For Gabe Haynes, her partner and their three kids, a trip to the Sou’wester Historic Lodge & Vintage Travel Trailer Resort in Seaview, Washington, was the perfect getaway. They could stay in a one-of-a-kind vintage trailer a few blocks from the beach, and the kids could take advantage of a three-day afternoon upcycling fashion workshop taught by a visiting artist-designer, one of the new creative outlets for kids offered by the Sou’wester.
The family had stayed at the resort before, explains Haynes, who is a 37-year-old emergency room nurse in Portland, Oregon, and is also working on a master’s degree.
Photo courtesy Sou’wester Historic Lodge & Vintage Travel Trailer Resort
Low-key? This is it!
“We’re scrappy, low-key outdoors people,” Haynes says. “Not so much hotel-right-next-to-the-beach-kind-of-people. We really love the Sou’wester.”
She recites the names of the various vintage trailers they’ve stayed in on one visit or another, with every trailer and its decor unique. This time their kids slept in the “Rocket,” a renovated late 60s Silver Streak Continental Rocket Supreme with three beds, and right next door, the couple shared the Kenskill, another late 60s trailer model. It had a white exterior, interior wood paneling and an eating nook roomy enough for all of them.
They could make their meals in the fully stocked outdoor kitchen and explore the other features of the resort: a Red Bus Theatre; an art gallery trailer with quarterly exhibitions; a teahouse trailer; a yoga and meditation trailer; and a trailer of secondhand clothing, handbags, shoes, and other accessories and knick-knacks to purchase. Besides the trailers, there’s also the Work Lounge, Meditation Garden, Garden Spa and Finnish Sauna, and Geodesic Dome.
Surprises to be found
“It’s magic,” she says of the Sou’wester. “Whimsical and low-key is what I like about it more than anything. It’s full of small, delightful surprises.”
On weekends, there is live music, and on Saturdays, a creative workshop for adults and families.
“The Sou’wester is a hub for artists,” explains Ally Bruser, a former elementary school teacher from Seattle who coordinates Sou’wester’s artist-led workshops for youth, adults and families. She’s talking about the artist residents, about the families who stay at the Sou’wester who enjoy art or make art themselves, and about all the different activities that make the resort an artist’s playground and a catalyst for creativity.
The geodesic dome at Sou’wester Historic Lodge & Vintage Travel Trailer Resort. Photo courtesy Sou’wester.
An affordable summer camp
The summer camp supports families in the area, says Bruser, and it’s open to visiting kids too. They offer two summer camps, however, currently they both are full, but you can still email (souwesterarts@gmail.com) and get on their waitlist.
The youth-focused arts workshops are often connected to larger themes like identity, nature and ecology. Behind the upcycling fashion workshop was the idea that we can reduce our consumption by reclaiming used materials, explains artist-designer, Ophir El-Boher, who is originally from Israel and now based in Eugene, Oregon.
Sou’wester Arts is also offering free + low-cost arts integrated ceramics classes for pre-school – 3rd-grade students for the 24/25 school year.
Photo credit: Sou’wester Historic Lodge & Vintage Travel Trailer Resort
Creativity they can wear
While her partner’s 13-year-old daughter didn’t end up attending the workshop, Haynes’ 11-year-old son, Sequoia, made a tiny fez and turned a pair of pants into a wizard tunic, and her 7-year-old daughter, Juniper, made a shirt from an old summer reading program T-shirt and purple, crushed velvet fabric.
“She would wear it every day if I would let her,” Haynes said.
And so the takeaway from the artist workshop has lasted long after the Seaview getaway.
Planning a visit
Check into one of the more than 30 renovated vintage travel trailers, cabins or lodge rooms at the Sou’wester Historic Lodge & Vintage Travel Trailer Resort located in Seaview, Washington. For more information, visit the Sou’wester website, email Souwesterlodge@gmail.com, or call (360) 642-2542.
Upcoming workshops
Get arty. Get arty. Clay Play is a casual, beginner-friendly session where you can learn hand-building skills to create a finished piece! Ages 10+ w/an adult or ages 14+. $35/person. Register for any four Clay Plays for $100.
Summer Clay Play workshop dates for summer 2024 are July 13, 14, 20, 21, and 27. July 28 is a drop-in clay play and no rsvp is necessary. August Clay Play dates are August 4, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25, and 31. Learn more here.
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