let’s go glamping.

i would wholeheartedly suggest, for the campers and non-campers alike, to visit a huttopia nearest you. i’ll admit, i am a firm believer in the art of camping, and my love for it runs deep. but let’s say you’re not a camper. well, putting myself in your shoes, yours being a non-camper, i think you’d like it too. electricity, check. a clean bathroom with a toilet that flushes, check. blankets and a real bed, check. an airstream with hot food and coffee at the ready, check. what else are you looking for? a pool and nighttime summer activities? they’ve got that too. check, check. a few weeks ago we drove a few hours from home to huttopia in albany, nh. just south of north conway, in the base of the white mountains. this is one of the things i so love about where i live. the mountains are at my fingertips should i have a day to spend in them. they gave us a free stay, but no real demands to blog about it. newsflash–we really loved it! so here i am. camping is among my favorite activities in the world, though, as an adult, i haven’t done nearly enough. the downside of camping is that the list of supplies is long. maybe ours is too long, but we’ve (i say we, but really i mean steve) thought of nearly everything and want to cover all of our bases. but maybe that same supply list, is also what keeps you from doing it. tent, sleeping bags, stove, tarps, so on and so forth. and where to store it all in the 50ish weeks of the year when you aren’t using it?that’s where huttopia comes in. bring clothes, maybe some of your own firewood, a big pot of soup, s’mores fixings, a football or a deck of cards, and not much else. they’ve done the rest. i made a big pot of beef chili that day, put it in the dutch oven, inside an empty amazon box, and drove it there on the floor of the passenger seat. another good thing about dutch ovens: their lids are so heavy, they don’t really budge, and you really can drive with a big pot of soup in one with zero spillage! we had a trapper tent that slept 5. basically two bedrooms, one with a queen and the other with a bunk that slept two on bottom. a bathroom in between the bedrooms, and then a common space with a little kitchenette, and table. on the deck is a stove, and then just beyond that is your picnic table and fire ring. it was perfect. the boys had such a blast. we had a stream that actually babbled just steps from our door. where can one find such simple, perfect pleasures as this? white mountains! there’s an additional common space where you can go into their simple grocery area and buy some things that you might’ve forgotten like graham crackers and marshmallows, drinks, firewood, ice cream. plus a playground, pool, baseball field, volleyball, and another small building that houses foosball, baseballs, bats, and other fun things like that.  everything is so tastefully done from the airstream offerings to the huts themselves. huttopia originated in france to canada, and now to here. welcome! we’re glad to have you. saturday morning, after playing baseball with parker for awhile (and learning that he’s actually quite a good batter!), we went to diana’s bath, a hike perfect for small children. easy to walk, and not very long for a huge payoff. small waterfalls cascading over rocks, lots of tiny pools to splash in, and loads of climbing. the boys could’ve played there for hours. because of the ease in reaching it, i’m certain that it’s packed in the summer months!this is our drive to the top of mount washington. so beautiful.we brought chocolate hummus and strawberries and this guy was THERE FOR IT. last morning was dave’s cinnamon raisin bagels toasted over the fire, and cream cheese. and then, we took our exit! but not before driving to mount washington to finally get to the top of that beautiful mountain. all in all, more weekends in the white mountains, please. and more camping too.

thanks so much, huttopia. so glad to make your acquaintance. we think you’re pretty great.