50 States, 500 Campgrounds by Joe Yogerst (TLC Book Tours)

Do you like to camp?  If so, do you tent camp, or camp in a cabin or camper?  We used to tent camp, but now we camp in our pop-up camper.  I also tent camp or in cabins  with Scouts.   I liked this statistic at the start of this book, “According to the data portal Statista, more than 40 million Americans camp each year, and they spend about $3 billion per annum buying camping equipment. And that’s just tent campers.  Millions more experience the great outdoors staying in cabins and glamping, and more than eight million American households own RVs.”  Wow!!

 This book takes into account that there are many different ways to camp from rustic to glamping, family adventures to romantic.  I also like that it starts with a section on responsible camping covering many of the items we cover in Girl and Boy Scouts (such as Leave No Trace).  They are important items for keeping our parks nice for everyone.  I noticed last year that with more campers, there seemed to be a lot more people that didn’t know about responsible camping. 

 The sections are split up by state in alphabetical order.  There are highlights about the state include how many national and state parks there are. Each park is listed as well as a symbol for what type of camping, address, when it’s open, rates, amenities, and where there are ADA sites.    It’s fun looking through all of the different types of campgrounds around the United States.  It is giving me ideas for future camping trips.

 I looked around to see if any campgrounds I’ve been too were included.  The only ones I could find that I’ve camped at were Indiana Dunes State Park, Mackinaw Mill Creek Campground (Michigan), Peninsula State Park (Wisconsin), and Devil’s Lake State Park (Wisconsin).  I’m kind of curious how the campgrounds were chosen.  Mackinaw Mill Creek Campground was pretty good but plagued by the fact that the RV dump station was right next to the pool.  PU!!  We did have the most beautiful campsite ever with our tent right on the straits of Mackinac.  It was awe inspiring opening up our tent each morning.  The way the Wisconsin State Campgrounds were listed was atrange.  The title was the area of the parks instead of the actual park name.  Nicolet Bay is a section within the Peninsula State Park campground.  The Quartzite campground is a section of Devil’s Lake State Park.  I would have titled the section Devil’s Lake State Park and state that you like a certain section of the campground best and why.

 Do you have any favorite places to camp?

 Overall, 50 States, 500 Campgrounds is a fun book to use to think about planning a camping trip to someplace new.

 Book Source:  A Review Copy from Hachette Book Group as part of the TLC Book Tour.  Thank-you! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.