Summer Family Camping Trip
This was really a dream trip. It was also a learning experience. We packed up and hauled our tiny camper from Louisiana to Mississippi to Tennessee to Kentucky and then back. On the return trip, we only stopped to camp once in Mississippi.
Hugh White State Park
The first stop on our trip. It was quiet. Almost too quiet as we couldn’t find where to check-in or anyone around. Eventually, we figured it out and even switched our site to a better camping spot. We set up our camper and hammocks and got to relax. We camped on the outfall portion of the water. Later we hauled the kayaks to the boat launch and then kayaked to the beach and back. The beach was fairly clean but filled with people and less sand and more pebbles. The paddling was tough in the waves as the wind blew and the water got choppy. We had a great time. Everyone was friendly!
For dinner, we cooked grilled cheese hot dogs on the old trusty George Foreman grill. We built a little fire and hung out until bedtime. I enjoyed borrowing my kids’ hammocks and reading while they played in the dirt! It was amazing.
We knew we wanted an easy pick-up in the morning so we packed up as much as we could before bedtime. Thankfully we did because it poured rain in the morning so we picked up what was left and jumped into the truck to head out.
Piney River Resort
I have zero negative things about Piney River Resort. Seriously, they were great. Our site was right along the river and we had time to kayak and play. I guess the only negative was that we were only there for one night. The campground had ice, firewood, washers, and dryers. The bathhouse was clean and spacious. Our campsite was 11 and to be honest 11 and 12 were amazing spots. Your door opened towards the river. And you had full hookups!
Big Bone Lick State Park
Not sure how Kentucky is considered the South. It’s pretty north for us deep south people. The first morning that we got up at Big Bone Lick we could see our breath. In August! It was amazing. We joked as we stayed at the birthplace of American vertebrate paleontology on a trip to the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum. If you don’t know those museums are from Answers in Genesis and are VERY Young Earth. Whatever you’re old earth/young earth stance is, we don’t believe we should hide either side from our kids. The timeline doesn’t change our belief in our Creator and we should understand both sides before coming to a conclusion.
The park was wonderful! There were playgrounds, a pool, hiking trails, bison to see, and miniature golf. The sites were well kept and there were so many types of milkweed and butterfly areas that I was just amazed. There’s also a gift shop with giant fossil features and a mock dig site. Our whole family enjoyed the park.
We camped. We adventured. We cooked. We explored. It really was wonderful.
While we were in Kentucky, we took two days to visit the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter. Big Bone Lick is about halfway between the two so it was a great spot to make our traveling for excursions easier. You can see all about those days in their posts. Exploring the Creation Museum Encounter the Ark
Hernando Point
From Kentucky we drove way too long all the way to N Mississippi. We arrived at Hernando Point and someone was in our spot. There was no one available to help. We found a spot a few down and when I went to ask what was up, someone was in that guy’s spot. It trickles down to others! It wasn’t a big deal as we didn’t even unhook the camper that night. We cooked our dinner and hung out but we were just resting up for the remainder of the drive home. At this point we were ready. The lake was beautiful however the bathhouse was pretty gross.
