Needing a bit of respite from our campground experience outside of Chicago, we were willing to pay a little bit more to have a few extra amenities the next time. What we found was a Kampground of America (KOA) in Madison, Wisconsin, en route to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area of Minnesota.
It was just an overnight stay. A chance to shower, clean out the car and trailer a bit, and do some much needed laundry. It didn’t hurt that they had a pool to splash around in with the kids.
They were pretty crowded for Labor Day, and the campsites were a bit too close together for our taste. But it served its purpose. Here’s our campground review:
Madison KOA
Price: At $39 and something, almost our most expensive campground by just a few cents. In general, more than we’re willing to pay.
Location: Just off the interstate, so it was easy to find, but not exactly filled with beautiful nature. Since we just used it as a stopping place, I can’t comment on proximity to Madison or any area attractions.
Facilities: pool, showers, coin laundry, dish washing sink (after too many times trying to wash dishes in tiny bathroom sinks with water that doesn’t stay on, we’ve started to view this as an amenity), free wifi, good playground
SIte Description: Tiny, grass and gravel sites that are pretty close together. Few trees, and very little shade. Not bad, but nothing special.
Neighborhood: KOA has its own culture (kulture?) that we’ve yet to understand. Most of our neighbors were loyal KOAers and the neighborhood had more campers out for longer, multi-stop trips like ours than families out for the weekend.
Comments: It was just fine for an overnight, and probably just what we needed at the time. I’m not sure I’d choose it for a longer stay, though.
We left on Monday (Labor Day) and headed for what turned out to be our favorite campground so far where we spent most of that week: Lake Elmo, Minnesota.