Give the gift of fun to your friends and family who go camping by giving them a great camping game! Here’s my favorites:

Ladder Golf (also called blongo ball, hillbilly horseshoes, hillbilly golf, redneck golf, and a few other names that I can’t put in print). It’s my all time favorite camping game. It’s also a great game to play when tailgating. The game is played by throwing bolos (2 golf balls connected by a string of rope) at a three-rung ladder with different points values awarded depending on which rung (if any) the players hook their bolos on. The first person or team to 21 points wins.


Cornhole - It’s another tossing game where beanbags (traditionally ones filled with hard corn kernels hence the catchy name of Cornhole) are tossed at a hole on a board and points are scored for getting the bean bag through the hole, and also usually for getting the bag to land on the board. Yes, this list of my favorite camping games will be heavily weighted with tossing games but that’s because it’s not exactly a good idea to play a tossing game in your living room.

Washers - yep, it’s another tossing game but this time it’s large oversized washers that are thrown at a target. There’s a lot of different variations of the game but I like the version pictured here because the two boxes used in the game hook together and close up with enough room inside to store the washers which makes it a great game to take camping, tailgating, or for a day at the park.

Bocce Ball - It’s a lawn bowling game that originated in Italy. It’s meant to be played on a flat grassy surface but we’ve found it’s more fun and more challenging when the terrain is uneven, hilly, and has obstacles in the way like stones or trees. We can pretty much make any surface we have available to us at the campground work. If we went back to playing it on a flat grassy lawn we’d probably think it was boring.

Frisbee Golf - Our family plays it by choosing whatever targets are available to us whether it’s our camper, a picnic table, a tree, etc. Then whoever can get their frisbee disc to the target first wins that round.

It’s important to have some indoor games handy when camping as well because those rainy days will happen which means you and your family will want something to do besides stare out the camper window and wishing for the rain to stop.

Camp Board Game is a fun outdoor themed game for kids as well as adults. The goal is to get to camp first. Along the way players learn fun facts about the great outdoors.

If you want to give a more traditional board game with an outdoor twist, how about the Planet Earth version of Monopoly? Instead of buying properties players buy, sell and trade the earth’s more beautiful environments and mysterious creatures.

So don’t delay. Gift the gift of fun today!

If that camper or Rv’er on your Christmas list is really difficult to buy for, it’s hard to go wrong with a RV or camping magazine subscription.

There’s several camping and RVing magazines on the market. Here’s how to choose:

CAMPING LIFE MAGAZINE - for people who camp with a tent; and those using smaller towable camping units such as popup campers (also called folding tent trailers), truck campers, A-line units, small travel trailers, hybrid travel trailers, and truck campers.

TRAILER LIFE MAGAZINE - for camping enthusiasts who have any towable camping unit from popups to travel trailers to truck campers to 5th wheels.

MOTORHOME MAGAZINE - for RV’ers who used a motorized camping unit (class A, B or C).

BACKPACKER MAGAZINE - for, yes you guessed it - people who do backpacking camping (those rugged wilderness camping individuals)

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ADVENTURE MAGAZINE - let’s just say it’s not for sissy campers like me. It’s for active outdoor enthusiasts (both campers and non-campers) who are looking for great adventures all around the world.

AIRSTREAM LIFE MAGAZINE - for those “silver bullet” Airstream camper owners

Not sure what type of camping that hard to buy for person does? Then go with TRAILER LIFE MAGAZINE. It’s the number 1 RV magazine in the United States.

The only downside is that delivery before Christmas isn’t guaranteed but that just gives you the opportunity to really confuse the recipient because you write what the gift is on a little piece of paper and wrap it in a small box with some rocks. The rocks are obviously just to throw off those people who feel the need to shake every present before they open it. I have a child who used to like to do that but one year I wrapped one of his presents in a shoe box that contained two smaller boxes. One of the small boxes had the present in it (can’t remember what it was anymore) and the other was full of broken glass. When he shook it I got this shocked look on my face and said, “Adam! You broke it!” Although I will never win an Oscar for my acting abilities, he believed me. I let him in on the joke and told him not to open the box of broken glass, but it cured him of the desire to shake the heck out of his boxes before opening them. But, I digress.

The 2009 Woodall’s camping directory is 2000 plus pages long and is a great resource for campers and RVers. It has over 15,000 campground and RV resort listings, covering the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Some of its other features include:
- Enhanced Instant Internet & Wi-Fi Information!
- Locations of hundreds of RV sales/service dealerships
- Listings of fun attractions to visit while traveling
- Handy “at-a-glance” charts tell if a campground welcomes Big Rigs, is Internet friendly, welcomes pets and accepts online reservations
- Detailed maps and “Rules of the Road” for each state and province
- A special editorial on “One Tank Trips”

To order, click here to go to Woodall’s website.

I don’t know how long the special pricing will last and I’m not saying that to try and get you to rush to Woodall’s website to place an order.

