Review Detail

It is rare that I feel inspired to write a glowing review of a FamCamp, but this one should rightly win an award for Best 2015 FamCamp overall! It's not just that Elisha and Charlie are the friendliest, most accountable and hard working site hosts; it's not just that the scenery (see pics) and site spaces are expansive and beautiful; it's not just that northern Colorado offers lots to do; or that Buckley AFB is new and quickly expanding into a great facility...more than all of this folks have been just plain friendly and fun. I'm in my third year of full-time RV travel, with Buckley FamCamp 14th in my long list of military base stops in 36 months. Buckley AFB and the folks who run it have made my experience here feel like I'm in a *community*. Not only will I come back here, but I wish I could have stayed longer. Other plans and a very full camp are sending me south again (back through Tucson to the Coronado beach for winter) but I would simply stay here if I could. As most of you know, meeting other veterans and their families is a great place to begin any social setting. Here at BAFB, we've all BBQ'd, laughed, gotten to know each other, and just felt true rest in a world seemingly gone mad. The only other place I've had this much fun was at Hill AFB FamCamp, where folks are also crazy fun. The Buckley Outdoor Rec office folks (Shane, Dakota, Jeff) also made it clear that they're doing all they can to offer the best experience for RV visitors. There are plans to expand BAFB Famcamp to add more spaces, but they are also planning to give the sites some shade and to add some better overflow options. Given how new this place is, and how great it already is, I can only guess that Jeff and his staff will soon be even more busy offering this experience to more retirees and their families. Having said all of this, it's also true that there are wickedly scary rattlesnakes (no kidding, I saw one--they ARE here!); an epidemic of rabbits, ground squirrels and prairie dogs, and okay an occasional few hours in the laundry room for a tornado warning....BUT! Once the weather calmed down and we got used to watching where we stepped, it was all worth it! I purchased my first pair of binoculars this year just so that I could watch the beautiful hawks holding reign over the lake behind the park. In the morning, even now as I write, the song birds are a noticeably beautiful backdrop to the shimmering of leaves that are just now becoming yellow-tipped revealing fall is on its way. My favorite bird of all is here, too: the Magpie. Gorgeous, smart and fun to watch. Here's what I would hope to see added at Buckley soon: shade over picnic tables, a 21 day rotation during peak season, an indoor pool on base, more of the excellent (and free) washer/dryers), and a quick repurposing of the empty building where the boat house for the lake once was for the site hosts to use. There's plenty(!) of land here to make this place rival even USAFA's FamCamp, and this year's unprecedentedly full sites reveal the very high interest among military service members. As I always say when I write MCG.com reviews, if you (by whom I mean FSS and Base Commanders!!!) do the math, you'll quickly realize that there's NO OTHER activity on any military base creating this kind of revenue. You would be, if you'll forgive me for saying so, stupid not to leverage the advantages for everyone concerned. At $18k/month for just 30 sites, why not 3 times that and all you need to build that pool? Get ready, Buckley is THE destination for next spring and summer. See you all here....