Indian Lakes RV Campground

We decided to stay at Indian Lakes RV Campground because A) it was included in our Thousand Trails membership, B) it was on our travel path between Iowa and Maryland, and C) the photos of the playground and splash pad looked awesome. We had originally planned to spend a few weeks in North Carolina. But since we extended our stay in Iowa, we decided to take a more direct route to Maryland.

Our campsite, in the old section, was a very long pull-through with full hook-ups. We were supposed to have a shared yard with the neighbor, however we never had a neighbor that actually used it. When we did have neighbors they kept to themselves or were part of a group and spent their time in the other group member’s yard. We tried to be friendly and welcoming since it was a shared space. We always love to make new friends, but for some reason everyone who parked next to us wasn’t interested – oh well!

We set-up our Clam quickset over the picnic table and were able to enjoy nearly every meal outside. Cleaning up after two messy eaters is significantly easier when the majority of mess falls in the grass! It was also fun to share some of table scraps with the resident crawfish, whose hole was right next to our table. It was exciting to dig up the hole and catch the crawfish one day, it was huge! We contemplated cooking it, but decided it was probably too much work for just one crawfish and there would barely be enough for all of us to have a taste so we let it go back into its hole.

The pictures we had seen online of the awesome playground and splash pad did not do it justice, both exceeded our expectations! Our boys were so excited when we arrived at the playground, they both began to climb all over. Isaiah loved to explore the tunnels connecting each of the platforms and Keahi had a blast challenging himself to climb new ladders.

When we first got to the splash pad, Keahi’s whole face lit up in awe! He was ecstatic to get to splash and play with all the other children in the shallow wading pool. During the week, we spent most of our mornings at the playground and afternoons in the splash pad. We were delighted to make friends with another full time family whose children were similar in age and on a similar schedule. During the weekend, the campground and playground got BUSY, like at capacity busy! Instead of joining the crowds, we enjoyed finding other things to do in the nearby South East Indiana communities.

This campground was our first experience with a sewer connection that needed to be pumped regularly. It had a little “float” to indicate when it was full and the staff would drive around with a giant honey wagon to pump the site sewer tanks. Thankfully, we learned early on during our stay kept our valves closed except when dumping to avoid any potential issues of back flow into our hoses. Most of the time, the staff would empty the tanks once a week on Sunday. However if a tank got missed or needed an extra dump, we informed the staff and they were able to empty it when an authorized person was available.

We did run into one issue with the water near the end of our stay. After Independence day Weekend, there was a break in one of the main waterlines so the water was shut off for a day or so. Thankfully we keep our tanks full for situations like this and were not majorly impacted during the shut-off.

Noteable Fact – Our campsite was in the “old section” near the front of the campground. The campground had just put in new sites at the back and they are big sites with full hook-ups. If you come, be sure to check and see if there is availability back there!

But did She LIKE it?

This was one of my favorite campgrounds! After our first day here, we decided to extend our stay an extra 5 days so that we could continue enjoying the amenities. The playground was massive and had a nearby sand volleyball pit so the boys could easily go back and forth between playing on the equipment and digging in the sand. The splash pad was super refreshing on the really hot days. On days where it wasn’t hot enough to enjoy the cold splash pad, the boys were happy to splash in our mini pool at the campsite. It was extremely easy to stay happy and have a great time here, the only problem was finding time to cook, clean and do laundry. Our meal schedule kept getting later and later because we were having too much fun playing outside to stop and make food. The weather and sunsets were gorgeous during our stay and the bugs were minimal compared to the campgrounds we were at previously this summer.

But did He LIKE it?

Absolutely! Not only did the campground have amazing amenities, like the pools and playground, but it was in a great location for nearby community events! The campground is huge which gave plenty of space for bike rides with Autumn and Keahi. Our normal bike route was 2.8 miles! The splash pad area was absolutely amazing!! Literally made my whole stay!

Activities we enjoyed outside the park:

We had a ton of fun exploring South East Indiana and Florence Kentucky. So much so that we made a separate post for it! Here is a list but be sure to check out our other blog for the details.
The Farmstand Market & Cafe
Lawrenceburg Farmers Market
Batesville Farmers Market
Kids Discovery Factory
ISO Performance and Fireworks
Waldron Freedom Festival
Metamora Volunteer Fire Department Firemen’s Festival
Vogt Farm Blueberry Festival
Lil’ Charlies Restaurant and Brewery

Our Review:

Access: ✅ Easy | Moderate | Hard
Location: Convenient | ✅ Moderate | Remote
Cleanliness: Sparkling | ✅ Maintained | Needs Work | Gross
Site Quality: Pristine | ✅ Maintained | Needs Work | Poor
Site Grade: ✅ Level | Moderately Unlevel (<6”) | Extremely Unlevel (>6”)
Noise: Loud | ✅ Moderate | Peaceful
Popularity: ✅ Crowded | Moderate | Isolated
Water Pressure: Good | ✅ Usable | ✅ Bad (it was fine most of the time but we did run into issues near the end of our stay and had to use our tanks for adequate pressure)
Restroom Condition: Sparkling | ✅ Maintained | Needs Work | Gross (pool showers seemed new, we didn’t use any other shower facilities)
Site Size: Spacious | ✅ Moderate | Cramped
Playground: ✅ Huge | Adequate | Small
Pools: ✅ Clean | ✅ Large | Adequate | Small | ✅ Child Friendly | Heated
Did we eat outside? ✅ A Lot | A Little | Nope
AT&T Cell Service:   Fast | Usable | ✅ Slow | Unusable
Verizon Cell Service:  Fast | ✅ Usable | Slow | ✅ Unusable (fine during the week, unusable during the crowded weekends)