The great thing about camping near home.

[CajunCamper]

Living in Louisiana and trying to spend a weekend within the state a short drive from home, there's really only one city in my opinion worth traveling to and staying in a hotel and visiting the sites within the city and that's New Orleans. In New Orleans, you can actually stay in a nice hotel, and find all sorts of entertainment right there in the city with many of the best restaurants in the world at your fingertips.

That being said, there's really no other city in Louisiana that I would bother booking a hotel in and spending the weekend there for the fun of it.

Camping is another story all together. I can spend a wonderful weekend camping in any part of Louisiana and have something spectacular to do and see the whole time I'm there. That's the great thing about camping, even if you don't want to travel far from home and you're on a tight budget, you can have a wonderful weekend without a lot of fuss.

I've shown neighbors pictures of some of our camping trips here in our home state and they ask, "where is that" and when I tell them it's just an hour or so from home, they are sometimes suprised.

Anyway, get out there and explore your state.

CajunCamper

[ronerjones]

We always camp close to home. We have had our PU for 2 years now and I have never taken it more than 4 hours away with most trips being within 2 hours. We have found some great weekend hideaways. It is amazing what is close to home that we take for granted or just don't look into. Our camping trips are usually limited to 2 - 3 nights so I do not want to spend my time driving. The state parks are full of great adventures and history. One day I will retire (hopefully before I die) and plan to see all of our states and as many of the parks that I can possibly fit in. Until then I sure am happy here in South Florida.

[Ranger3/75]

You have some very nice State Parks in La.We used to live in Alabama Gulf Coast and would go to La.very much,and found some beautiful areas,esp.for swimming and canoeing.We go back about every 2 years and always find something new...........

[flyfisherman]

Here's a spot we like for the fall and spring camping and since I do not have A/C, not too good for the hot summer months ... then I head for the higher mountains.

But this spot is great for bluegill and bass fishing ... also for for crappy fishing in the early spring (pronounced "croppy" when your catching them, "crappy" when your not!) ~





Fly

[spicyville1]

Flyfisherman, nice photo. Makes me wish I were there on a daily basis. Here in Texas we have quite a few State Parks. I do not think I will fit them all in but we really like going to to 4 or 5 on a regular basis. Dinosaur Valley State Park and Cleaburne State park are our favorites. Both are about an hours drive from Arlington. We have a local State Park (about 20 min away)we go to which is Cedar Hill SP located on Joe Pool Lake. It is nice too but prefer the other locations better. My favorite independent park is in Grand Prairie and is also located on Joe Pool is Loyd Park. Very nice there.

[cndlzrus]

We have always camped with in 1-1/2 hours from home... the longest trip so far is  5 hours to Mackinaw City.  I try to stay in our state, to help support the states economy, say on our budget...  Our state is so big, there is so much to see and do...