Since this is a camping site, here are some cool deals for you guys:

Cabelas
View Site
View Deals

Highlights
TomTom 125 GPS - $99.99
Salmon River Shepra Lined Jacket - $19.95
Ultra Deluxe Adam & Eve II Double Sleeping Bag - $139.99

Bass Pro Shops
View Site
View Deals

Highlights:
Midland XT24 GMRS Radios - $19.99
Garmin Nuvi 255 - $169.95
Garmin Nuvi 750 - $219.94

Gander Mountain
View Site
View Deals

Smartwool Hiking Medium Crew Socks (I love these!!!) - $9.95
Midland 2-Pack 20-Mile GMRS Radios - $39.95
Bounty Hunter Quick Silver Medal Detector - $119.95

Enjoy your Black Friday shopping experience!

My celebration is always indoors but a regular reader in the CampingEarth forum is going to mark Thanksgiving 2008 by celebrating a 14th annual Thanksgiving campout and feast. Everyone brings food to share at their celebration held at a local campground and they cook their turkey in a turkey fryer. It sounds like a great way to create lasting memories which it must because the forum regular who has this celebration says “We burn a pickup load of firewood and tell a thousand lies. Great fun.” Read all about it by clicking here. Maybe you’ll get the inspiration to start your own Thanksgiving campout and feast!

Tomorrow is the official start of the Christmas shopping season. To help you with gift ideas for the campers on your list tomorrow will be the day one kickoff of the “2008 Camping Earth Gift Guide.” Over the next 25 days we’ll post gift ideas ranging from camping essentials to fun gadgets to help you find the perfect gift for everyone you’re shopping for this year.

My start to the official Christmas shopping season is going to start very early tomorrow on Black Friday (too early - about 4 am). I’ll be one of those crazy people standing in line outside (probably freezing my butt off) waiting for the stores to open so I can get some of those great deals. It’s a tradition I started with my daughter 10 years ago and one that I would now gladly give up but one she thinks is way too much fun to stop. And it is fun. For my daughter and myself it’s not so much about the great deals, but the time we spend together and the stories we always come home with about the crazy and silly things other shoppers did (like the couple who had a huge fight in a store a couple of years ago over her purse. She told him to hold it and he loudly proclaimed he wasn’t a girl and wasn’t going to hold it. She thrust it at him anyway. He got mad, put it on the floor, told her he put it on the floor and started to walk away. The argument escalated from there. It was sad but funny because they seemed to be completely unaware that hundreds of people were watching and listening to every word because their argument occurred near the front of the store where a lot of us were waiting to check out. We were pretty much a captive audience).

Anyway, I’m going to fortify myself with a great meal today so that I have lots of energy for shopping with the crowds tomorrow.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Winnebago has received the award every year since 1995, a feat not accomplished by any other manufacturer. Winnebago Industries Chairman, CEO, and President Bob Olson said, “We are extremely proud to receive the Quality Circle Award again this year. We are also very proud that Winnebago Industries has received the Quality Circle Award every year since 1995, an accomplishment no other motor home or travel trailer manufacturer in the industry has been able to attain.”

The winners of the quality circle awards are determined by a Dealer Satisfaction Survey conducted by the RVDA. It rates manufacturers’ performance in eight specific areas: sales support, sales territory, vehicle design, vehicle reliability/quality, competitive price/value, parts support, dealership warranty support and overall dealer communications.

While I personally never put too much stock into industry awards, I’m writing about this one because receiving a quality award for 13 consecutive years must mean a company is doing a pretty good job of putting out a quality product for consumers. Although I have never personally owned a Winnebago manufactured camper/RV, I’ve looked at lots of them over the years at camping/RV shows and at campgrounds when I chat with fellow campers where the conservation almost always turns to the type/brand of camping unit each of us has. And I have to say the Winnebago manufactured RV’s I’ve seen look like they are of good quality to me.

I am by no means an expert but I can spot shoddy workmanship and have unfortunately seen quite a bit of it in brand new camping units over the years. Winnebago products may be a little more expensive than some other brands out there but it’s like my Mom has always said “You get what you pay for.” But don’t get the idea that I crawl around under RV’s and rip apart walls just to see how they are put together. My “inspections” are on the surface only but when I see a countertop that was put on sloppily or an outlet that is crooked it makes me wonder what else wasn’t put together with care and pride. It’s kind of like when you go look at a house and it’s dirty or a window is cracked. It gets you thinking about what else the homeowner isn’t taking care of, whether or not you can see it.

To read the entire article, click here.

Congratulations to Winnebago Industries on their award and achievement!

Whether you are interested in building your own teardrop trailer, have built a teardrop trailer, are in the process of building your own teardrop trailer or are like me and are in awe of anyone who can build anything that won’t fall apart when someone touches it with their pinkie (can you tell I’m severely challenged in the “building things” department?), it’s fun to read and follow along with their project.

The teardrop isn’t quite done yet, but in their latest post on November 22 they said the outside is pretty much done. Check out their post on November 10 to see some nice looking pictures of the exterior.

I’m guessing it won’t get christened with its first camping trip until 2009 though because, like me, they said they aren’t good winter campers (although I would be if I could camp someplace warm and sunny like Florida!).

To see all their blog posts and pictures click here.

In the spirit of the holiday season of giving…………

When you are doing your Christmas or Hanukkah cards this year, please take a few minutes to send a card to a soldier at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. to let him or her know how much you appreciate the sacrifices they have made for the United States.

Here’s the address:
A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20307-5001

Thank you.

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!

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!