Welcome To That's Camping™!
Welcome to our web site. Here you will find Northeast campground reviews, along with lots of other camping information. There is always something new, so keep checking back often. We hope you enjoy your visit here.
The Bluffs at Danforth Bay
August 13, 2006 - Article Categories: Travel-Plans • Danforth-Bay
The Bluffs at Danforth Bay is a brand new Adult (50+) Seasonal Camping Community located in Freedom, New Hampshire. Sites are available for $3150 plus metered electric and an optional $100 winter on-site storage fee. Cable TV, Internet access, guest fees and canoe/kayak usage are all included in your yearly seasonal fee.
If you can’t wait until next season, there is a discounted rate of $1800 to stay from August to mid-November.
For those wanting to sign up for next year (mid-April to mid-Nov) a $500 is required, and you have the option to choose your site after September 1st.
Open House tours are available on Saturday, August 26 starting at 11am.
Our Tour
On Friday afternoon, Diane took Mike and me on an “official” tour of the Bluffs and to be honest, I was really impressed. So impressed, that for a few brief minutes I considered lying about our age, and signing up on the spot.
We fell in love with the Club House area. I think this is really the heart and soul of the campground.
Outside you’ll find two heated (salt water) pools and 3 tennis courts. Several canoes/kayaks are available for peaceful access to Huckins Pond.
When you walk inside the Club House (top floor), the large function area is outstanding. Lots of tables and chairs. High vaulted ceilings, and windows galore with access the wrap around deck out back (with a stunning view.) Several cozy sitting areas to read quietly or access the Internet. A large TV screen with DVDs along with a juke box. Access to a small full kitchen is great for functions or just a snack with friends.
Head downstairs, and you’ll find the laundry, showers/restrooms, fitness room, game room (pool tables, etc) and a wonderful library room. Both upstairs and downstairs are handicapped accessible.
No one under 21 years of age is allowed to utilize most amenities at the Bluffs; but members with younger guests will have no problem accessing all of Danforth Bay’s amenities, which includes 3 pools, 2 lake beaches, tennis courts, boating, playgrounds, entertainment, snack bar, and camp store.
Security is important at the Bluffs. Unlike Danforth Bay, there is a key pass (keypad), not a card pass. Each seasonal gets their own code and Danforth Bay guests (coming in by car or golf cart) are not able to access the grounds.
What About the Sites?
Most of the camp sites are large and spacious. They offer a little something for everyone’s tastes: sunny & open or more private. There are even some available for two or more “friends” that want sites close together.
If you like being near the action, there are many (sunny and open) sites available right near the Club House/pool area. There are also other sites that are still close by, but are a little more private, away from the business of the Club House area.
On our tour, Diane drove by many friendly, happy campers. We stopped and spoke to a couple with 3 precious Westie dogs and a gorgeous site. Besides fantastic landscaping, they had the most heavenly view of the mountains and fields below. The views from some sites at the top is breathtaking.
Open House at the Bluffs
The good news is there are still a lot of good sites available. They are hosting an Open House on Saturday, August 26 starting at 11AM. If you are looking for a new seasonal campsite, or if even if you are curious about seasonal camping and what it offers, it is a great opportunity to check out the Bluffs for yourself. There will be personal golf cart tours, or if you rather take a tour on your own that is also possible.
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Diana’s Bath - review by New England Camper
August 12, 2006 - Article Categories: Northeast-Attractions • Natural-Attractions
New England Camper has written a wonderful review (with photos) of Diana’s Bath, located in North Conway, New Hampshire (White Mountains.)
Here are a few more links for Diana’s Bath and NH Waterfalls
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Any AOL Users Out There?
August 03, 2006 - Article Categories: Miscellaneous
AOL has recently opened their “gated garden” and allowing us non-members access to their site.
Today, I decided to sign up for a free AOL email account. AOL has a reputation as a horrendous nightmare for designers and web programmers since AOL (in their infinite wisdom) decides almost all mail is spam or blocks email from certain scripts all together. I figured it would be a good way to test scripts.
Anyway, to make a long story short, I went to That’s Camping and signed up for updates list using my new AOL email address; everything seemed to work fine. I just need to receive the confirmation email to finalize my subscription. I looked in my AOL inbox, and nope, nothing. Kept hitting the new mail button...nada.
So, I checked the Spam folder...what a surprise (sarcasm added here), there is my confirmation email from That’s Camping. sigh. So, that means that most of the AOL users that try to subscribe to the updates list will probably not get their confirmation email unless they check their spam folder.
The confirmation email is needed to finalize the actual subscription so if the user doesn’t hit the link in the email, then they are not added to the updates list.
Sorry if I offended any of our visitors, but I really really really hate AOL.
For those that have tried to subscribe to our updates list using your AOL account, make sure to check the spam folder for the confirmation email.
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Remick Farm in Tamworth New Hampshire
July 23, 2006 - Article Categories: Northeast-Attractions • Natural-Attractions
Looking to do something fun and educational in New Hampshire? Visit the Remick Museum and Farm in Tamworth. Admission is free, and they also give tours.
For a sneak peek, take a look at our photos from our summer 2005 visit:
The Remick Farm is located on 58 Cleveland Hill Road, Tamworth, New Hampshire - check their web site for more details:
http://www.remickmuseum.org
[Tamworth is located south of Conway and north of Ossipee, NH]
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Camping and Thunderstorms
July 20, 2006 - Article Categories: Camping-Tips
Ron, one of our regular forum contributors, suggested that we should talk about what to do when a thunderstorm hits while you are camping. I agreed that it is an important topic, so I dug around google for some links:
- thunder storm camping safety - this one can be printed out. Keep it with you while you are camping. Lots of good information on thunder & lightening along with camping in storms.
