While the quality of our destinations have varied from spectacular to just OK, we ve never had a destination that left us asking " why did we come here?"
There are some we probably won t go back to, but that is because they are " used up" the first time you visit. For example, hunting for diamonds at Crater of Diamonds SP in Murfreesboro, AR was interesting, but muddy enough and tiring enough that I wouldn t want to do it again. It was very different from any other destination we ve ever been to, and the campground was excellent. But I m sure we won t be back. Then again, had we found a diamond, I might be telling a different tale.
Anybody ever visit someplace that you wish you hadn t?
My suspicion is that places that aren t worth the time, effort, or expense soon don t exist at all.
Austin
AustinBostonI can t say that there s anyplace we ve camped that I wish we hadn t. There are things that I would have liked to change such as the site we were on, the distance to the bathrooms or the weather. Can t think of any place that was totally awful though.
Part of what I love about camping is the adventure of discovering new places. I do a lot of research on a place and listen to others recommendations but sometimes you never know what you ll find until you get there. To me that s half the fun!
AustinBostonI wouldn t say that Land Between the Lake NRA in Kentucky was terrible but it was a long ride from TX and we only stayed 3 days instead of a week because there was basically nothing to do there.
AustinBostonEven though Cedar Hill SP in Texas is only a 30 minute drive for us, we won t go back there.
AustinBoston[font=" Papyrus" ]It s not really where we camped, but what we did as a day trip. We stopped in Bayfield WI on our way around Lake Superior because I wanted to see the Apostle Islands via a boat tour. Well, I spent most of that evening apologizing to DH because it has got to be the most boring thing we have ever done. Next time we go around the lake (yes We want to go again!) that will not be on our list of places to stop. [/font]
AustinBostonWe have never been to a park where we were unhappy. We might have wanted a different site, but not really unhappy. I don t know if we have been lucky or just haven t gone to enough campsites?[:D]
AustinBostonHolly and I went to Bledsoe Creek SP here in TN on Memorial Day weekend. Nothing to do, even for us folks that like to watch people. Oh, it was full of people to watch, but we think the holiday weekend brought out campers of all kinds. We had firewood and flashlights stolen. We also couldn t find any more fire wood anywhere around. We went to town to window shop for fun. There weren t even any other neat rigs to look at. I rode my bike for fun, but it was such a small place I think the people got tired of seeing me ride by. We really disliked the place.
Excuse me while I go throw up.
Larry
AustinBostonA few years back we were at the Grand Canyon, and decided to drive out old 66 a few hours west to visit " Grand Canyon Caverns" . (We like caves!).
What a waste of time. This place was an old tourist trap back in the hey-day of Route 66, and was Dinosaur Cavern back then. It was pretty much a big hole in the ground, with very little in the way of stalagtites or mites. They had glued some flourescent stones to the wall. The guide told us that a few small drip-created stalagmites near the entrance were fossilized jelly fish . There were only two of us, but she insisted on talking to us as if we were a crowd, and kept addressing us as folks . " Isn t that the funniest thing you ever seen, folks?" (We kept looking behind us to see who else she was talking to.)
Save your time and money, don t ever visit.
The only upside of the side trip was that I found a particular set of earrings in their gift shop that were the perfect match to a lost pair my wife had.
AustinBostonA few years ago while on a trip back home (Iowa) I made plans to meet a college friend in Winterset (the Bridges of Madison County). We had lunch in a little " diner" that I think was in the movie, browsed through a few little shops, and drove all over creation to see the Bridges. Ok, that part was all fun. Mostly just good to visit with a friend I hadn t seen in 10 years. Then, we came across " Francesca s house" and decided to take the tour. DON T do that, if given the opportunity. As best as I recall, there were 5 of us in our group and the guide didn t appreciate our laughter throughout. The funniest part came when we ended the tour in a room that is now a gift shop. We burst into uncontrollable laughter when we noticed mouse droppings on a stack of t-shirts. Needless to say, we left without making any further purchases.
AustinBostonThe Seattle/Tacoma KOA - Never ever ever again!! Everytime we think of our trip out west - we relish the memories of Glacier, Coeur d Alene, Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, but our stay in Seattle... actually Kent... it does cast a shadow on the memories. We ll always remember trying to sit down and eat our evening meal when this fellow with a tow behind hardside trailer almost took out the end of our picnic table as he tried to drive into his site! [:@]The look on our daughter s face!!! [:o] We ended up putting the table so close to the front door - one practically had to walk on it to get out of the camper![:@]
Next time - state parks all the way!
