Glacier National Park is one of the most iconic travel destinations in the United States. And St. Mary/East Glacier KOA may be the best base camp for exploring the east side of the national park.

Before we dive further into the campground review, it’s important for folks to understand that Glacier National Park is huge. Epically huge. Plus, there is only one road that cuts across from east to west: the famous Going-to-the-Sun Road. So most people start their trip planning by picking a ‘side’ and developing an itinerary around that location.

Shellie Bailey-Shah, our guest correspondent from KidTripster.com, highly recommends staying at the St. Mary/East Glacier KOA If you choose to stay on the east side. At the beginning of this podcast episode, she walks us through why her family made that decision. So make you take a listen if you are struggling to commit to either the east or west side of Glacier National Park.

The St. Mary/East Glacier KOA is a large campground with RV sites, tent sites, and cabin sites. There are many different areas of the campground and each might appeal to different campers. Make sure you listen to Shellie’s take on where you might want to stay if you have kids and want to be in the middle of the action. Sites by the pool and camp store may be appealing for some. However, she also gives recommendations farthest from the camp store that will offer privacy and peace!

Glacier National Park is a top American summer destination, and the tourism season is incredibly short on account of the weather. These two factors combined mean that you must make your reservations as far in advance as possible. Especially if you want your pick of campsites. Note that this campground is only open from May 15th through September 30th.

The St. Mary/East Glacier KOA is the perfect campground if you love resort-like accommodations after long days exploring in a national park.

This campground offers a pool, hot tub, and splash pad. Plus, there are bocce ball courts, horseshoes, and kayak and SUP rental. Shellie offered a really great tip to our listeners on this episode. Turns out that the wind really kicks up every afternoon around 3 pm. This means that if you want to enjoy the lake and the water rentals, you should probably do it in the morning.

One of the best features of this campground (in our humble opinion) is the on-site food options. We love the idea that you can come back from hiking a glacier and order a pizza for dinner. There’s also an espresso bar and boxed lunch options for your daily excursions. If you are exploring with younger kids, you know amenities like this can make all the difference in the world!

And one of the best features of this campground in Shellie’s opinion is the on-site pet sitting/boarding option. For $20 someone at the campground will visit your RV and take Fido on two short walks throughout the day. Since dogs are not allowed on the trails in Glacier National Park, this is an amazing option for all of us that travel with our furry family members.

This is one of Shellie’s favorite national parks that she has ever visited. And she’s visited a lot of them. In the second segment of the podcast, Shellie really encourages everyone to plan their trips to this bucket list destination immediately. The sad fact is that the glaciers are disappearing rapidly, and now is the time to see them.

Shellie’s family decided to hike Grinnell Glacier. There’s some tricks to making this a family-friendly hike that involve a boat ride, so make sure to listen to her insider tips for turning a 12-mile hike into a 7.5-mile hike. You can also visit Glacier Park Boat Company’s website for details about pricing and reservations.

There are also a ton of options for exploring the famous Going-to-the-Sun Road. Of course you can drive yourself (NOT in an RV!). However, we highly recommend thinking about some of the tour options that are available. The Red Bus tours are a popular option. Who wouldn’t want to see the gorgeous views from old fashioned station wagons with open tops???

If you are planning a trip to Glacier National Park, make sure you check out Shellie’s article on Kidtripster.com, which will offer you even more advice and insider details.

And if you are planning to stay on the west side of Glacier, check out Brett’s review of the Fish Creek Campground.

Now go see those glaciers!

See you at the campground,

Stephanie + Jeremy

The post Campground Review #125 St. Mary/East Glacier KOA near Glacier National Park, Montana appeared first on The RV Atlas.

The North Texas Jellystone is all the proof we needed that everything really is bigger in Texas. This campground is located about 30 minutes south of Fort Worth and about an hour southwest of Dallas. It was our second Jellystone Park stop on our recent trip to the Lonestar State.

You can find out more about all the ridiculous fun we had on our Texas Camping Season Kickoff trip here, and you can learn more about our stay at the Hill Country Jellystone here. 

The North Texas Jellystone is an enormous campground, and our jaws dropped as we pulled in and saw the huge waterslides right next door at Pirate’s Cove. One of the most important things to understand before visiting this campground is that it’s not a place where you go to relax in nature and get away from it all.

It’s a place you go to have fun. Non-stop family fun. Karaoke and s’mores with Yogi fun. Zombie Zone fun. You get the picture, right?

So, it’s a large campground, and it’s a busy campground. Prepare yourself for nonstop action, and you’ll have an amazing stay.

There are quite a few different areas of campsites, so it would be helpful to watch our Facebook Live golf cart tour to see what section would be best for your family. There is a group of campsites right near the Back Yard Patio that are on the small side. However, they have great shade and are near the activity pavilion, snack bar, and pools.

The red carpet sites are some of the best campsites we have ever seen, with huge concrete pads and tons of space for big rigs. The trade off is that there isn’t a lot of shade in that section, and you’ll have to travel a bit to get to the activities and recreational area.

Then there are some primitive tent sites right along the catch and release lake. A pop up could probably fit in them quite nicely. Families camping with groups of friends or ones that want easy access to many of the recreational activities might enjoy those spots.

