Brown County State Park - May 16-19

After three beautiful days in Kentucky, we packed up and headed for Brown County State Park in Nashville, Indiana. It was only a two and a half hour drive, but most of it was along a two-lane road which was very scenic  that followed the mighty Ohio River.

Brown County State Park

Brown County State Park is huge! It sits on 15,776 acres and 1.3 million people visit each year. It is the largest state park in Indiana. The campground had 422 sites. We were on site 164 which was the first site within the third campground. It is so hard to pick out campsites online. We mainly want the sites to be level and somewhat shady (I hate to be hot!) We were right at the entrance, so everyone was coming and going. There were a lot more people around this campground than in Kentucky. The sites were nice and roomy, but I felt pretty wide open.

Nashville, Indiana

On Friday, we spent the day in the town of Nashville. It was the cutest town I'd ever visited. The town itself has a population of 803 people but hosts over 300 shops throughout the downtown area. We leisurely
walked the entire downtown area. It rained on and off, so it was perfect to take shelter in one of the many shops along the way. We stumbled across the Big Woods Brewing Company for lunch. It was located down a back alley way but we were bound and determined to find it. I had the Busted Knuckle Ale. This was their signature ale. It is a hybrid ale, most similar to a "smooth" porter. It had the color of a porter but was very easy to drink. Jim tried one of their IPAs. I'm not a fan of any IPSs so I didn't even want to try it. The waitress recommended their pulled pork nachos. They were outstanding. I even ate a few hot peppers with them as it really added to the flavor. (I'm not a fan of hot and spicy food, but I'm trying to be a little more adventurous).

Saturday, we just ventured out and took a drive over to Bloomington, Indiana to check out the Indiana University campus. It was beautiful and so very historic. We ventured back to the park and took the 20 miles nature drive.  There was so much to see and this was our last day to see it all. Below are some of my favorite photos. We hope to visit this park again in the fall. Everyone we talked to said we have to come back to take in the fall colors. I bet it's outstanding.

Brown County State Park

Brown County State Park

Brown County State Park

Brown County State Park

General Butler State Park - May 13-16

From Maumee Bay State Park we came home for a day to celebrate Mother's Day with our moms. It also gave us a chance to unpack and repack for a week long trip. On Monday, May 13 we headed out for General Butler State Park in Carrollton, Kentucky.

This trip was a do-over from one that we attempted back in June of 2010. That should probably be a separate blog entry in itself, but I'll try to give you the Reader's Digest version. Back in 2010, we set out for General Butler with our old 28 foot Dutchman travel trailer. We got a late start because when we woke up our water heater had leaked all over our kitchen floor and we had to deal with that before we left town for a week. It was about 2 pm before we headed out, but thankfully it was only a 4.5 hour drive. We were cruising along just fine through some very serious construction in Dayton, Ohio and Jim noticed that the semi-truck driver behind us was yelling at us and throwing his arms in the air. Jim figured that he was just mad because he was taking it slow through the construction zone. Well, the semi-truck driver finally made it up beside us and rolled his window done to try and tell us something. We couldn't hear a word he was saying, but just figured he was upset. As I looked away, I noticed in my side mirror that there was smoke coming out of the trailer. I did a double take before I said something to Jim. Yup, there was smoke coming out of the trailer. I very calmly said to Jim that it appeared that there was smoke coming out of the trailer and maybe that was what the semi-truck driver was trying to tell us. Jim pulled off at the next exit, exit 50 to be exact, to see what was happening. I was scared to death! Here we are sitting on an exit ramp in Dayton, Ohio at 5 pm on a Saturday with a potential camper that was on fire, and Jim tells me to stay in the truck! Thankfully, the camper wasn't actually on fire. The axels broke and were dragging along the road causing the smoke, but no fire. We were up a creek without a paddle. Needlesstosay, we met a lot of great people that night that really reaffirmed not only my faith in mankind, but Jim's too. We ended getting back home about 1:30 am just in time for a tornado to pass over our house and touchdown in Dundee just a few minutes later. What a day!

General Butler State Park - Campsite #25

So, since we never made it to General Butler it was on the list for this year. We had a very nice drive down, but I know we both held our breath a little when we came up on exit 50 in Dayton. The park was beautiful, but I have to say that there wasn't much to do in and around the area. We spent most of the time at the park itself just relaxing around the campfire and riding our bikes. I also read 2 books. Oh and how could I forget, we had to check out the local Wal-mart one afternoon for a few things we had forgotten. It's just not right if we don't visit a Wal-Mart where ever we go. 

Campsite 25 was beautiful. It was at the end of the road with a small creek running behind us. There were only 2 other campers in the whole park, so we basically felt like we had the place to ourselves.

On Tuesday when we ventured around the park some we stumbled across The Lookout. The view was amazing!

The Lookout at General Butler State Park

The view of the Ohio River from the Lookout

Jim never likes his picture taken. It always seems that when I'm about to take one he make a funny face. I think this is one of the best photos of him yet!

Jim

On Thursday morning, we packed up and said goodbye to Kentucky and hello to Indiana.
To be continued....

Maumee Bay State Park - May 10-12, 2013

The Boardwalk at Maumee Bay State Park

Our adventures continue for Mother's Day weekend with a short stay at Maumee Bay State Park. Neither of us had ever camped there, but had visited the park on several occasions. We had a beautiful campsite (site 94) on a cal-de-sac and were joining three other couples for the weekend. We left late after work and it rained the whole drive down to Maumee. As soon as we checked into the campsite, it started to rain there too. We brought the rain with us and it really was the theme for the whole weekend. It was cold, rainy and dreary, but we still managed to have a good time. I apparently wasn't in a picture taking mood as thought I didn't have anything to share, but today as I was going through my cell phone pics, I ran across a pic from the boardwalk that Jim and I discovered. Late in the afternoon on Saturday, we decide to take a drive around the park to see what was new and had stumbled across this nature walk. It was really nice. There were a lot of people bird watching as this weekend was the biggest bird migration weekend for the spring time. We had to be quiet which, as most of you know, is a little hard for me :)

Let the 2013 Camping Season Begin

The Pod

My husband, Jim and I just love to camp. We started out tent camping when we were first dating back in 2001. Last year, we finally were able to purchase a brand new 2011 RPod. It is just perfect for the two of us. We didn't get a chance to use it much last year as my husband was finishing up his bachelor's degree. We intend to make up for that this year.

The 2013 camping season officially begun April 26 which ironically was our 11th wedding anniversary. I couldn't have planned a more perfect weekend than a spur-of-the-moment camping trip! If you look closely, you can see Jim in the corner of the photo getting out our camp chairs to enjoy our morning coffee.

On the recommendation of my boss (thanks Doug!), we headed for Harrison Lake State Park in Fayette, Ohio. It was a perfect 45 minute drive. The park was beautiful and was pretty much deserted. We stayed on site 113 which backed up to the spillway. The sound of the water rushing over the spillway was an excellent combination for a perfect night's sleep. The weather was outstanding and it felt so great to be outside after what seemed like a really long winter! We would definitely go back to the park.

We have several trips planned for this summer and my hope is to share our travels, experiences and photos along the way. It seems appropriate to end with one of my favorite quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson....

Life is a journey, not a destination

Harrison Lake State Park in Fayette, Ohio

 The Spillway at Harrison Lake State Park