Laurel Lake Holly Bay Campground, London, KY: 12-15 July 2018

I will do the review of Holly Bay Campground first for those that just want to learn about the location.  After that I will write about our experience.

Reserving the site:  I made the reservation through the Recreation.gov with no issues.  We paid 40.00 a night.  

Travel to site:  From Frankfort, KY it was about a 2  hour drive South on I-75 to the 2nd London exit.  Turn Right and take Hwy 192 for 16 miles which is a curvy 2 lane road but wide.  There are plenty of signs making it easy to find.  

Checking in:  Arrived at the campground at 1300, check-in was 1400.  You have to check in at the gate coming into the campground so you may be in a line of vehicles if you check in at peak hours.   They had no issue with checking in early.  Got a mirror tag and reservation tag to affix to our campground pole.  Check-in took no more than 5 min as no one was in front of us.  Check out is 1300.

Site:  Our site was H12.  The sites are very spread out so you are a good distance away from the sites on either side of you and there are plenty of trees separating sites.  The sites are angled at about 45 degrees making backing in very easy.  This was a flat blacktop site angled for easy backing into with minor leveling needed front to back and side to side.  There was plenty of shade morning and late afternoon and plenty of places to tie off hammocks.  There is also a gravel section if you are putting up a tent. The fire pit was really big and the picnic table was massive, made out of 4x4 and 2x6's.  The campground had 50/30 amp service.  The electric boxes and water were within close proximity of the site.  There is no septic available.  Water pressure was really strong.

Dump Station:  There is 1 dump station within the campground, just to the right of the check-in building as you exit the campground.      

Activities:  The campground is all about the lake.  Other than some hiking trails all activities were lake oriented.  The hiking trails were well maintained but ticks and heat dissuaded us.  Fall would be a good time to do some hiking at this campground.  There is one marina (Holly Bay) within 5 minutes from the campground and several stand alone boat ramps surrounding the lake.  At the marina there were boats for rent.  

Facilities:  There are 1 bathhouse and several bathrooms through the campground.  We did not visit the bathhouse so I cannot comment on the condition.  The bathroom near our campsite was clean with several stalls and sinks.  

Overall campground:  This was a great campground with nice location around the lake.  We really loved the isolation of each site and the abundance of trees.  There was no store available in the campground but there was one at the marina.  The closest grocery/department store is in London.    Quiet time started at 2300 and for the most part everyone adhered to that policy.   I did not see any signs that prohibited the use of external fire wood  but they recommend that firewood should not be moved.   

Our Experience

Thursday - So we were to arrive on Wednesday but we had to make a change of plans as we wound up driving to Marietta GA on Tuesday/Wednesday to pick up a new motorcycle (our stay overnight in Marietta is a whole other comical story).  It seems our original retirement bike was too bulky and heavy to get into the back of the F250 (TIP: If you buy a retirement bike and plan to put it in the back of your truck, make sure it isn't an 1800 Goldwing! We learned the hard way :-)). We arrived on Thursday and set up without any issues.  My brother (Mike) and mother (Thelma) arrived shortly there after as they were already the marina staying on his boat.  We took his boat out for a few hours to get in a refreshing swim while Jennifer stayed at the campsite to do some organizing and get dinners prepped (I think she just wanted quiet time!).  The water was low and a bit warmer than I would have liked, I guess due to all the really hot weather.  Dinner was our go to chicken BBQ out of the crockpot and my brother and I watched the movie 300. The night was really dark with no moon and the insects were so freaking loud

Friday -   Friday were woken up early by our family (too early for our taste!) and made eggs/sausage/biscuits for everyone.  We all went out on the boat, found a good jump rock and did some swimming.  Mike's son met us at the marina at 1400 and everyone came to the campsite to relax and eat dinner (rice bowls).  My cousin Misty, her boyfriend Chip and her son Braxton arrived around 2000.  They had a tent to set up at dark which was our entertainment for the evening lol.  The most comical part was Chip fitting a queen size air mattress into a two person tent, hilarious!  We did help (after we stopped laughing).  We all settled down around the campfire and had cold drinks and good conversation.

Saturday- Pancake breakfast and packed up for a day on the lake (Jennifer set the breakfast time so we did get to sleep in just a little!).  The day consisted of a lot of swimming and rock jumping and good conversation with family.  Back at the campsite it was hotdogs and hamburgers with a new dessert that Jennifer found.  It was marshmallows with small rolo caramels jammed in the middle and then roasted over the fire....Chip was amazed and was determined to master the feat.  Jennifer said he still has a long way to go.  The funniest part of the night was walking into the camper and finding our nephew and cousin asleep in the recliners and our nephew was wearing his sunglasses!  Brings a whole new meaning to "I wear my sunglasses at night". So the two napping were the youngest two there, go figure!

Jennifer, Misty, and Micah

Misty, Mom, and Jennifer

Jennifer's relax mode

Jennifer, Mike, Mom and me

Friends we met that had dog that rode raft to shore to pee

After a hot day on the lake Micah and Braxton didn't last 10 min

Chip working on his marshmallow/rolo combo

Sunday - Packed put and out by 1100. Poor Misty and Chip will never come back as they were woken up early every morning they were with us, LOL.  The dump station was bit difficult because their tank flush hose had the tip ripped off making it impossible to attach to the camper.  We have seen this a couple other times and do not understand why it is done.

Campground rankings (best to worst) to date: #1 - Holly Bay, #2 - Carter Caves, #3 Dale Hollow State Park, #4 Green River, #5 KY Horse Park

Next stop Rockville, IN for a Covered Bridge Tour and the first trip with the motorcycle (Jennifer cant wait for this trip!)

If anyone wants the recipes we fix at the campsite just let me know and Jennifer will put them into the blog. Just FYI, the rice bowls are to die for! Chipotle has nothing on us ;p