CJ&Rae
bikolee
QuoteORIGINAL: bikolee
Even though Cedar Hill SP in Texas is only a 30 minute drive for us, we won t go back there.
We were thinking of going over to Cedar Hill. What were some of the problems.
AustinBoston
QuoteThere were only two of us, but she insisted on talking to us as if we were a crowd, and kept addressing us as folks . " Isn t that the funniest thing you ever seen, folks?" (We kept looking behind us to see who else she was talking to.)
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!
AustinBostonCarpinteria State Beach. Sure, it s right on the beach, but the " sites" are really just parking spaces in long asphalt parking lots and the people were a bit on the questionable side when we were there. The park rangers actually arrested a guy during the 4 days we were there!
I d much rather go to San Onofre/San Mateo CG in San Clemente. It s near the beach (just a short little drive) and the CG itself feels more like camping should. You can see pictures of it on my webshots page, link s in my sig line.
AustinBostonIt wasn t a camping area. It didn t even cost money to visit. But it was a waste of time.
The Odessa Meteor off the Interstate by Odessa, Texas.
Shower of meteorites plunged to earth some 20,000
years ago, shattering limestone bedrock and leaving an explosion ...
Certainly must have been spectacular when it happened. Might have even been an intriguing visit 5,000 years ago. However, 20,000 years of blowing Texas winds have pretty well filled in the hole, so now it looks like....well the rest of the surrounding area.
gsm x2
AustinBoston
QuoteThere were only two of us, but she insisted on talking to us as if we were a crowd, and kept addressing us as folks . " Isn t that the funniest thing you ever seen, folks?" (We kept looking behind us to see who else she was talking to.)
Reminded me of a boat tour of Newport Harbor we went on one rainy Tuesday. Dad, step-mom, my first wife and I were the only ones on the boat. So we just stood next to the captain/narrator and had really nice conversation. Then one of us would ask, " What s that house over there." The captain/narrater s voice would change as he would start, " The white home on the top of the hill to the left is...." Then we would resume our conversation until the next poing of interest.
gsm x2
AustinBostonI remimber going to the diamond mine when i was a kid with my family. We had a great time. Granted we didn t find any diamonds but we found a whole jar full of differnt kids of crysates .I think the kids are old enough now the might enjoy it. But they may not there is no nintindo game to go along with it.
AustinBostonA couple of years ago I made the mistake of staying at a private campground in Eagles Lake, New Mexico. The place had absolutley no trees and the surrounding area wasn t much better. To compound matters, there apparently is some sort of youth detention facility close by and all I can remember were the signs posted along the highway warning drivers not to pick up hitchhikers. We were so disappointed in the place that we decided to cut four days off of our vaction and come home.
Tsip
AustinBoston4th of July 2002. I packed up 3 kids for a 4 hour drive to the Leelanau State Park in Northern Michigan. My significant other was coming up the next day with junior #4. It was 97-degrees out when we reached the park, and not 2 seconds after I parked at the site the 3 year old lost his cookies all over the back seat. We had great expectations of a wonderful beach, swimming, etc. Once we stepped out of the car we were attacked by 8-million black flies, and quickly realized that there was no way to swim.... there was 100 yards of rocks, weeds and deep-thick mud between us and the lake. Wondering what we were going to do, one of the park rangers drove up and chewed me out for driving too fast..... making a bad situation even worse. After 20 minutes of being eaten alive by the flies and accepting the fact that a beach was no where in site, we hopped back in the car and drove up to my folks in Petoskey.... never having set up camp. Being the 4th of July holiday week I didn t think we would find another campsite (with a beach nearby), I called the State Park reservations number the next morning and explained our dilema. There was one site available at the Muskegon State Park (Lake Michigan North), and we jumped on it. 4 hours later we made it to the new campground...... 20 minutes away from our home in Grand Haven where the trip began the day before. Leelanau is a beautiful place, but when you are beach dwellers like we are, it is not a place to be!
I have always learned things the hard way!
AustinBostonWe once reserved a site at a cg at Rocky Mountain House Alberta we found in camping magazine. Located in the foothills of the Rockies, the ad descibed it as having a river flowing beside it, great scenery etc. When we arrived it was located beside the intersection of 2 highways...the river ran on the other side of the highway and the cg itself was about a 15 acre site they removed every tree from and gave you an 8 foot wide " stall" (just can t call it a camp site) to park your PU in. We pulled in drove around (in shock), stopped by the office and told them to keep our deposit (one nights camping fees ) and left. We only went about 8 miles down the road and found a beautiful spot with a lake and the huge pine trees we thought we were getting at the first place!