Post a Picture of Your Camping Setup at Other Campgrounds!!

Giant City SP, Shawnee Nat'l Forest in Southern Illinois

I had booked this several months ago and almost forgot as I was supposed to be in Wisconsin this week for a conference, but work canceled any elective travel. We have been here once before, but it has been at least 15 years. I don't remember anything of this campground.

Giant City was named after the geologic features in Southern Illinois. Lots of uplifts and rifts that created incredible rock features. The glaciers didn't make it down this far and didn't scour off the surface the way most of Illinois has. The rock formations created huge "buildings" and "roads" between them. I'll head out to the trails and get some pics later today.

The sites aren't anything special. Old state park in the Midwest. Smallish, tight, lots of trees. We are in a paved pull through. I think these sites are new, as very few other sections are paved.
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There is also a lodge built in the 30s by the CCC, like many of the lodges in Illinois state parks. This one is smaller than most, but has a restaurant and there are a number of cabins to rent.

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There is also a statue honoring the "men of the CCC" that built the park.

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Went out for a walk this morning. Saw this little tear drop. The saying on the back caught my attention, then I saw the license plate.

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Down the row from my site is this chainsaw carving. Someone is pretty talented.

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j
 


We have a semi-permanent site along a creek from April through October. A bad flood in December took most of our grass and left LOTS of sand, so the site still isn't back to normal, but here's a pic.
Unfortunately, we packed up a few things in anticipation of 6+ inches of rain from Ida later this week, so things look a little sloppy :)20210829_103844.jpg
 


We have been camping over at Turkey Run in IN the past two years. It’s nice cause I can go from the country quiet life to the middle of the woods and not have to deal with a single person outside my family other than the nice check in lady at the campgrounds in about an hour. If the world has taught me anything over the past couple years, it’s to be prepared. And so I’ve been upping my skills and playing cooking over the fire! One of our last trips, I cooked a chicken (that I raised since chick day one and butchered), vegetables that I grew from from seed, bread, and a cherry pie. Cooking on cast iron while camping has not only been rewarding, but also extra tasty. Food is so much better cooked on an open fire in cast iron. I went to Lowe’s last night cause our washer and dryer decided to die within days of each other, and was looking at fire pit and grills trying to figure out how I could camp cook while at the fort. With their fire pit policies, I think my only options would be to haul a large Webber grill and then play camp cook with my cast iron over that….but that doesn’t sound fun, that sounds like grilling with cast iron...a little lame.

But I got some pics to share of my campsite or should I say campsite food…

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Didn't take any great pictures of the camper but we had a great site at Vogel State Park in North GA the 19th-22nd of this month.

Our pup Evie listening to the Huskies two sites over.
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Lazer tag gift that came early from out of state relatives was a hit the entire time.
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It was in the lower 30s at night, so we had a movie night before bed each night.

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Kentucky Horse Park. 20 to 30 mph winds with 40 mph gusts with wind chills from upper 20's to low 30's :oops: Came down for the UK/ UGA baseball series (UK took 2 of 3 from #17 Georgia).
This was delivered to our site today....
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Steve
 
Siloam Springs SP, outside Quincy, IL

Nice big sites. I love state parks. This one is really nice. Well kept up with nice sites. There is a smallish lake here that used to be a "spa" back in the 20s.

I inadvertently booked a handicap site. The web site didn't say anything. I checked with the campground host and they said don't worry about it. They are trying to get the web page updated, but it happens all the time. I feel a little bad, but the campground is only half full and there is another handicap site open.

Site 96.

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Quincy is about 30 minutes away. We drove over this morning to check it out. Small-mid size town, but not a lot of touristy things. There are a bunch of very nice old turn of the century homes and a few museums and a nice visitor's center, but all were closed.

They have a Sam's, so we had to take a pic and send it to Ian.

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Quincy sits on the Mississippi River. The visitor's center is in a 1900 "northern Africa" styled home. It has been restored, but was also closed today.

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The river is up right now. We have had a lot of rain. It's so high, the gates are completely up on the dam and water is still going around.

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Quincy didn't have much interesting things open so we drove across the river and a little south to Hanibal, MO. We walked a few shops by Mark Twain's house and then took a walk over to the river. Railroad tracks run along the waterfront and we were lucky to catch a coal train going through. Had to grab a few pics for Ed and the other train fans.

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Grabbed a pic of Mr. Twain and headed back to the campground.

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Hanging out at the camper now enjoying the evening. Nice weather today. Sunny and mid-80s.

j
 
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