My love for VT state parks began in high school, around 1988, when my parents became rangers at DAR State Park. The ranger's quarters was small, so my sister and I lived in a camper next to the small house that first summer. Eventually, the quarters got an addition and my sister and I moved into the house with Mom and Dad! We lived that life for 9 years, enjoying the campground, the lake and meeting lots of great people. I worked there for a couple summers mowing lawns, cleaning bathrooms, and checking in campers....I loved being there.
Years later, my husband and I decided we would camp at each state park or visit the day use only parks. We have been married for 21 years this summer and our boys are 19 and 15....we have camped at almost ALL the state parks! We started with a tent, then a pop-up, then a tow behind trailer and now we have down-sized to a truck camper. I bought a Vermont State Parks Map Atlas at Little River State Park, way back when we were still tenting. It has a map of each park, and we have kept track of all the parks we visit, writing notes about our stay. It holds our family's camping history and is a book that I treasure.
This coming weekend, my husband and I continue our tradition. We are camping at Smugglers Notch State Park....we get to check it off in our atlas! We only have a few parks left to camp in, but there are many new day use parks we haven't visited. I have included photos of the atlas and the map where we color in the parks we have visited.
As for favorites, we can't pick one. There is something we love about each park.... whether it's a swimming hole we found at Fort Dummer, the river at Jamaica, having a sunset dinner at Mt. Ascutney, kayaking at Stillwater, fishing at Lake Carmi or having ice cream with Smokey Bear at Grand Isle! Our love for Vermont State Parks is strong and will continue as we keep visiting parks and checking them off in our atlas. Our family has many, many fond memories as we have watched our children grow, camp and love the parks. As I write this, I have our treasured park atlas on my lap and have been sharing tidbits with my family that I have recorded over the years. Vermont Stare Parks Forever!
With much love, Julie Schondube
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