Brown County State Park, IN

[jeezy]

We just spent four nights in Brown County State Park in site 280 in Taylor Ridge.  Fairly level site. Very good sized, full shade. The pad was paved and the rest of the site gravel, which was good considering the amount of rain they'd had and we would endure (more in a minute after the site review.) We were almost straight up from the showerhouse which was down the cross road a bit, with just enough of a curve to block the light outside of the building and preserve our natural darkness. It was listed as high traffic, but that did not seem to be much of a problem, even on a busy weekend.

I can't believe some of the sites driving into Taylor Ridge. They are literally built onto raised gravel pads with room to park the trailer, a vehicle and a table, with not much more before the drop-off. Once we got back into it, though, I was definatlely glad we went with Taylor Ridge as it is completely wooded with big sites. With the gravel on the ground, I can't imagine tent camping, but a lot of folks were.

Most of the big rigs seemed to be situated up front in the grassier Buffalo Ridge, which looked kind of crowded and more like what you'd see in a private CG than a state park with sparse trees dotting the middle sites.  I didn't look too much at the middle area-Racoon Ridge.  

Overall, I loved this CG and the park in general. It is flat out beautiful and incredibly well maintained considering the size and popularity. We spent four nights and never ran out of things to do. The pool is large and very nice. Playgrounds here and there. Gorgeous vistas reminiscent of the Smokies, granted on a smaller scale. Had dinner in the lodge one night and would consider staying there sometime, maybe in the winter, so the kids can get use of the indoor waterpark. Speaking of kids, they had fun riding a bike and scooter in the CG, they loved the lookout tower (not the fire tower) and they rode their first ponies-which at $2 per ride is a pretty good deal.

Nashville was nice, but it would be nicer sans kids. There's not much there to interest them. The park was really the highlight of the trip.

Downsides? It was hot and humid all weekend, but the pool, lots of shade, some good homemade ice cream in town and the A/C in the camper helped make up for that. There was a nasty string of storms through Friday night, and it poured as we broke camp Monday. Then there were the fevers run by the boys and myself. In spite of all that, we hated coming home. It was a great trip. I would definately recommend Brown County and we can't wait to go back.

[sacrawf]

Thanks for the review.  I spent the day in Nashville June 13th shopping and getting information on log homes. We finished up the day driving through the campgrounds to pick out future camping sites and dining at the Abe Martin Lodge.  

I agree that Nashville would have had little to interest youngsters, but the antique stores, flea markets, Bass Pro store/Furniture stores were great to shop in.  The downtown stores were fun too, but some had too many Chinese import products.  Its a good thing that we took our Hyundai Tiburon instead of our Sport Trac because we ran out of space so we couldn't buy anything else.  

For campsites, I agree that Buffalo Ridge sites seemed to lack privacy .  The Taylor Ridge sites, especially those off Dogwood Road and 215 through 239 seem to offer a far more private sites and gets you away from listening to everyone else's kids.

We did drive through the Raccoon Ridge and saw some nice sites in this non-electric loop, particularly towards the end of the loop.

With shopping, winerys, hiking, bicycling, swimming, the great views, the Lodge, and the nearby Morgan-Monroe State forest, Attebury Firearms Range, Lake Lemon, and Lake Monroe, this will certainly be one of our destinations for a camping trip soon.

[jeezy]

I was surprised when I saw the Bass Pro store.  I'm used to Bass Pros being gigantic stores, so it was unusal to see the little shop.  We didn't stop in as it was getting late in the day and the little guys were getting tired.  So tired, the younger one fell asleep during the promised "train" ride.  I forgot that part in my review, but the train (really a dressed up truck pulling a trailer) tour is a nice break from all of the walking and the drivers give you a nice bit of Nashville and Brown County history while doing their best sales pitches for their partner businesses.

[cyclone]

I'm glad to read this - we spent a few days late last fall in a cabin at Brown County.  It's a great park and we decided we would like to return there to camp some day.  The only campground that was open at the time must have been Buffalo Ridge.  We were not impressed with this one at all.  I like trees which are actually large enough to provide shade.  We could not drive through the other cg's, so wondered what they were like.  I'm happy to hear that there is good camping available and have already noted the sites mentioned.  Thanks!

We really enjoyed the cabin (we rented the deluxe, I think) and had access to the indoor water park, etc.  It was a girls' trip for us; and the reviews of the cabin are mixed.  I thought for a state park cabin, it was great.  My friend, who is used to hotels only, wasn't quite so pleased.  

No kids, so we enjoyed browsing around in the shops in Nashville.  We took the socks factory tour which turned out to be more interesting than I thought it would be.  Some interesting places to eat there; just avoid the Mexican restaurant which isn't far from the park entrance.  Ugh.

[jeezy]

Hah.  We kept planning on hitting the Mexican place but ran out of meals and made a mental note to hit it next time.  Bad idea I guess?  :sombraro:

[cyclone]

Taco Bell is better.  Of course, there's a chance we hit them on an off night.

[jeezy]

My little guys like cheese quesodillas.  I can't imagine those would be easy to screw up.