- bestofhealth.com Newsletter on Storms
- about.com
- wikihow.com - Protect Yourself in a Thunderstorm
- www.redcross.org keepsafe in a thunder storm
- calgarysun.com RV Article
Join us on our forum to discuss camping and thunderstorms.
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Kayaking to Huckins Pond New Hampshire
July 16, 2006 - Article Categories: Northeast-Attractions • Natural-Attractions • Photos • Travel-Plans • Danforth-Bay
We took our new (Old Town Twin Otter) kayak for a couple of trips last week.
On Friday, we took one last blast to Huckins Pond (New Hampshire) and brought along our Rat Terrier, Mindy. We originally thought it was going to be a short trip, with her wiggling and fussing, but she really seemed to enjoy the ride!
I think she looked adorable in her life preserver!
View all our kayaking photos.
We can’t wait to bring Mindy on more kayak trips this summer!
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Fransted Campground in Franconia NH - photos over the years
July 16, 2006 - Article Categories: Photos • Travel-Plans
We have enjoyed camping at Fransted Campground in Franconia, New Hampshire. I uploaded many of the photos taken over the years. Lots of campsite shots, along photos of the landscaping & facilities.
View our Fransted Campground photos on picasaweb.google.com
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Our Danforth Bay Vacation is Almost Over
July 13, 2006 - Article Categories: Travel-Plans • Danforth-Bay
Well, here it is, Thursday afternoon, and tomorrow will be our last full day at Danforth Bay. sigh.
:(
We had a great week!
Sunday night, we watched the Incredibles on our big screen “sit-in” movie - Mike’s family is also camping this week, and it is a tradition to watch a dvd movie on the projection screen.
Monday morning, we went on the 10am nature walk to Trout Pond. Bob and Patty (newenglandcamper) recommended this guided tour to us, and we are so glad we participated. It was a small group this week, and Craig and Nick were informative and entertaining on this historical walk through old Shawtown to Trout Pond. Highly recommended! Look for it on the weekly schedule on Monday!
Tuesday, we had a scary lightening thunderstorm roll through, and Mindy was shaking! Hmm, I guess I was shaking a little bit too, waiting for a tree to fall on our trailer! We faired the storm, but Danforth Bay’s water pumps were hit, so we lost our water later in the day. It was back up by the Wednesday morning.
Last night, we made our traditional trip to the Pizza Barn. I ordered a mini mushroom/hamburg, but was jealous of my inlaw’s bacon pizza. The good news is the waiter messed up the order, so we ended up with medium pizzas, instead of small/minis; he charged us for the minis. We even braved the hard rainfall after dinner to head to Kranky Franky’s for ice cream (I got my favorite carrot cake instead)
Today, I am just hanging out. It is after 5pm, Mike is at the pool with his family, and I am sitting up in the Depot using wifi. I am going to miss it here when we leave on Saturday. sigh.
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Combined all Connecticut Reviews
July 04, 2006 - Article Categories: Miscellaneous
Site Update: I combined the three Connecticut regions (Eastern, Mid, & Western) into one Connecticut region. In the mid and western regions, there were very few reviews, so it just seemed more efficient to combine them into one category. It will also be easier to find Connecticut campgrounds this way.
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New Tandem Kayak - The Old Town Twin Otter
July 03, 2006 - Article Categories: Equipment
After so many days of searching and researching, we finally found a good price on a tandem kayak in stock! I figured I would post some of my notes to help anyone else looking.
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Photos - Danforth Bay Campsites
June 29, 2006 - Article Categories: Photos • Travel-Plans • Danforth-Bay
I uploaded a bunch of photos for many individual campsites at Danforth Bay Camping Resort in Freedom, NH.
I would love other visitors to also join flickr.com where we can create Northeast Camping groups, and share our photos. Flickr is such a powerful photo tool; its tagging system is awesome!
Take a look at these two regional groups and you will see what I mean. It can develop into a nice photo community.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/nh/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/newengland/
If anyone is interested, I started our own group over at flickr just for sharing Northeast Campground photos.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/northeast-camping/
Anyone can view the photos, you do not need to be a member, but to add your photos to the group, you need a flickr membership. Joining is easy, especially if you already have a yahoo account.
Searching the group for specific photos is easy with flickr tags (keywords). Here is the list of tags for the That’s Camping group:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/northeast-camping/pool/tags/
Flickr FAQ: http://www.flickr.com/faq.gne
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Reviews Older than 3 Years will now Display Notation
June 29, 2006 - Article Categories: Miscellaneous
Since many of our visitors pay close attention to how old a review is, and when it was posted, there will now be a notation displayed on all campground reviews older than three years. This hopefully will organize the older reviews better, and allow our visitors to know immediately that the review is older.
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New Photo Editing Software
June 28, 2006 - Article Categories: Photos
I recently heard about Upshot photo editing software from Bellamax.
For a limited time, it is a free (windows only) download; after June 30, the cost will be $30. I can’t test it on my Mac, since they don’t have a Macintosh version yet, but I downloaded the file anyway.
I have heard many good things about the software; the one-touch fix feature is very effective! But there are still a few bugs to be worked out. If you love digital photography, try the software and let us know what you think.
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