During the winter Texas, Florida and Arizona are all full of folks from the cold country and the campgrounds bend over backwards to offer a lot of activities. I read that the REAL snowbirds have potluck dinners, dances, workshops, tours, meetings and all kinds of stuff during the winter when they escape the weather. I read that the areas around the campgrounds offer all kinds of discounts, and even celebrate the return of the snowbird. The campgrounds are full of folks that don’t like snow and cold weather and that they have a great time socializing.
So what is my point?
Today is Thursday and here we set. The clubhouse and office closes at 6pm everyday. There were about 160 campers here over the 4th but at this time I can count 12 in the campground. I was thinking if this is the way it is for full or part-timing during the summer; it might not be worth the effort. I would like to ESCAPE THE HEAT. We live in Florida so do not have to leave during the winter, but the summer months of June-Sept are really hot and we would like to go where it is cool. Where are the SUMMERBIRDS suppose to escape to? We in the south would like to find places in the north that treat us like the folks in Texas, Florida and Arizona do the snowbirds. I want potluck dinners, dances, workshops, tours, meetings and all kinds of stuff offered by the campground just like you folks get. The bad part is I don’t see where this is happening. Please advise if you know.
Happy Trails
JAXFL
2003 Dodge 3500 QUAD SLT, Auto 48RE,
5.9L HO Cummins DSL, SRW 3.73 4X4
W/Flip Power Towing mirrors
2004 33M Citation w/Equal-i-zer 1200 lb. Hitch
The only place that it's cool in the summer is Australia, or the mountains. Here in Toronto it's going to be 90 degrees today, if you add in the humidity factor it's going to be effectively over 100. And we're pretty far north compared to you...
Last August I spent a week in New Orleans. Every single day I checked and the weather there was cooler than it was in Toronto!
Brian
2003 Dodge Ram 2500 Quad Cab, Hemi, 5 speed manual, 3.73 gears, Tow Beast hitch with 24" extension.
28 ft race car hauler, Lola T440 Formula Ford, NTM MK4 Sports Racer
2004 Travel Hawk 8' Truck Camper - Roll at 16K combined weight
We are in Bayfield, WI currently 66 heading for a high of 76 today. This is about normal for the summer.
Back in Gainesville for kikoff with Hawaii....Goooo GaaaaaaaaTors!!!
Happy Trails
06 Monaco Dynasty
99 Wrangler Toad
US Gear Tow Brake
FMCA 279843
As we travel through the summers, we do not see the social activities in parks and resorts like we do in snowbird parks. Probably due in most part to the fact that many or most of the snowbird social events are driven by snowbird residents themselves who are there long enough in time to take a social event project from the planning to the implementation stage. Summertime, I think, has the drawback, in terms of planned social activities, of some park residents being to transient to spend the time to plan and implement and the other park residents, who have a rig there for the summer, still being in the workforce leaving their rig empty during the week and visiting it on weekends - thus little time for planning and implementation.
For the park itself to put on an event costs them time and money and so those events are generally limited to the holidays.
I would head somewhere in the Northeast - north of NJ. I love NJ and am from there (still spend a week "down the shore" every summer,) but it is humid. Campgrounds up here have activities planned and a lot of seasonal campers.
The one thing they also have, which we snowbirds don't have in the winter, is children. Nothing against them, but children do not help create the snowbird experience in my mind.
It does get hot, but the nights generally cool down and the general humidity level is less than Florida.
Look in NY, VT, MA, NH, ME, the Pocono Mtns. in PA. I say the Northeast since the trip would be a straight shot for you. I would stay away from busy areas like Cape Cod.
We have friends who live in Palm Harbor, FL who rent a cottage in NH for the months of June, July and August.
We will head back to FL in October, but I would not choose to be there in the summer. Good luck!
Pat
May the road rise with you, the wind be always at your back.
This same topic came up a couple weeks ago in another forum I believe, and it got me to thinking about all the campgrounds and resorts we stayed in "up north" over the years. I can't think of a single one that I saw, or heard of, that does the thing you are asking about. I think that the main reason you don't find that is that campgrounds down south in snowbird country tend to cater to seniors who want to have fun without driving a lot, whereas the ones up north cater to vacationers of all ages - most of whom are not interested in the in-park activities. In other words, snowbirds cluster together in campgrounds down south, while southern seniors going north are diluted by all the young vacationers sharing the campgrounds up north. As to cooler temps, VintageRacer is right - the distinction between north and south gets very hard to find during the summer when it comes to heat. It's in the 90's here in Michigan all week. The difference, however, is that next week, the highs might be in the 60's or 70's, so it's not a continuous hot climate like it is down south. If you want to be cool all the time, it's either the mountains or the air conditioning I think.
theres places here that have planned actitives but not like down there,most people are not permanent guest they come and go on there vacations theres one place i wouldnt mind staying but its to expensive to stay long periods of time.it can get as hot and humid as florida at times depending on the year,its been in the 80s during the day and down in the 50s at night,it has not hit the 90s here yet but close.you can go up into the mountains higher and it can be cooler .there is realy no summerbird place around here or any place to winter over but they should be, summer rates are to high around here.but there is work camping jobs availble.
1985 Class A Holiday Rambler Imperial 33 +1979 Class C Holiday Rambler Statesman 1000 = 24 ft
I have just discovered a nice little place in Plumtree, NC called Buck Hill Campground. They are currently full of seasonals, so lotsa luck trying to get in, but there are other parks in the area. We are at about 3000 ft elevation and highs are topping out in mid-70s, lows around 60 or a bit below. I love it!
Working out of my roaming home office... (currently here)
avan wrote: As we travel through the summers, we do not see the social activities in parks and resorts like we do in snowbird parks. Probably due in most part to the fact that many or most of the snowbird social events are driven by snowbird residents themselves who are there long enough in time to take a social event project from the planning to the implementation stage. Summertime, I think, has the drawback, in terms of planned social activities, of some park residents being to transient to spend the time to plan and implement and the other park residents, who have a rig there for the summer, still being in the workforce leaving their rig empty during the week and visiting it on weekends - thus little time for planning and implementation.
For the park itself to put on an event costs them time and money and so those events are generally limited to the holidays.
This is the case in the campgroung where I stay in the winter. One of the winter campers organize most of the activities and we don't seem to thank his enough because it is a lot of work but he seems to enjoy doing it and we help when we can.
Offline
Online
