We camped here with a group of 20 families from our church in Springdale, Ohio. They were very accommodating with us, especially since they don't accept reservations. We had a nice "peninsula" of campsites at the end of section "B". The area was heavily wooded with tall pine trees and provided lots of shade. There were other parts of the campground that were not as shaded, namely the seasonal campers. There was a lake for swimming, boating, and fishing. There were go-karts (adult and child), a bounce house, several large picnic shelters, and a nice hiking area (including a small cave). My only complaint is that the seasonal campers are permitted to ride their golf carts and ATVs through the entire park, including the daily rental section. It can become quite annoying at times, but it's not too bad. Apparently the local past times also include riding around in pickup truck beds and staring at the other campers. All joking aside, this was a nice area. I wouldn't make it an annual trip, but they have done a very good job with the campground.

We spent the entire week after Mother's Day at the Great Smokey Jellystone Campground. All-in-all, it was a great experience. There are only two reasons why I gave it a "9" instead of a "10": (1)The sewer hook-up for our site was up hill from our site. Since we were in a TT (and not a higher 5th Wheel or Motorhome), that made it near impossible to empty our tanks easily. We still had to go to the dump station at the end of our trip to empty them all the way. (2)The playground was very muddy. Having a three-year-old with us, this was unacceptable. If you are going to bill yourself as having a playground, it should be playable. These two small things were not enough to put a damper on our trip. I know that you don't want to read anything else about Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Sevierville, or GSMNP, so I'll tell you about the campground and the immediate surrounding area (Cosby, TN). When we arrived, we were greated nicely by the son of the owner. The campground is run VERY well by the Landry family. We were led to our pull-through site by a golf cart and were guided onto the gravel pad. The site was not level, but it was close. There is a nice gameroom and store. They show family movies 6 nights a week (1 night is a talk about the GSMNP). Some of the titles as of May '09: "Bee Movie" and "Ratatouille". Good eats near the campground: Pizza: DJ's Deli. They are in a Marathon station about 1 mile north of the campground on US-321. They serve Hunt Brothers Pizza and it is delicious. Homestyle: Carver's Applehouse. This is on an apple orchard about 10 minutes north of the park on US-321. The food is wonderful and very affordable.

Big Bone Lick State Park has a great family campground. The bathrooms are immaculate, but that could have been because it was the first weekend of the season. The camp store was very small with a very limited selection, but there is a large grocery store (Kroger) in Union, about a 10-15 minute drive from the park. The check-in station is inside the camp store, but there were very limited hours during the weekend; they had not yet found a camp host for the year. The swimming pool looks nice, but it was not yet open. The sites are clean, but some require slight leveling. All sites have a picnic table, fire ring, and lantern pole (you cannot hang lanterns on trees in KY state parks). Firewood is $4.75 per bundle. They are average size and well-seasoned. There are many things to do inside the park: (1) Museum with bog diorama (nicer than it sounds) (2) Nature Center (3) Bison Prarie (there were 13 adults and a calf when we visited) (4) Fishing Lake (5) Ball fields The only things that they could improve are: (1) Hire a camp host (2) Post age restrictions on the playground