Most people will stay near by when on their holidays.
This article is saying most campground are filling up fast.
They want to be close by to home.
Like a few hours or so away.
An interesting one.



It shouldn't have come as any surprise, what with gasoline pushing $4 per gallon and a weakened dollar making travel abroad prohibitively expensive, but we were still shocked. We had, after all, been going to the same campground for two decades and never failed to get a spot. Last week, we took the second-to-last of the hundreds of sites available. The place was fully booked virtually every week of summer.

More Americans are planning to vacation close to home, and those who snooze will lose out on space in hotels, lodges, bed and breakfasts and campgrounds. Anyone up for a week in an economy motel? So make this the summer to visit - or revisit - the best New Hampshire offers. It can be done, in good measure, with day trips, though that's a hard way to get to know a place. It's better to plan to stay at least overnight.

The North Country has lots to offer, even for those who don't like to fish, paddle or climb mountains. The pace is far more relaxed than anywhere else in the state and, for those who aren't fond of spending their vacation waist-deep in a river or biking down a logging road, it's easy to see great scenery and lots of wildlife without exerting oneself. Lodging runs the gamut from a bedroll on the shore of a lake in a state park to a bed in a venerable hunting lodge or a room in one of New Hampshire's grand hotels complete with gourmet meals, entertainment, golf and other sports and a masseuse on call.

A place on the Seacoast gives visitors the option of taking in the beaches and historic sites along the coastline of three states. There's plenty for nature lovers, anglers, art lovers and shoppers to do, and nights can be as quiet or action-packed as you want.

The Lakes Region still offers plenty of On Golden Pond charm, a full gamut of indoor and outdoor recreation options and beautiful scenery. And those three regions are just the best-known places. New Hampshire is riddled with lakes and ponds and dotted with state parks and ideal spots for quiet vacations that are only a few minutes away from a good museum, nature center, summer theater or concert hall and antique shops and the like.

Pull out a map, visit the travel and tourism section of the state website or just ask around. The perfect place to spend a week or two without running up a big bill is no more than a few hours away. But don't wait too much longer to make a reservation.