Reunion

Hello,

We are planning a mini-reunion next summer and are considering Indianapolis as a location. We have groups of people from Chicago and Ohio, so Indy seems like a good middle ground, in addition to having an airport so people from far away could fly in.

We%26#39;d like to rent a cabin on a lake for the weekend. Does anyone know of any lakes that relatively close (within a half hour or so?) to the airport where we could rent a cabin? I%26#39;ve read a thread on this site about Warsaw, IN, but that seems a little far from the airport for us. It doesn%26#39;t have to be anything fancy but it would be great if we could find something that works for everybody.

A perk (although not a necessity) would be if it%26#39;s on a lake that also rents boats. We can bring a boat or two if necessary, but it would be nice to be able to rent something if we have a lot of people come.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Reunion

Sounds like you aren%26#39;t interested in Indy becasue of what it has to offer, except fot the location %26amp; airport?

Warsaw is about 2.5 hrs to the north. If you are looking to just go there, the Fort Wayne airport is an hour to the east %26amp; South Bend airport is about an hour north-north/west.

Chicago is about a 2 hr drive.

I live in Warsaw, so I%26#39;m not familiar with lakes in the Indy area.

But for an outdoor experience, you might also look at Brown County State Park %26amp; the Nashville, IN area...about an hour south of Indy.

Hopefully, some others will come on board with better suggestions.

Reunion

The lakes in the Warsaw area are really nice (Wawasee, Tippecanoe, Webster, and Winona Lake). Winona Lake is relatively small, but has a very nice shop/restaurant area that you can boat or drive to.

There are several lakes near Indy - Lake Lemon, Monroe Reservoir are both about 1 hour south of the airport. Morse and Geist Reservoirs are about 45 minutes north/northeast of the airport. Morse may have homes for rent - I doubt that Geist does; and I believe you can rent boats on Morse. I%26#39;m not sure what the water level is at Morse, that can be problematic. Lake Lemon and Monroe Reservoir are more ';vacation'; type lakes - fewer permanent homes, nice undeveloped areas, away from the city, etc.

The Warsaw area lakes have a fair number of Chicago and Ohio (western/northern Ohio) residents who have cottages and make frequent trips to those lakes. Boat and cottage rentals (or condo rentals) are also pretty easy to find. Wawasee is by far the largest of these lakes (we have a cottage there), but is pretty crowded on summer weekends. Webster, Dewart Lake, and some of the smaller lakes are typically not crowded and have a more relaxed, leisurely feel to them.

Good luck.

I%26#39;m not sure what you are going to find in Indy or nearby for the equivalent of a rental lake house. People who live here have lake houses either north (toward Michigan) or south (Bloomington) of here. We simply don%26#39;t have any lakes like what you are thinking of here or nearby Indy. The closest that you come to is Geist or maybe Eagle Creek, but those are surrounded by permanent year-round homes. People simply don%26#39;t come to Indy for lake houses; they leave it in search of it.

If you change your goal of needing a lake, then Indy has a lot to offer and can be a lot of fun....

There is a privately owned lake called Wasatch Lake an hour southwest of Indy. Since the airport is on that side of town, it may work for your group. The lake has canoing %26amp; there is a lodge for reunions, ect... It also has 300 acres of woods. Cabin rentals start at $100.00 a night. They have a website-Wasatchlake.com.

Brookville Lake is also a very nice lake. You can rent cabins at the state park, go horseback riding, stay in condos and look into boat rentals at Kents Harbor Marina, etc. We%26#39;ve often considered it for a location when we host the next family reunion.

Brookville, by Brookville Lake is 1 hour and 45 minutes from the Indianapolis Airport. It%26#39;s also 1 hour and 20 minutes from downtown Dayton and about an hour from downtown Cincinnati (the Cincinnati airport is actually in Kentucky, so that would quite a bit farther away.)

Liberty is a town near the northern part of the Brookville Lake. It%26#39;s just an hour from Dayton International Airport.

http://www.kentsharbor.com/

in.gov/dnr/鈥ark_whitewater.html

The state park by Brookville Lake is called ';Whitewater Memorial State Park.'; Don%26#39;t get that confused with White River State Park, which is in downtown Indianapolis by the canal and has all of the great museums, etc.!

I hope you have a great time!

If your family reunions are like mine, there%26#39;s no way everyone will fit into a single cabin. There are several cabins in a row on the lake, but they book up quickly. In addition, there is of course a campground, and the condos at the marina that I mentioned previously. Sometimes you can find private rentals on www.vrbo.com.

If you still need more lodging, Liberty and Brookville are cute but tiny towns. The closest place to find everything from chain hotels to B%26amp;Bs is Richmond, Indiana which is about a half hour north of Liberty. Again, it%26#39;s a long lake, so how long it takes you to get to your home base depends on where you stay.

http://www.franklincountyin.com/

http://www.visitrichmond.org/

Wow, thanks everyone for the great advice! I%26#39;ve got a lot of research to do - you have all been extremely helpful!

As a side note, to all you Indianapolisians (Indianapolisites?), there was an interesting article in Chicago%26#39;s Red Eye this morning about how Indianapolis has become such a great place to visit in the past 10 years. It said there are a lot of fun bars %26amp; clubs and it%26#39;s becoming a much ';hipper'; scene. I thought it was interesting considering this forum!

Again, thanks for all your help! I%26#39;m going to start researching all these lakes right now (my employer will certainly be happy... or not.)

Thank you all very much!

Another option might be Eagle Pointe Golf and Tennis Resort located on Monroe Reservoir near Bloomington. Aside from playing the golf course, I%26#39;ve not stayed there, but have heard good second hand reviews.

I just posted some pictures of Brookville Lake taken at Ainsley%26#39;s Cafe at Kent%26#39;s Harbor Marina. It%26#39;s a beautiful spot on a 16 1/2 mile long lake. I didn%26#39;t get the golf course in, but it%26#39;s just to the left of my pictures. The restaurant is at the top of a hill. My view was to the south. From the parking lot you can almost see the same amount of lake to the north. The condos, which look nice from the outside, are right next to the restaurant and have a similiar view to what you see in the pictures. The only downside to them is that it%26#39;s a pretty busy area so they don%26#39;t feel secluded (esp. on weekends).

did you try VRBO.com ? Have had great luck finding private homes %26amp; cabins...and I don%26#39;t know about Indianapolis state parks, but Ohio state parks have great inexpensive cabins