Spring in New England is, well, unpredictable—to say the least. So when G and I spied one of those summer-like weekends ahead in the forecast in early APRIL (yep, I’m a few weeks behind in posting), we jumped at the chance to take Tedda (our Winnebago Travato) out and camp at Pawtuckaway State Park in Nottingham, New Hampshire. G and I were a little bit ashamed that we had never visited Pawtuckaway after all these years living in New Hampshire and having this gem of a park so close. In fact, from everywhere we’ve ever lived in the state, Pawtuckaway SP has never been more than 25 miles away. And yet, we had never visited.
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Mid-November. For me, mid-November is one of New England’s “shoulder season” months. Long after the gorgeous foliage has peaked and before the beauty (and novelty) of the season’s first snowfalls is November. Cold weather. Gray skies. Short Days. Less sunlight. Nevertheless, committed to making every weekend count and to get as much use out of the Travato as possible, G and I opted for a return visit to Pillsbury State Park in Washington, NH, to take advantage of its last open weekend of the season.
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After spending the first weekend of our Travato ownership “camping” in the dealership parking lot and then, the next night, in my mom’s driveway, G and I decided we’d spend our second weekend actually camping. And with a few New Hampshire state parks still open, we snagged a reservation at Dry River Campground in Crawford Notch State Park in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. Given the choice between the ocean and the mountains, I’ll always choose the ocean. Luckily, in New Hampshire, I have the best of both worlds, living just short walk from the beach and a few hours from mountains. And whileI love the coast, I’m always awed by New Hampshire’s White Mountains and the snow-capped, 6,288-foot Mount Washington, the Northeast’s highest peak.
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New Hampshire is known for a lot of things: its White Mountains, its lakes, its super-short coastline. Well, White Lake State Park in Tamworth provides two out of three, with a gorgeous lakefront setting and 3,490-foot Mount Chocorua as a gorgeous backdrop. Add the turning leaves of fall, and the park is a stunner.
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Nights #19 and #20 of our summer of social distancing (i.e., van camping) had us at Pillsbury State Park in Washington, New Hampshire, considered “one of the more primitive and lesser known gems,” according to its page on the NH State Parks site. Pillsbury State Park is nestled in Washington, NH, about 48 minutes from Concord, our state capital, an hour from Manchester, New Hampshire’s largest city, and just about an hour and half from home for us. Yet, being there, you feel worlds away from the rest of southern/central New Hampshire.
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Our summer of camping weekends is shaping up nicely, with COVID-19 providing us the opportunity to stay local and explore places that we hadn’t been before. Moose Brook State Park in Gorham, New Hampshire, was one of those places. And guess what? This park might have catapulted itself to the top of our camping list!
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On a rare off-weekend from camping, G and I decided to explore a nearby trail about 20 miles from home, the Adams Point Loop Trail in Durham, New Hampshire, located within the Adams Point Wildlife Management Area. At 1.5 miles, the trail is short and sweet, with terrific views along the way and what might be two of the best benches I’ve spotted on trails so far; and if you’re a fan of water views, this trail has them aplenty!
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Over the July 4th weekend, G and returned to Gilson Pond Campground in Monadnock State Park. For being only about an hour and a half from home, the park feels much, much further away. And while folks might have been converging on the trails to hike Mount Monadnock, one of the most frequently hiked peaks in the WORLD, we opted for a quiet weekend with Gilson Pond as our centerpiece. And boy, did it deliver
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For starters, Gilson Pond Campground in Jaffrey, NH, is gorgeous. Absolutely, positively gorgeous. For a small-ish state, New Hampshire has a ton to offer, and it’s somewhat surprising (and embarrassing) that after more than 25 years living in New Hampshire, there are still huge parts of the state that I don’t know well. This little corner is one of those parts. Seriously, if you haven’t ever made your way to this little corner of our state, do so. It’s just beautiful.
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One of New Hampshire’s great draws is the beautiful part of our state known as the White Mountains, the mountain range that encompasses about a quarter of the state (and part of Maine, too!), and Lafayette Place Campground, nestled within Franconia Notch State Park, is a great base camp for hiking and biking, but on this particular weekend, we did neither. We simply escaped to the woods and, away from cell service and wifi, tuned out to the world and into nature for our first camping trip of the 2020 season.
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Our summer plans initially included a few days in New Orleans (a conference for G, and a few days for me to play tourist) and then a two-week trip to the West Coast—a week in Washington State with family then a weeklong road trip down the Oregon Coast and into Northern California. We were looking forward to a few camping weekends as well, but most of those hadn’t been planned out at that point. And then, well, the global pandemic. Needless to say, our plans went out the window once COVID-19 hit. We canceled all of our bookings and flights and even the two camping reservations we had already booked. We cleared our calendars. As for summer? We would simply wait and see. Now, as I write this, we’re currently scheduled to be camping 30 days this summer, in 11 different parks (I’m hoping those numbers increase with the addition of more reservations—we’ll see!) throughout Maine and New Hampshire.
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Earlier this summer, I made a list of my summer “must-dos”—places I wanted to visit, campgrounds where I wanted to stay, things I wanted to do. Returning to Star Island, a small island just off the coast, was at the top of the list. I had first visited more than 15 years ago, and I’ve wanted to go back ever since.
Star Island is one of nine islands that make up the Isles of Shoals, located just a few miles off the coast of New Hampshire and Maine. Four of the islands (Lunging, Seavey, Star, and White) fall within New Hampshire’s borders; the others fall within Maine’s (Appledore, Cedar, Duck, Malaga, and Smuttynose). A few of the islands are privately owned, while the public can visit both Appledore Island and Star Island. While I haven’t visited Appledore (yet!), it was Star Island to which I longed to return.
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With its separate spaces, Fuller Gardens has something for everyone. Want more than 125 different varieties of roses? A stunning dahlia display garden? A calm and serene Japanese garden, complete with a koi pond? A conservatory housing hundreds of succulents and tropical varieties? Gorgeous fountains and statuary? It’s all there at Fuller Gardens. So much to see in this hidden treasure of a place.
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