electrical and needing to dump our grey water in the morning. Her husband emerged and said that there were 2 full hook-up sights available and it would be no problem to put us in one...?

We were parked next to an empty rig and one whose long-term inhabitants smoked both in and out of their trailer, prohibiting the use of our windows and vents. We were informed that our dog could be off-leash if she minded our voice commands and I thought it sounded great for tossing the ball in the large grassy lawn.

Unfortunately the place is over-run by feral cats that the host and other long-term campers feed. At one point we had 4 different feral cats under and outside our rig...it did not smell pleasant in the morning. There is also cat poop everywhere!

The air museum itself is 99% outside and is a nice dog-friendly walk but the plaques leave much to be desired and the single free admission meant that we still had to pay $20 for the other adult, which seemed steep given the quality of the attraction. The morning was also a warm one and we noticed a very distinct "poop" smell in the air, we were informed it's from the cattle farms near by.

My biggest gripe is that the lot is ONLY 50amp. If you don't have your own 30amp to 50amp converter plug the will allow you to borrow one for a $20 cash deposit. We did this and upon noon check-out the host was nowhere to be found, despite telling us they'd see us at noon the evening prior. We tried their phone a couple times to no avail and finally were able to convince the gift shop to give us our $20 in exchange for the ($12 on amazon) converter back. The manager seemed put off and made comments about having trouble with the camp host being gone often and unresponsive to guests. Her comment jived completely with our experience.

In all there are way nicer places to stay for $35 and if you want an amazing air museum experience the former blimp hanger air museum in Tillamook, OR is more than worth the drive!

Pros: Easy ingress and egress; Reasonably quiet once the trains stop around 9:30 pm until 6:30 am; Great WiFi; Good power and water pressure; Very nice park hosts; Seemed safe; Picnic table at each site; The park is near the Castle Air Museum, and your receipt includes one free admission worth an adult entrance of $20.00; Dump station.

Cons: Old asphalt parking lot with very few sites, and the sights are back-up and not very long; Painted numbers on the ground do not match the hook-up posts, but we were told that it was going to be redone; Only 1/3 of the sites have a sewer hook-up and those appeared to be taken by long-term renters; No showers, restroom or laundry; landscape needed cleanup of grass and tree debris. Way too much money for what you get, but not too many choices in this area.

I've wanted to visit the air museum for quite some time. Using the RV park associated with it seemed a no brainer. We arrived just before the 4pm Gift Shop closing time after a long day's drive to what was initially a very disappointing park. We do our best to stay at the very finest facilities. This was simply an asphalt parking lot with our back wheels on 'grass' - a far cry from our normal haunts. After spraying what might have been ants hills (though I didn't see any ants) I reminded myself that what I foremost want in an RV park is a safe & quiet place to park. And, with exception of a fair number of trains in the audible distance, it is certainly that. With time, I began to appreciate what the park does offer. Six totally level full hook-ups sites. No obstructions for satellite TV. Good shopping relatively close by. And a great aviation museum. This Plane Jane served to remind me that beauty is only skin deep. Ironically, we never made it to the air museum. But we will next time!
Contact numbers have changed! Contact the air museum gift shop for reservations at the park. And be advised that GPS routing will likely have you use an off-ramp that is likely to be closed for the foreseeable future.