Jackson, TN

Unless you’re a fan of railroad history (Casey Jones!), you may not know of Jackson; but Jackson is Ramona’s mother’s childhood home and still home to dear relatives, so it’s always a must-visit while anywhere near this part of the country.

Would We Come Back Here?

It's a great state park with full hookups for RVs and trailers. A full hookup is rare at a state park--usually you get electric and water and even the electric is often limited to 30 amp service. (Those huge rigs typically need 50 amp service for their multiple A/C units, electric fireplace, dishwasher, rotating chandelier, wine cellar, humidor, point-to-point microwave towers, etc.) I would happily camp here again just for the kayaking/paddle boarding opportunities but, other than that, the park is pretty far away from civilization, so that would be about my only reason for coming back. Verizon LTE signal was weak, though made perfectly adequate with our signal booster. Some of the sites were near lampposts which seemed to stay on all night, so the light pollution for people near those must have been annoying.

Though I learned about this too late to drag Ramona to it, I think I might have enjoyed Redneck Island (seriously--check out the video on that site!).

Would We Live Here?

We didn't really look around with a view towards living in this area--it was mostly about visiting family. The area is as beautiful as Tennesseans claim, though. There are many places nearby we'd love to come back to see.