Campground Review: Cedar Brook Campground

I try to review the campgrounds that we stay at for two reasons: one is so others know what to expect when they are heading to a specific campground. The other is so I remember! Most of my reviews are posted on other camping specific websites, but I thought I'd double post this one.

First of all, the campground has been very quiet. We arrived on Wednesday the 13th and have been here through the weekend. Granted the main camping season is over, but the weekend was pretty quiet. There were more campers on the other side of the park, but it was never noisy or rowdy. I've been told that the campground gets much more busy on themed weekends when there are events.

Campsites are generally level - ours slopes down a bit in the back, but is nothing the tongue jack won't fix. Sites are a decent amount of space apart. Even if I had neighbors on either side I wouldn't feel like I was up in their business. Electric, water, and sewer hookups all work well. Most sites appear to have a concrete pad which is very nice

One of the main things I noticed was that the area we are in looks like a park. Some nice mature trees and well maintained. Facilities - they work! I say this not with sarcasm, but because I've camped at so many this summer where it takes some doing to get a decent shower. Showers are normal - that is they have normal knobs that work, no push buttons, and consistent, hot water. The main shower house/restroom is fine. The one back by the maintenance barn is a bit cramped, but functional.

The staff have been very hospitable, friendly, and knowledgeable about the area. On our first night in they made some good suggestions about where to go to eat. They deliver firewood which is always nice. There's even a little concession stand such I haven't been to, but it's nice to know I won't starve if I can't light my fire. Overall, a very nice park that stands apart from others in the great location, great sites, and overall feel of the park. It feels like a campground instead of an RV park. I would definitely recommend it to others and look forward to returning.

Summer of Camping

Yet another long stretch of no posts.... It's been a busy summer, and I can't believe it's almost September already. So what have I been up to? Work mostly, but that's a boring blog post. Every other weekend we've been camping which is one of my favorite parts of summer. We've been all over the place, and I'm getting ready for next weekend that I'm off and we can get away.

We're thinking Sandusky, OH and a weekend at Cedar Point. There's a nice campground up there called Crystal Rock that we both like. We were there early in the year, and have been looking forward to going back. Last weekend was close to home at a local KOA. Nice park, but a little pricey. We tried out a new KOA in Mansfield over the extra-hot weekend from hell. I think it was 100 degrees that weekend, but we still had a good time. I don't think I've ever heard of a campground that has a wine tasting - that was pretty cool.

We also made our annual trip to Mosquito Lake State Park which is always nice. I was pretty tired that weekend, but we had a good time. I also have some vacation coming up in September that we are trying to plan a longer trip... Not sure where to go just yet. Cincinnati, Harrisburg, PA, Finger Lakes and even Columbus are all still on the list. Don't want to spend the whole trip driving, but it would be cool to do somewhere new. Any suggestions?

Cleveland RV Show 2012

On Saturday we went to the 2012 Cleveland RV show. It was fairly busy as each RV we went into already seemed to have folks hanging out inside. There were quite a few dealers, RVs, and some campgrounds there as well. A lot of it was stuff we've already seen before, but there were a few things of interest.

Something we've noticed is that once you walk into about 20 RVs they all start to look the same. A few were different. One started on the outside. I thought it looked like a shuttlecraft from Star Trek. The inside was pretty nice too - it looked modern and clean. I think that one was called an Element. We also liked the Visa by Gulf Stream. It was light weight and the layout was interesting. The bathroom was actually separated a little so that the bathtub/shower was on one side of the trailer and the toilet/sink was on the other. That might not sound like much, but in a sea of shiolets anything different is good.

The other one we liked was the V-cross Vibe. It had the shape of a horse trailer but definitely didn't look like one. It used the V shape in the front for extra space while still being more aerodynamic. Of course there were the usual gargantuan RVs - the fifth wheels and coaches that were huge. Some of them are gigantic as well as very expensive. Many of them look a lot alike. Overall we had a good time and saw a few campgrounds that we might try out next year. Of course it doesn't help with the camping bug that has struck already