Boonesborough State Park

This past weekend, we headed up to Boonesborough, Kentucky, to do some camping with some friends. Trevor took of work a little early on Friday and off we went. We have never been to this park before, but pass it everytime we go to Gatlinburg. We’ve talked about going, lots of times, but for some reason we have just never made it there. Well this camping trip was planned, several months back, by our friends, Titus and Shelia, so we finally had a chance to go.

It’s only a 2 hour drive, so that was not bad at all.

As for the park itself….I have mixed feelings about it.

If you want to “camper” camp, you’ve got it made. The camper sites are all close to the bathrooms/showers, there is electricity and running water. Plus lots of lighting so you don’t have to go the the bathroom in the dark.

If you want to “tent” camp, that is a different thing entirely. There is no running water, lighting or electricity in the tent area. BUT it’s very shaddy, so it makes it much cooler if you’re camping during the hot days. In order to go to the bathroom or showers, you have to walk over to the camper area. This is ok during the day…but its terrible at night and I didn’t want my kids going alone because I couldn’t see them. So bathroom breaks had to be done with an adult. That was kind of a pain.

On the plus side, tho….we did have a good time. We hadn’t seen our “out of town” friends in about a year. It was good to play catch up. There was a mini golf area in the park, which the kids loved. There was a beach (not too far away but far enough that you didn’t have to see it all the time), so the kids played in the sand and water until they were too cold and had to quit.

The best part, I thought, was the Fort. Since this was the area that Daniel Boone lived in and built the Boonesborough Fort, there is a lot of history in the area. They have the actual site of the fort, on location in the park, but had to make a replica of the fort on a different location because of flooding. So we got to tour the “fort” and talk to the “residents” about how life was back then. It was very cool and very interesting. I’d go back just to go through the fort again, but I don’t think I’d do the camping thing again, unless we had a camper. Not there anyway. The park itself is very nice. It just seems they’ve let the “tent” camping area kind of go. They don’t keep it up as nice as the rest of the park.

The other nice thing, tho, was that there was a camp store pretty close to where we were staying, which proved to be awesome when you realized you’ve forgotten things, like syrup for your pancakes, or you run out of ice, or you get really tired of drinking gatorade and just want something else.

But over all it was nice. We had a great time. It was good to see Titus, Shelia and their kids again. Steve and his daughter, Savannah, came up on Saturday to join us for the day. Steve, Titus and Trevor all grew up in the same area, so they go way back. I actually miss camping. I didn’t think I’d ever say that, but I do. I like to have access to showers and running water, but other then that, camping is fun. Expecially in the fall. Summer time is just way too hot, but there’s nothing like sitting around the fire in the cool of the evening.