Yesterday I gave a sneak peak into last weekend's trip to Brown County State Park. I decided there's no day like today to finish that thought. We love Brown County. Its a great spot for a family weekend away. The park itself has a great lodge, complete with brand new indoor pool/waterpark. We are already planning a few cold weather trips to the pool this fall/winter. They also have a nice campground and family cabins available for rent. If you want to stay someplace a little more spacious, there are a gazillion cabins and cottages available to rent all over the area. Hills O'Brown manages many of them.
The town (Nashville) is so quaint and fun. Cute little shops, plenty of spots to grab a treat. It gets really busy on nice weekends, and insanely busy in the fall, so be warned. It's also not very stroller-friendly, although we manage to navigate it ok with our jogging stroller. You're also only about 20 minutes to Bloomington (home of Indiana University) or our hometown, Columbus (home of world-famous architecture).
But mostly we love Brown County for the hiking.
We've done most of the trails there with our little arrow, but our favorite and most kid-friendly is the trail around Ogle Lake (Trail 7). Relatively flat compared to the other trails (which is nice when there's a 22 lber strapped to your back) and gorgeous views of the water the entire way. A little snapshot of paradise in our own backyard. If you're a horse lover, check out Trail 3, which you can pick up near the Saddle Barn and visit the beautiful horses.
Live in Indiana? We love the state parks and have invested in a yearly pass ($35 for in-state residents) and therefore we don't pay the gate fee every time we visit. It has encouraged us to visit the parks more and get good use out of our pass.
This post is a part of Photo Friday at DeliciousBaby. Go see where everyone else has been going.
Looks like a great park :)
ReplyDeleteHaving a yearly pass does encourage you to use the parks more, doesn't it? We usually get a yearly pass for the Huron/Clinton Metroparks around here, and next year, we'll be able to pay a yearly fee as an optional add-on to our car license fees in Michigan.