New Hampshire is a great place to visit no matter what time of year it is. To make it easy to plan a trip there, whether it is a camping trip or not, order the FREE 2008-2009 New Hampshire Visitor’s Guide from the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development.

In addition to the gorgeous 176 page visitor’s guide, you’ll receive an official New Hampshire Highway Map and all it costs is a couple minutes of your time to fill out the request form. Then you just sit back, relax, and wait for the guide and map to arrive in your mail!

The guide includes a section on New Hampshire State Parks and includes a listing of all the state parks by region that lists the activities available, facilities/amenities, what type of camping whether it’s a campground or has cabins, if the campground is pet friendly, and contact information.

So don’t wait. Order your free guide today!

Who isn’t looking for a good deal these days? While camping and campground fees have always been a great deal, there’s a website I just found, freecampgrounds.com that currently has over 1,600 campsites listed that are either free or almost free, meaning $10 or less.

The website is really easy to use. Just click on the state you want to camp in and scroll through the list. Most camping areas have a scenery and noise level rating; the number of campsites; the maximum days allowed; nearest city; amenities; months open; and a description. Plus, many of the listings have comments from people who have camped there which is great information to have.

Here’s a couple FREE camping places I found:

MONTANA
Columbus. It’s a city owned campground on Yellowstone River. It’s free to camp there but donations are accepted. It’s open all year but the bathroom closes in the winter. It has a scenery rating of 5 out of 5, and a noise level of 1 out of 5.

FLORIDA
Apalachicola Boondocking. The description on freecampgrounds.com says, “I live in Apalachicola, and I know that a lot of RVs and travel trailers camp all over town. Just find a parking lot and pull in. If you go though the blinking caution light (from the east headed west), don’t turn following 98, go straight. Several places along this short road to pull up for the night, but follow to the end (about 1 mile) and you end up at the harbor with all the shrimp boats. Lots of parking there! This is a beautiful coastal village with great seafood restaurants and interesting shops and galleries. There is a lot of history here and is worth a few days stay. St. George Island is 12 miles away with its sugar white sand and beautiful beaches! This isn’t called the “Forgotten Coastline” without reason. It’s totally unspoiled!”

CALIFORNIA
Big Bar Campground near the Trinity River. The nearest town is Big Bar and the nearest city is Eureka. It’s open year round.

These are just a few examples. Check the website out for yourself and find a free or nearly free campground to stay at on your next camping trip!

Family camping trips are truly the stuff memories are made of. I regret not wanting to go camping when my kids were younger, but regretting the past isn’t a good way to live. So even though our kids were pretty much ready to move out of the house when we started camping we still invited them to go with us and have been creating family memories for the last 7 years.

Better late than never, right? Sadly, all of our children can never make it on the same camping trip but they all go on at least one every year which makes for some pretty entertaining stories during the holidays because silly and funny stuff always happens.

For example, even though we have a checklist, essential items are often forgotten such as when my husband went on a tent trip with my son and took all the plates, cups, and silverware out of out popup and forgot to put them back in even though he assured me he had. When it came to eat our first meal on the next camping trip in the popup we definitely had to improvise! There was also a memorable trip when raccoons stole our bread from right under our noses and another time when the squirrels figured out how to open a can of nuts (the foil seal and all) and ate all our cashews.

If you want to start making some great memories with your family and are looking for some tips and guidance on taking a family camping trip, click here to find out about a great e-book and audio book called “The Family Camping Guide.

Some of topics covered in the guide:
The Five Best Reasons to Go Camping As A Family
Ten Great Family Camping Vacation Ideas
Five Tips for Choosing a Great Campsite
Ten Signs fo a Family Friendly Campground
Essential Family Camping Gear
Five Ways to Get Great Deals on Camping Gear
Five Easy Tasks Around the Campsite Kids Can Help With
Five Tips for Hiking With Kids
Five Ways to Keep Kids Busy if the Weather Turns Bad
……Plus much more

To order your copy of the Family Camping Guide for only $27 (limited time 50% off offer) and to get your free bonuses of 101 Camping and Outdoor Recipes ($24 value), Camping: Prepare and Enjoy the Great Outdoors ($19 value), and Budget Travel ($24 value) Click Here. It’s a total value of over $100 for only $27! That’s an awesome value! Plus the package also includes the Family Camping Guide book in audio form which is a great option for busy families. Just copy the audio files onto your mp3 player or on to a cd and listen to the book while commuting to work or while shuttling the kids to activities or school.