Where I've Stayed

I haven't given too many details on the campgrounds in which I've stayed because I don't think it's wise to give too much information on exactly where I am at the time of posting, so consider this a bit of a catch up edition. :-)

So, my first campground was the Ottawa Municipal Campground in Ottawa, Ontario.



I maintain that the OMC is Ottawa's best kept secret. The park feels like it's deep in nature, but it's just minutes from the Queensway and from shopping centres in Nepean and Kanata while being about ten minutes from downtown (as long as it's not rush hour!). Staff is friendly, rules are lax, there's wi-fi at the laundromat, and the electricity and water are good.

I found this campground using Google.

My second campground was Stillwater RV Park in Nipigon, Ontario.



For the night that I stayed, this place was fantastic. It had 30A pull-thrus, good water, a cheap laundromat, and wi-fi. Even though it's located right on the highway, the sites are removed enough from it to be quiet. But I'd hate to stay here in the high season as the sites are packed very closely together. Thankfully, the place was practically empty when I stayed.

I found this campground in an old Trailer Life directory the POs left me.

My third campground was Shady Oaks RV Resort & Campground in Sidney, Manitoba.



This was a really nice campground, if you like being in the middle of nowhere (60km to the nearest grocery store!). I had a beautiful spot overlooking the Manitoba prairie and shaded by oak trees that rained acorns the whole time I was there! Water quality wasn't very good here (too much iron), but I wasn't drinking it, so I didn't mind. The staff was very friendly. There was wi-fi, but it wasn't free, and this new service needed a lot of tweaking.

I found this campground by driving down the Transcanada highway and following the signs advertising a park offering full 30A hookups and wi-fi.

Then, I moved on to the Dyer Straits Campground and Cabins (great name!) in Whitecity, Saskatchewan.



I adored this campground. Even though it's right on the Transcanada and just twelve kilometres from all the shops and services, it feels like you're in a natural setting. It's quiet and the owners are friendly and laid back. The water here had the same problem as that at Shady Oaks, but, otherwise, the services were good. Wi-fi isn't available at all the sites, but the owners are okay with laptop owners coming up to their house after dinner and stretching out on their lawn chairs.

I knew that I wanted to stay in the Whitecity area and was looking at another campground found in my Saskatchewan Official Campgrounds Guide, but Dyer Straits was cheaper.

Next, I stayed at the Gordon Howe Campground in Saskatoon.



This campground is very well located. It feels private and rustic, but is close to downtown and several Saskatoon attractions. I found that there were a lot of rules and I was disappointed to learn that you can only dump during the week! That said, staff was friendly, laundry was cheap (and change for it was given with a smile), and the wi-fi was free (even though they had a service interruption most of the time I was there!). Water pressure at this park is very high, so you need a regulator. They warn you about this several times.

I had planned to stay at another campground right on highway 16 west of Saskatoon, but didn't have specific directions to get there. So, upon arriving in Saskatoon, I followed little brown signs showing a trailer until I got to what looked like a dead end as I wound up at a sports arena parking lot. Just before deciding to cut my losses and try again to find the other park, I saw rigs off in the distance behind trees and realised that the road forked out to the left to the campground entrance. I'm glad things worked out this way as this campground was a much better choice for my purposes than would have been one several kilometres out of town.

Which brings me to here, the Rainbow Campground in Edmonton.



Meh. This campground was obviously my best choice for Edmonton, but it's ludicrously expensive for 15A service with no water! And you have to pay 10.50$ per day for internet access! The gates close at 11PM sharp, so this isn't the place to stay if you want to experience Edmonton's nightlife. That said, it's fairly conveniently located and fairly quiet. I'm right at the entrance and in front of the men's washrooms, positioned here because I have a toad. They only allow one motorized vehicle per site, so I have to park my toad somewhere else. This is the only site where there is a 'somewhere else' close by: right across the way in front of the men's washrooms. :-) I do find that getting here is a bit of a pain. My GPS is of absolutely no use and being 'off Whitemud Drive' is of only limited use. Depending on where you enter and exit Whitemud Drive, it runs north/south or east/west! So, I always have a hard time figuring out which direction to go to get home.

I found this campground in the Official Alberta Campgrounds guide, and decided on it with a bit of research done in Lloydminster on a limited internet connection.