In a little corner tucked away near Washington’s Seaview beach lies a trailer park. Don’t think “trailer park” in a Trailer Park Boys sense—where media paints the lives of the mobile community in an unfortunately somewhat destitute manner. Instead, think of this trailer park as a combination of an Urban Outfitters superstore and a Pinterest board for rustic #aesthetic. This trailer park is called the Sou’wester Lodge, and it’s honestly the getaway of your dreams.
While the aforementioned description may sound like the opposite of a desired vacation for someone trying to escape social media’s piranha effects, it’s actually an escape full of pleasantries. For starters, the park plot offers renovated vintage trailers, cabins, lodge suites and even spaces to rent out for RV campers. Cabins and lodge suites are one thing, but what makes this escape worth the over two-hour drive is the trailers.
Trailers come in five different size options, with single options for individuals all the way up to deluxe and family size trailers. Even though the trailers are somewhat confining in comparison to normal domicile digs, the Sou’wester staff has them adorned with all the necessities to make them feel like a cozy home away from home. Each comes with their own bathroom—that even has a shower, assuming you’re small enough to fit—a full kitchen with a stove and refrigerator, as well as a mini living room space with a couch and desk for eating or working. If you’re itching to escape your trailer walls, the rest of the grounds provide its own little town worth of options.
If you’re in need of a little more rest and relaxation, the Sou’wester has its own wellness center. On top of rotating daily offerings like guided yoga and meditation, the cluster of three trailers holds a miniature teahouse, a garden spa with a Finnish sauna, indoor and outdoor showers and a cold-plunge bathtub hidden in a private garden, as well as in-house massage therapists to be booked in advance. The latter, while the most pricey of the three (ranging from $80 for an hour to $120 for 90 minutes with hot stones) is well worth a swipe of the credit card. A renovated 1954 Boles Aero Vintage Travel trailer houses a heated massage bench, hot towels, essential oils and ambient music to aid in the therapeutic bodywork, just in case you find yourself a little achy after your first night’s stay—though the trailer beds are surprisingly very comfortable.
Holman, Ilwaco and Long Beach are the closest towns to the Sou’wester, but their food offerings are pretty dismal. To combat this, the lodge has its own mini grocery store, located in the lodge’s lobby. While they don’t supply a New Season’s opus of food offerings, there’s definitely enough to get you through your stay, including wine, pasta, vegan treats and other easy-to-trailer-cook items. Everything in the store runs on an honor system, meaning you can file a tab for yourself and charge it to your card once you leave or log what you grab and throw the suggested price for it in a money box. Their on-site consignment shop works this way as well. Thrifty’s is their take on the Goodwill bins—trailer sweep of random items to sift through and take at your liking, as long as you keep track and pay for it one way or another.
Even with all of this, there’s still more—one of the trailers is in an art gallery hosting a different artist every month. There’s also an outdoor kitchen, a rentable pavilion space for private events and workshops and weekend musical performances.
Rental rates vary depending on what option of lodging you choose, but if you’re looking for a bit of coolness Portland offers without actually having to be in Portland, visit souwesterlodge.com or call (360) 642-2542 for more details.
Cervanté Pope is a music and culture journalist whose work has been included in various publications around Portland including Willamette Week, the Portland Mercury and the Portland Observer, as well as a couple of creative nonfiction anthologies. When she's not tackling a giant mountain of deadlines she can be found headbanging at a metal show, advocating for animal rights or trying to scheme a way to get on Family Feud.
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