Of course there are along a ton of cabin options at the North Texas Jellystone, and those are dispersed throughout the campground.

As far as pricing goes, you are going to see a wide variety depending on the time of year and type of site. This campground is open year-round and prices are dynamic, meaning they go up or down depending on demand. You can find a back in for as low as $50 in the shoulder seasons, and a red carpet site for more than $100. If you enter your dates on their reservations page, you can see all the accommodations options and pricing for your stay.

It’s very important to note that the North Texas Jellystone is situated along a busy highway. If you are at all sensitive to road noise or traveling in a pop up or hybrid, we highly recommend you check out the map and get a site far away from Route 35.

We have never been to any campground with this many amenities before, period. The North Texas Jellystone has two pools and a lake with catch and release fishing. There are ping pong tables, corn hole, gaga ball pits, volleyball courts, basketball courts, and horseshoes. We particularly loved the adventure area with a climbing wall, rope swings, and large nets.

Then there were the truly unique offerings. The North Texas Jellystone not only has laser tag, they also have paint ball games. Then there is a maze and a speedway track to boot.

The Zombie Zone is a particularly unique offering. Guests can ride anti-zombie vehicles through the zone and try to survive the zombie apocalypse.

Good luck with that.

Then to top it all off, there’s Pirate’s Cove. This is a full scale water park adjacent to the campground with water slides, pools, and splash areas.

So what activities are included in the cost of your stay? We know that some folks get annoyed when there are a ton of amenities that aren’t included with their camping fees. We particularly appreciate that North Texas Jellystone goes out of their way to be upfront about additional fees. Here is a helpful chart they provide for their guests:

So, your family can keep busy from dawn to after dark at the North Texas Jellystone. We loved the dance parties, karaoke, and s’mores with Yogi at the Back Street Patio. There are Hey Hey Rides, fire truck rides, and train rides. The art and craft zone is also particularly active and well staffed with friendly employees. Themes vary throughout the year, so make sure you call or check the website for more detailed information.

North Jellystone Park is a pretty unique experience. We’ve been to a lot of campgrounds, but have never visited one as big and busy as this. So here are our tips for getting the most out of your stay. We (of course) talk in more detail about all of these on the podcast!

Make sure to check out RVFTA episode #185 to hear about all the awesome area activities and attractions that we enjoyed during our visit.

See you at the campground!

Stephanie + Jeremy

The post Campground Review #124 North Texas Jellystone in Burleson, Texas appeared first on The RV Atlas.

For our very first visit to the Hill Country region of Texas, we stayed at Jellystone Park Hill Country and absolutely loved it.

Hill Country is actually a pretty big area, and we wanted to squeeze a lot into our brief 5-day visit. Jellystone Park Hill Country ended up being a perfect basecamp for two reasons:

Jellystone Park Hill Country is located one hour southwest of Austin, under an hour northeast of San Antonio, and under an hour southeast of Fredericksburg. Hill Country is a popular vacation destination in Texas, and this campground is probably the most family friendly of all the campground options. Another Jellystone Park in Kerrville is undergoing a major water park renovation, so you may want to check that one out in the near future as well!

Jellystone Parks are independently owned franchises. This means that while they have some unifying features (Yogi and friends, activities, etc.), you are going to find different amenities at every park. This particular campground happens to be owned by Northgate Resorts, and their Jellystone campgrounds tend to be amenity rich with water parks, splash pads, and packed activity schedules.

The campground is located in a beautiful countryside landscape, and we were impressed with how wooded it is. There are rolling hills throughout the Jellystone Park Hill Country. Plus, the camping loops are spread out to avoid a crowded atmosphere. On holiday weekends and throughout the summer, this place appears to sell out. We highly recommend making reservations in advance unless you are visiting during the week when school is in session.

In our opinion, getting the right site is the key to really enjoying your stay at Jellystone Park Hill Country. There is a wide range in site quality. We highly recommend watching our Facebook Live tour of the campground. This way you can decide exactly where you would like to make reservations.

There are a group of sites by the pool that are small and packed in together. Some folks probably like these sites because of their proximity to all the campground action. However, we preferred the sites to the back of the campground (121-150). Here the large pull thrus and back ins were peaceful and shaded.

This campground has a ton of amenities. But the star of the show is the pool, splash pad, and water park area. There is also an indoor pool and hot tub if the weather is chilly. Our boys particularly loved all of the recreational amenities. They played Gaga ball, volleyball, and basketball. There is equipment available to borrow, which we always appreciate. Other campground amenities include:

During the time of year we visited (spring), there was a jam-packed activities schedule on the weekends but not during the week. Once school gets out, activities are available all week. These include the Hey Hey rides, crafts at the activity center, movie nights, character meet and greets, and more.

We covered our whole Texas trip on Episode #185 of the RVFTA podcast. Take a listen to that show to hear all our recommendations for the region. You can also listen to our episode on Fredericksburg, Texas by our correspondent Kate Dunbar.

Nevertheless, two important things we want to note here are:

See you at the campground!

Stephanie + Jeremy

The post Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Hill Country, Texas appeared first on The RV Atlas.