There has to be a resonable solution. If cg's created an adults only section(not a XXX) either, But one where adults could have there own bathrooms and swimming pool. This way if any childless couple wants to enjoy watching the kids play they can do that. Many hotels and cruise ships have adult only hot tubs and swimming pools. My wife and I are empty nesters so we don't mind the kids as long as they respect us and obey the quiet time rules. As for the age thing, I'm thirty something and my wife is forty something and I have learned that your never to young or old to go camping. Just think know matter how different we are everyone who reads this has one thing in common--we all like camping--
You have a good point about the heavy drivking. I have seen and heard loud people of all ages and not just because of drinking. Some folks just need to show off. I don't mind them blowing off steam as long as they keep to their selves and it's not keeping me up at night.
We camped at Natural Springs Resort in New Paris, Ohio (just off I-70 at the Ohio/Indiana border) and it was great! While they have lots of kids, they do allow drinking, but ONLY on your site and after 11pm they have night patrols to monitor and manage "quite time". Kids under 16 MUST be on their site after 11pm and escorted by an adult after that time until 8am. People who drink can ONLY have it on their site....not carried around, not at the pool or beach or any activities. Great family park but with lots of nice camping sites, big trees and lots of family activities. Their website is www.naturalspringsresort.com We lot it!
I live close to Natural Springs. I plan on visiting there this summer. I noticed that it has some good reviews and I have talked to some people that have been there. They said it's nice. I am sure it's hard to run a CG. You can't please everyone and you don't want to lose any patrons, or get bad reviews. I guess if I ran a CG I would put cameras in strategic public places, I would have one watching the game room(like the CG in Tenn) and one watching the pet walking area(this would keep me from charging people for having pets) and I would have them looking over the streets. I would also post signs to let the campers know they are being watched.
I have camped for over 40 years in tents to my present 37 foot 5ver, and i have found well mannered children and animals are a pleasure to be around. Yapping dogs and noisy children really irritate me. By far the worst however are obnoxious adults who should know better in the first place. Dusty
Well, maybe our problem with Twin Creeks in Tenn (see other post) was that they had an "unofficial" section for people with kids, and we got lumped in it with the other families camping with kids. We do have kids, but our 8 year old son has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, along with cognitive delays. He doesn't relate well to his peers and prefers the company of adults (who are usually kinder to him), so being around other people's kids doesn't usually work for us. My son and his 7 year old sister are very happy to play quietly together. This usually means they stay on our site and look for pretty pebbles, unique pinecones or the like, and then build little "towns" for them on the picnic table outside our fifth wheel. If I could take my two quiet kids to an adults only rv resort, I would. Especially after our experience with Twin Creeks this past April!
My hubby and I aren't over 55 (yet!) but we travel 345 days a year for his job. Our kids are grown, and we've grown accustomed to peace and quiet. But when we get to a park, we usually request a space way in the back! I just hate when I get to a park and they've put in a tiny pool and got all these kids making a bunch of racket and throwing balls and splashing and disturbing others. I'm all for putting in larger pools for X number of sites or adult only hours, like 8 to 10pm.
Some friends suggested as they put it "a wonderful adult only rv park" in South Texas when we were planning a trip there. They had us all hyped up to try it after their rave reviews and when I called the park, I discovered that one of us had to be over the age of 55 to stay there, so we were ineligble. Even though our children are grown and we are grandparents, guess we don't fit into the "adult" category yet.
Hubby and I have only started camping again this year (we finally broke down and purchased a 25 foot travel trailer). Our 2 boys are grown and getting on with their own lives so Hubby and I use camping time as a reconnect time. There are 2 parks We've been to already that would be Adult Friendly they are River Valley Campground in Cherokee NC and 4paws kingdom in Rutherfordton NC. River Valley is nestled just on the outskirts of Cherokee and is in the Cherokee Reservation. It has 2 areas, an area toward the front of the camp where families tend to camp and then they have what is referred to as the "quiet " area. Some permanent sites here but river side daily sites. An oh what a river. There is white water and tubing is a must and a waterfall!! I enjoyed watching river otters play every morning. The river is one of the many trout fishing place in NC., though since it is on the reservation you must purchase a special fishing license even if you carry a NC license. Also this camp only accepts cash. No credit cards or checks. They don't give any discounts either, but then they only charge 20.00 per night (even on weekends) 4paws Kingdom is great too, especially if you have dogs or love them. This place is really oriented to the canines with off leash play areas, agility area, rally area and a swimming hole for man and beast. There is also a stocked fishing pond containing 5 different kinds of fish. While you can bring children, this camp doesn't provide much in the way of a playground for them---the kids who were at this camp when we were tended to be older and well behaved. Even the pooches were extremely well behaved. This proved to be one of the quietest campgrounds we've been to yet. The hosts/owners are absolutely fabulous and really go out of their way to make everyone comfortable. Its rates run around 30.00 per night for our trailer, but they accept AAA, GoodSams, and AARP.
QUOTE(Mr. Camper @ Nov 24 2004, 04:16 AM) We've seen those same 20-somethings at the so called "family campgrounds" and the only thing that stops them anywhere is strong and effective management. We have nothing against kids in general. Sadly however some parents don't bother to teach them proper campground etiquette. We are both teachers and work with kids all the time. When we get a chance to get away on a weekend it's nice to have a quiet, relaxing weekend. [snapback]1566[/snapback] This is about the best comment I've seen on this subject. Over the years we've camped at just about every type of campground/RV Park. Management plays a big role in what goes on in their establishments, regardless of whether they allow children or not. Once we stayed at a place that allowed the guests to have stereo wars on Saturday night. These were not teen agers, but adults with pop-up campers and travel trailers. I go to get away from that crap. I've stayed at other places that simply don't tolerate any non-sense. Our preference is state parks. We live in Wisconsin and the rangers do a great job of keeping the peace. I've seen people get kicked out for violating the rules. Even with the kids, our state parks are mostly pretty quiet places to camp. BTW, our daughter is 21 and still goes with us. Except that she has her own tent so that we get the TT to ourselves!
