“Wow, what a gorgeous place! I think we should totally come back here. We stayed at site #22 at Iron Ridge – Lake Vesuvius, and it was awesome. The spot was flat and had plenty of space. We drove through the Oak Hill camping loop, and it seemed a bit more busy, but I guess it’s closer to the hiking trails and the beach (even though it wasn’t open yet). The spots there looked nice too, just a tad busier than where we were.”

The Vesuvius recreation area used to be all about the Iron Industry, and you can still spot bits and pieces of the old Vesuvius furnace around the place. When the ore dried up, all that was left were the remnants of the once booming industry. Thankfully, the Civilian Conservation Corp stepped in and rescued this gorgeous area, preserving it for everyone to enjoy for years to come. They built a dam on Storms Creek, creating the lake that everyone loves today. We didn’t get to do any fishing this time, but next time we will be more organized.

There’s this trail that goes around the lake, and even though we couldn’t walk the whole loop because part of it was closed, we still managed to cover a good bit of it. It was so beautiful out there, and it seemed like a lot of locals were using it for swimming. Can you believe it? Even though it’s spring, people were still taking a dip. And the plant and animal life was just stunning. Ohio is just so beautiful. No bigfoot, dogmen or UFO’s could be found on this trip.

TT even liked it a bit, well maybe not, but she did like sleeping in the bus.