Lake Anita State Park

Lake Anita State Park is located in southwest Iowa about 5 miles south of Interstate 80. The park, which contains a beautiful 171-acre artificial lake, is very popular for swimming, fishing and boating.

There is a campground with 144 sites, all within easy access of the lake.

Lake Anita State Park has come to be one of our stepping stones as we trek back and forth across the country—kind of a reliable and comfortable old friend. Situated just a short distance off I80 in western Iowa, Lake Anita is within 2 days striking distance from our home in New Jersey – that is if you aren’t stopping in every other state for a car repair. Okay, so this year things were a little rougher, so Lake Anita was night 3 rather than night 2 on our cross country trek.

As in every year passed, we arrived with only about two hours of sunlight left in the day – just enough to get some much needed exercise after a full day of just sitting.

The first order of business was finding a campsite, and I felt pretty sure that our motorhome plus 3 cars put us in the 2 campsite category. However, after our second pass through the campground looking for two nice sites next to each other down by the lake, the campground host stopped us and said we were welcome to all squeeze on one campsite if we could fit. The result was a modern day version of Conestoga wagons circling for the evening after a long, hard day on the trail – not too far off from the way we felt.

One of the things I like best about Lake Anita is that unlike most state parks that we have been to, you can actually camp right on the lake and even swim in it if you choose. The beach is on the other side of the lake from the campground, but easily accessible via the lovely 5-mile trail that circles the lake.

We quickly donned our bathing suits and hopped on our bikes for an evening ride. It really was much fun. It felt so exhilarating to be out of the RV and soaring through space under our own volition. Just like Herb used to do in years past, Andrew kept peddling ahead and jumping off his bike to take our pictures as we approached.

Once on the other side of the lake, we stopped at the beach for a quick swim, before continuing back to throw together dinner. Actually, with Celeste along, dinner is never just thrown together, but rather an event to be enjoyed both aesthetically and socially. I have never seen anyone enjoy slicing and dicing vegetables with such devotion and skill. It was like having our own private chef along. It was also nice, and somewhat surprising, to see how Andrew had become so capable and enthusiastic about his role in the dinner preparation.

Fortunately, the weather and the mosquitoes cooperated, and we were able to have dinner outside rather than being cramped in the ever-shrinking RV.

Sunset over the lake was spectacular as always. In our 5 times here, I don’t think there has ever been a bad one yet.