We prefer to stay as close to a park as possible. You can stay at Holiday World at Lake Rudolph Campground Resort. You can pitch your tent in the trees, on Lake Rudolph. You can do a little fishing, swimming or paddling. From your tent you can watch Raven and Legend right across the water (top right). You can take the trail around the lake to the park entrance, or ride the shuttle. And this is a plush campground. You have paddleboats, miniature golf, golf cart rentals, a fine playground, basketball courts, horseshoe pits, pool and laundromat. If you're an RVer, the deluxe sites have full hookups. But it gets better. If you'd like to stay here but don't like camping and don't own an RV, you can rent a log cabin (above), basic RV, or king sized RV. The cabins and king RVs hold four adults and four kids each. The basic RVs, shown at left, hold four. For a group, there is an outdoor pavilion and an indoor air conditioned meeting center. This won the national campground of the year award in 2005. Lake Rudolph stays open for Halloweekends in October. Definitely make reservations. 1-877-478-3657. www.lakerudolph.com.

There's a Comfort Inn at Exit 63, as you pull off the interstate for Holiday World. Staying here allows you to drive in Friday night, stay two nights, and drive out Sunday morning, only driving the seven miles over to the park on Saturday. Adjacent is a Wendy's. It's no gourmet restaurant, but after a day of park food you might want a good salad, and they have six varieties of those. There's an indoor heated pool and the rooms are clean and comfortable for a modest price. There's also a gas station right next door. Each room has free wired and wireless high speed internet access, and two data port telephones, in case you or someone in your group needs to do a little work. The best feature is probably the free deluxe continental breakfast, which includes hot waffles, cereal, fruit, yogurt, muffins, bagels, coffee and juice. The rooms have Serta Perfect Sleeper mattresses, refrigerators, microwaves, and full cable with HBO. There's a laundry facility if you come back from the water park with wet suits and towels. 1-812-367-1122. For web access, go to Holiday World and click on the Comfort Inn icon.

For couples, the ultimate Indiana weekend would be a two nighter at French Lick Resort. You could spend evenings at a two century old resort which once attracted movie stars, presidents, athletes and executives. French Lick and sister West Baden Resort came into existence because of mineral springs. Swimming in their hot waters was a miraculous healing therapy, and people came from all over the Midwest. Until the mid 20th Century, this resort equalled any in the country. Then it began a slow decline and the hotels finally closed. A $382 million restoration has brought the 443 rooms back to their former glory and reopened the hotels as casinos. Since the owners now make their money off the gambling enterprises, the rooms, restaurants and spas are much less expensive than they used to be. From HW, go west a few miles to Gentryville, take 62/231/56 north to Haysville, and 56 over to French Lick. This will take about 30 minutes. But you can relax on the spacious porch (photo top left). You have four full scale restaurants plus a pizzeria and coffee shop. There are indoor and outdoor pools, bowling alleys and shops. The spa includes the mineral hot springs and the usual assortment of massages, baths and other treatments. The rooms are $120 a night, but you'll talk about the weekend for a long time. 1-888-694-4332. www.frenchlick.com.