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Ryan's Story

Defying Gravity: How Ryan Robinson Uses His RV to Chase Adventure in Moab

From breathtaking highlines over Looking Glass Arch to cozy nights in the desert, Ryan Robinson shows how an RV transforms adventure into a lifestyle.

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The Wong Family's Story

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Felicia Wong loves planning trips for her family of four. Renting an RV makes it easy for Felicia and her husband, Jason, to pack up the kids and go to their favorite spots. Find out why the Wong family loves RVing and how they take time to disconnect from everyday life to reconnect with the ones who matter most.

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Camp Cedar

Travel Guides

Explore These Two Unique Midwest Campgrounds

Check out these two unique campgrounds that offer a range of amenities, activities, and attractions.

Jeff Crider
Jeff Crider
3 MIN READ

There are thousands of campgrounds across the Midwest, including some that offer unique activities and attractions. Two noteworthy Midwestern campgrounds include Camp Cedar RV Resort in Mason, Ohio and Great River Harbor Campground & Marina in Alma, Wisconsin.

Camp Cedar RV Resort

Located just outside Cincinnati, Camp Cedar caught GoRVing’s attention not only because it’s a northern campground that’s open all year, but because of its unusual variety of themed weekends: These include:

  • Spring Fever Weekend, March 7-9: Activities include flowerpot painting and a spring scavenger hunt.
  • Luck of the Irish Weekend, March 14-16: Kids can learn how to make leprechaun traps and search for gold coins.
  • Color Explosion Weekend, July 11-13: Activities include a color run relay and splatter paint art.
  • A Bigfoot Weekend, Sept. 19-21: Activities include making Bigfoot footprint casts and a Bigfoot hike.
  • A Royal Renaissance Weekend, Sept. 26-28: Activities include crown and sword making and medieval games.
  • Time Travelers Weekend, Nov. 7-9: Activities include making time capsules and participating in a time travelers game.
  • Welcome to Whoville Weekend, Dec. 12-14: Activities include making Grinch-themed ornaments and a Who-liday Feast.
  • New Year’s Countdown Weekend, Dec. 26-28: Activities include making party hats and a New Year’s dance party.

Camp Cedar is relatively new, having opened in 2021. It currently features 184 full hookup RV sites as well as 73 rental accommodations, including RV rentals and cabins.Guest amenities include a large family swimming pool with a waterfall feature and an adult pool for a more relaxing experience. The park also has a lodge-style restaurant, Ironwood Grill & Tap, which is open year-round to campground guests and the public, offering happy hours, pizzas, salads, and specialty dishes, as well as catering for special events.

Unusual onsite amenities include a state-of-the-art indoor golf simulator, where guests can play on world famous golf courses. The park also offers a shuttle service to Kings Island, a popular amusement park that offers both family friendly and heart-pounding roller coasters as well as a water park with 36 water slides, two wave pools, rushing rivers and relaxing lagoons. Camp Cedar, meanwhile, is continuing to add more amenities, including a new communal fire pit for guests to gather and enjoy the outdoors; a new arcade for additional family entertainment; and a new play area for kids.

Photo courtesy of Camp Cedar RV Resort in Mason, Ohio
 

Great River Harbor Campground & Marina

Another unique Midwest destination is Great River Harbor Campground & Marina in Alma, Wisconsin, which is roughly two hours southeast of Minneapolis. Great River Harbor Campground not only offers 198 campsites, five rental cabins, a restaurant and bar and 70 boat slips, but houseboats that can be rented for private trips on the Mississippi River.

The houseboats are rented through Fun N The Sun Houseboat Vacations, which is owned by the same family that owns the campground. Fun N The Sun has 11 houseboats that guests can rent for private trips on the Mississippi River, which borders the western edge of Wisconsin from the Twin Cities to the Illinois state line.

Campground owners Eric and Nikki Jandro say they have a strong following of family campers who return every year. While having a houseboat vacation on the Mississippi River is a bucket list experience for some families, others come back and rent the houseboats every year or every few years. The houseboats vary in size and can accommodate two to as many as 14 people. The houseboats are available in three, four and seven-day increments.

The grand finale of the Jandro’s camping season takes place Oct. 10-13, when they have a fundraising event to raise money for the Gilbert Brown Foundation, a nonprofit founded by the former Green Bay Packer player and Super Bowl 31 champion who has supported more than 150 children’s charities.

The event, called Legends Weekend, features Gilbert Brown and several other former Green Bay football players who gather for informal meet-and-greet and photo sessions on the Jandros’ houseboats on the evening of Friday, Oct. 10.

"We’ll do a dock party with 25 to 30 people on each boat,” Nikki Jandro explained. “This gives our guests opportunities to mingle with the football players while enjoying drinks and light appetizers. The players move from boat to boat, which gives everyone a chance to meet and mingle with them. We usually have 200 to 300 people attend this event.”

The Legends Weekend includes bus transportation on Saturday, Oct. 11, to Champions Riverside Resort in Galesville, Wisconsin, who organizes games and other activities involving Brown and other famous football players, who sign autographs and footballs to help raise money for the Gilbert Brown Foundation.

Photo courtesy of Great River Harbor Campground & Marina in Alma, Wisconsin

Jeff Crider

Author

Jeff Crider

Jeff Crider, President and CEO of Crider Public Relations, has been involved in covering the campground industry for over 25 years. Jeff has worked as a freelance writer for publications such as RV Business, Motor Home Magazine, Trailer Life, Highways and other Affinity Group Inc. publications since 1995. He has also successfully pitched many of the nation's top tier media outlets, including CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Financial Times, Reuters, The Associated Press and National Public Radio. In addition to writing, Jeff is also a talented photographer and humanitarian.