QUOTE "it's just that after years of camping with kids, we would love to enjoy some quiet time" It's amazing that the people who feel this way are usually the same people who have allowed their unsupervised children, for the past 20 years, to ruin the 'quiet time' that other campers sought. Now that the tables are turned, it's a different matter when the 'quiet time' being disturbed is theirs. Don't get me wrong, I don't care who is camped around me as long as they respect my right to enjoy a little peace and quiet. Although I prefer camping around responsible adults, well behaved children are truly a joy to be around---it's the rowdy disrespectful brats that I could do without.
QUOTE rowdy disrespectful brats Ah, but they aren't always children. Some adults fit into that catagory.
Cheryl, this Cheryl totally agrees with you. I do hate camping near unruly children - we raised our kids to be respectful of others so they didn't run wild in restaurants or wherever they pleased as so many do now. But I have found that most of the noise that we have encountered on our travels has come from "adults" sitting outside at night, drinking. I have nothing against anyone having a good time but they do set those park "quiet hours" for a reason and I find it quite annoying when I can't sleep because someone has decided that those rules don't apply to them or their group.
QUOTE QUOTE rowdy disrespectful brats Ah, but they aren't always children. Some adults fit into that catagory. Agreed! Often times it is certainly adults who are the problem. I didn't mean for the term 'rowdy disrespectful brats' to refer only to children (or I would have noted 'rowdy disrespectful children'), but to brats of all ages. Maybe I'm just turning into the crochety old geezer that my father said I would someday be.
QUOTE we raised our kids to be respectful of others so they didn't run wild in restaurants or wherever they pleased as so many do now. Cheryl, So did we. I once took my two very young (at the time) sons to a Catholic wedding with all the trimmings a couple of hours away from home. Later at the reception, everyone wanted to know where we had left them during the ceremony. they couldn't believe that we had brought them to the Church and nobody heard them. We recently weekended at a campground were some preteen kids decided they would use our site as a shortcut to the pool area. After several trips back and forth, I mentioned that it was not polite to roam through other peoples sites. They just looked at me like I was crazy. Who do you blame, the kids or the parents who didn't do their job right in raising them?
At 48 yrs. old, maybe I too, am becoming a crochety old person but nothing irritates me more than to go out to dinner and there are some kids running around, talking loud and making all kinds of noise and the parents seem totally oblivious to it - either that or they are just ignoring them. I had an orthodontist appt yesterday (yes, I had braces put on my teeth last year - figured it was finally my turn). Anyway there was 2 kids in there who kept throwing toys and rolling them all the way across the store and the mom was watching them and never said anything. After I was hit for the second time, I took it away from the boy and went and gave it to the receptionist and told her I would appreciate it, as the mom wasn't going to do anything, if they would not put the toy back out until after I left. I could tell that mom was not happy with me but she was smart enough not to say anything. I do think that a great deal of the blame has to lie with those who raised them.
QUOTE We recently weekended at a campground were some preteen kids decided they would use our site as a shortcut to the pool area. After several trips back and forth, I mentioned that it was not polite to roam through other peoples sites. They just looked at me like I was crazy. Who do you blame, the kids or the parents who didn't do their job right in raising them? I'm glad I saw this. I am 37 and my husband is 38. We bought our first RV last year, although I have been RVing with my parents since childhood. We were at a KOA in Niagara Falls in June, and these very loud kids kept cutting through our site (and others). It was very annoying, but I wasn't sure if I should say something. I know my brother and I would have been skewered by our parents if we had ever done anything like that. I wasn't sure if things had changed since I was a kid. Now I know they have not. Lori
Same here when we were kids and even when mine were younger - they are 22(in 15 days) and 20. They knew better than to disrespect others. I still think most of kids "out there" are good kids. We have some really nice youngsters in the neighborhood that come and visit us when we are outside, we have had numerous good experiences with kids in campgrounds while traveling. Having the attitude that all kids are bad is just as bad as saying all Italians, or Spanish, or German, or "anything you are not", etc are bad. I don't believe in generalization. I think a lot of the problems with the "bad" kids of today is lack of discipline. Whether it be because their parents don't have/make time for them, don't care, don't know how to parent, or are just plain afraid of being accused of abuse is the big question.
From my perspective, I see a lot of parents getting involved in 'me' time and sit arround doing thier thing while the kids are off doing whatever. I have yet to go camping in a busy campgound where there are a lot of kids, and NOT see some really really young kids wandering around un-supervised. I cant count how many times I have seen freaked out parents running around looking for a toddler who wandered off. Camping for me is 'we' time. I go camping to spend time with my family. Chances are, you wont find my kids being annoying brats (and believe me, like many kinds, they tend to lose all use of thier brains when having fun) because we are always doing something. Walks, bikerides, books and thier favorite, story time around the fire. If left to them selves, I can guarantee they would be annoying. 90% of the children out there would. On the annoying 20 something subject. I am still young enough to remember being 20ish and annoying. If I were camping next to my younger self, I might have to go kick my butt. That lack of brain function (especially in males) seems to be really lacking till about 25 IMHO I make it a point to stay out of state campgrounds anywhere near a college town. Cant get around the fact that a lot of young people blow off steam by getting trashed on the weekends. I am not saying 'All' young people, just a lot. College mentality hasnt change that much since I graduated. Its the people who cant leave that mentality behind when thier body starts to get older that cause the problem.
