When I was looking at our travel itinerary pre-trip I noticed that we were staying in two limited-amenity campgrounds in a row: Robert Treman in Ithaca and then Ohiopyle in Pennsylvania. Niagara Falls had been in our 2020 plan that got cancelled due to COVID, but when we re-booked everything we made the decision to keep the trip the same length (6ish weeks) but cut a number of stops so we could spend more time in each location and less time setting up/taking down and traveling. So Niagara got cut. But looking at the trip and knowing that at this point we’d be dirty, tired, and probably pretty over the work of no-hookups, I shuffled things around to add back Niagara Falls. I also sought out the nicest, most positively-reviewed campground I could find in the area.

We’ve stayed in a few KOA “camping resorts” during this trip. While it’s been nice to have the full hookups, the facilities have been kind of trashy. The pools have seemed a little dirty and the playgrounds and shower-houses have needed some maintenance. Good enough for a place to sleep on this trip, but not somewhere I would seek out. The Branches of Niagara is a totally different experience. As soon as I arrived I knew we needed to book a trip to come back, ideally with friends or family (hey Nimmy, let’s go next summer). The camping resort has 3 pools, including a kiddie pool, a lazy river, and a main pool with waterfalls. There are kids activities and crafts everyday, a lake/beach with kayak rentals, mini-golf, lawn games, and so much more. The playground is awesome and the bathroom and showers are clean and spacious. There’s a zipline across the lake and even on-site laundry (no laundromat!).

We our first full day exploring Niagara Falls State Park, but then we literally just hung out at the campground. For the next couple of days we fell into a routine of eating a leisurely breakfast, doing the craft of the day at the activity center, hitting the park or biking around, and then spending the rest of the day at the pool. We rented the 4-person pedal bike (not recommended unless you like to pedal HARD), and watched an outdoor movie. Penelope braved the zipline. We played some mini-golf and participated in the water games. It was the perfect relaxing break.