July is a great month – it comes with a built-in holiday as festive as the fireworks that celebrate Independence Day. In addition to the Fourth of July, we found seven more great ways to celebrate the seventh month that falls roughly smack dab in the middle of what most Americans consider summer – that being Memorial Day to Labor Day. So, as you spend your 100 Days of Camping this summer, consider these seven great options to celebrate:
July is Lakes Appreciation Month which was created to celebrate inland bodies of water and draw attention to their importance. This one’s easy – pick one of our campgrounds with the word “lake” in the name. Some possibilities could include Thousand Trails Lake Minden, Lake of the Springs, Wilderness Lakes or Yosemite Lakes for California; Thousand Trails Lake & Shore or Chestnut Lake in New Jersey, Thousand Trails Lake Conroe, Lake Tawakoni, Lake Texoma and Lake Whitney in Texas.
July is also big on celebrating the blueberry with several days in July honoring this sweet little fruit, namely, National Blueberry Muffin Day, National Blueberry Day and National Pick Blueberries Day. To pick your own blueberries, check out these locations: True Blue Farms in South Haven, Michigan (about 40 miles from Thousand Trails Bear Cave); Blooms and Berries Farm Market in Loveland, Ohio (about 30 miles from Thousand Trails Wilmington); and Ives Berry Farm (about 25 miles from Maine’s Thousand Trails Moody Beach).
National Hot Dog Month falls in July too, but instead of just enjoying any old hot dog, indulge in your favorite “ballpark frank.” That’s right, head to the nearest Major League Baseball Park and try some of these tasty dogs that were ranked by delish.com as some of the best in the league! The Cheese Coney can be found at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park (near Thousand Trails Wilmington) and is topped with Cincinnati’s famous Skyline Chili. Add bacon to anything to make it even better is the motto at Angels Stadium in Los Angeles (camp at Thousand Trails Soledad Canyon) where the Halo Dog is a Mexican-style street dog wrapped in bacon and topped with charro beans, cheese and pico de gallo. At Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, chili again makes the difference, except this time it’s Texas-style and instead of a bun, it’s a tamale. That, plus sauteed onions and nacho cheese are what make the Boomstick, the dog of choice for the Texas Rangers (stay at Thousand Trails Bay Landing).
July 7 was World Chocolate Day and what better place to celebrate chocolate than at Pennsylvania’s Hershey’s Chocolate World. The sweetest campground to explore Hershey’s, is of course, Thousand Trails Hershey in nearby Lebanon. Fun things to do at Chocolate World include creating your own candy bar, taking the tour which is a behind-the-scenes/history ride through the works, and the trolley ride to learn all about the town that Milton Hershey, and chocolate, built.
July 16 is World Snake Day so slither on over to these top-rated serpentariums (yep, that’s what a place that houses or exhibits snakes is called). These super snaky places are Cape Fear Serpentarium in Wilmington, North Carolina (near Topsail Sound RV Park); Edisto Island Serpentarium (near Oaks at Point South in Yemassee, South Carolina); and the Washington Serpentarium in Monroe, Washington (near Thousand Trails Thunderbird).
July 20 is National Moon Day which is also the anniversary of the first walk on the Moon in 1969. Head to an IDSP, or International Dark Sky Place, to see not only the beautiful moon, but other celestial bodies as well. Dark sky locations include Arizona’s Camp Verde (camp at Thousand Trails Verde Valley), Gunnison National Park’s Black Canyon in Colorado (stay at Thousand Trails Blue Mesa Recreational Ranch) or California’s Joshua Tree National Park (book a stay at Thousand Trails Palm Springs).
Check out these top ranked waterparks near our campgrounds for National Waterpark Day on July 28. If you’re camping atFlorida’s Encore Tropical Palms in Kissimmee, you’re close to the top 4 rated waterparks in the US, according to blooloop.com. They are Walt Disney World’s Typhoon Lagoon, Walt Disney World’s Blizzard Beach, Universal Orlando’s Volcano Bay and SeaWorld’s Aquatic Orlando. Book a stay at Thousand Trails Medina Lake to be about 60 minutes from the 5th ranked waterpark, Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels in Texas.
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