Favorite photo from camping Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, 2012.
Posts Tagged ‘NH State Parks’
Wordless Wednesday – 08/01/12
August 1, 2012
Staring contest between a Mama Duck and a six-year old. Who won?
Camping – Ellacoya State Park
July 20, 2012We’re back from a wonderful week of camping with the grandkids. Ellacoya State Park, Gilford, NH, is on the southwest shore of Lake Winnipesaukee, the state’s largest lake. The Coleman CT260 bunk house served us well – again.
The campground includes 37 sites with three-way hookups plus cable. Even though we were camping, I must admit the grandkids loved getting the Disney Channel and Cartoon Network when they wanted a break from the heat.
The sites are all good-sized with some shaded and some in full sun – your preference. Pets are not allowed. There is a small boat launch and a full bath house including a washer and dryer. The campground and park are pristinely maintained.
At least once a day, we took a walk across the wooden foot bridge between the campground and the park, watching the crystal clear water running over the rocks, and checking out the wild blackberries and grapes.
The wild blackberries were not quite ready, and the grapes looked terrific but weren’t ripe either – darn. Maybe we’ll time it better next year?
Swimming is our number one activity. The water is shallow and warm. The grandkids with their life vests on feel very comfortable going out quite a distance before the water even hits their waist. The area is open and wonderful for using tires, boogie boards, or inflatable boats. We used all three.
There is a communal fire ring instead of individual ones at the campsites. We coped with not having a fire ring but do admit to complaining just a little about not having our nightly roasted marshmallows.
Adjacent to the Campground is the public beach and parking lot where you can pay to park and spend the day. They have picnic tables, a small playground, volley ball net, a little store, and roped off beach area with a lifeguard.
As campers, we had access to this part of the park and would take advantage of it early in the morning before the parking lot filled up. It was a wonderful little walk through the woods where you could enjoy the beautiful ferns and lush tree canopy on the way to the playground.
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A very special family lives full time at Ellacoya – the duck family. They just bring a smile to your face whether you visit them or they visit you at your campsite.
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Our trip was made extremely more enjoyable because some friends surprised us by pulling in and camping in the site right next to us. What fun to spend the week together – swimming, talking, playing cards, learning cribbage, having fun, and laughing out loud a lot.
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New Hampshire State Parks and Recreation manages both Hampton Beach and Ellacoya State Parks. Rangers are on site at both parks but are part-time at Ellacoya versus full-time at Hampton Beach.
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This is our second camping trip to Ellacoya, and it is a perfect spot for our camping family. We like the smallness of the park, ability to walk a few steps to the water, and the wooded park setting. And, who couldn’t enjoy the variety of wildlife – variety of birds, large and small, ducks, weasels, ground hogs and the wonderful loons?
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All good things must come to an end so we pulled out with a mixture of feelings – what a great week, sorry to see our friends leave, and how soon should we all head back.
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Thanks New Hampshire State Parks and Recreation for such a great campground and park.
This post has been linked to the GRAND Social blogging event.
Gone Camping – Ellacoya State Park
July 14, 2012The to-do-list for this camping trip includes relaxing, swimming, hiking around the park, playing rummy, picking wild blackberries, eating at the picnic table, swimming, visiting Laconia, looking for the wild ducks, checking out a local farm and its produce stand, laughing out loud a lot, and swimming some more.
Ellacoya State Park, part of the NH State Parks, is on the southwest shore of Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire’s largest lake. We’ll be off the grid for five days except for our tablet so check our Facebook page for updates.
Have a good week – we’re planning to do just that thanks to the NH State Parks and their wonderful campground.
2011 Camping Trip
Coleman Travel Trailer Model CT260BH
April 5, 2012We love camping, and we love camping with our grandkids.
We started with a Minnie Winnie we bought from Camping World. Winnie was a wonderful little RV that we tooled all around in. The downside was the size – 22′ from stem to stern. That wasn’t a lot of room for two adults and two children, and there was no storage. So, after having a great camping season, we decided we wanted a little more room.
When you visit Camping World or any other RV sales lot, keep your eye on the dollar signs, your mind on the price of gas, and your hand on your wallet. These things are not cheap, and they depreciate like yesterday’s fashions. After a lot of looking and evaluating, we decided the best bang for our buck was a Coleman Travel Trailer.
I’m not going to list all the standard features or even the bells and whistles in the Coleman brochure because you can find that online or at your dealer. I want to talk about what this particular Coleman, Model CT260, had that was near and dear to our 
family’s heart.
A large bump out covering the entire kitchen and living area gives you a lot of living space. The kitchen prep area is big enough to make three meals and two snacks a day which is essential to the medical needs of our camping family. While the U-shaped dinette allows for plenty of elbow space for meals, it is also a great place to play games. The entertainment center is centrally located and very convenient for watching TV, DVDs, or playing the occasional Play Station game. The queen size bed keeps the adults from being grumpy in the morning, and the individual bunks make the grandkids happy, happy. There is also plenty of storage for everything you need – large pantry for food, clothes, beach toys, kites, chairs, tools, outdoor carpet, and fire wood.
Do we wish we could change some things? Sure, nothing is perfect. For grandparents, hooking up a TT requires a lot more time and effort than getting in a RV and driving out of the driveway. But, we’re back to the bang – it just costs too much for us to buy a RV big enough to have bump outs, a bed and two bunks. It also costs too much to put gas in a 100-150 gallon tank, and let’s not even talk about the depreciation.
Camping is our family’s favorite summer adventure. Summer 2012 will be our third season camping and our second season using our Coleman. We already have reservations at two of our NH State Parks. Pack the sunscreen, we can hardly wait!
Grandchildren chime in about the Coleman:
Grandson (6) - It’s really good and it’s better than our RV we did have.
Granddaughter (11) - I love that it has the bunks, and I also love the TV.
