Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lake George, NY! We go every summer and absolutely love it.

I’m guessing you must stay north of the village of Lake George?
While the Lake is beautiful, the village not so much.

+1

A lot of the shoreline is highly developed. There are thousands (literally) of other lakes up there.

"The Adirondack Park boasts 3,000 lakes and ponds, and 30,000 miles of rivers and streams"

Actually very little of the shoreline is developed. If you only visit the southern end it appears that way but there are miles and miles undeveloped as you get farther north, including almost the entire east side north of Fort Ann, which is actually not accessible by road in many areas.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. These lakes look amazing. I am going to make a future vacation list.

I was actually looking for something we could drive to. I don’t think we will be flying for a while.

I’d you are in VA then smith mountain lake isn’t bad if you have a boat. I don’t so it’s not amazing as you are pretty limited to just your lake house. There’s a few resorts where you can rent stuff but it isn’t my fav but it isn’t terribly far.

One that I love but is currently closed for rentals until things open up is Douthat State Park. I love their cabins! There’s a number of lovely state parks with nice cabins.Its not luxurious but we thought it was pretty romantic, the beach and view are really nice, the little restaurant is nice, and you can get lemonade slushies, sit in the shade and read while the kids play on the beach Soo it works!! I actually might do that this summer.

Adding another VA State Park to this list... Claytor Lake.
They have very nice waterfront cabins and lodges right on the water. Huge lake with all of the usual activities readily available.

My family went to Purity Springs Resort near Freedom, NH every summer while I was growing up, and my parents still go there. I LOVED it when I was a kid. I would even willingly go along as an “adult child”, but would bring a friend. My boyfriend in grad school enjoyed it so much that he & his wife and young kids vacation there now.

As an aside, as an adult the name “Purity Springs” sounds weird - sort of religious - but I can assure you that it’s just a family resort with no religious affiliation at all. It is sort of like family camp, just with fewer organized activities.

Finger Lakes

Keuka Lake is warm enough to spend hours floating in. Seneca Lake is colder. Canandaigua Lake is probably the resort-iest.

While there are newer nicer homes, these are cottage rentals mostly. You aren’t really going to find a new build house with a sub zero that sleeps 20 like the Outer Banks rentals. We spend most of our time outside anyway. Take your towel and some sunscreen and head down the steps to the beach. Grab float, jump in lake, set up on float for the next few hours.

When we leave the water, we go to the world’s best ice cream place Seneca Farms. Or to the Windmill Farm & Craft market. Or to one of the zillion wineries or breweries. You can go to the Corning Glass Center or to the Museum of play in Rochester for a day trip. You can also browse the shops in the towns around the lakes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lake George, NY! We go every summer and absolutely love it.

I’m guessing you must stay north of the village of Lake George?
While the Lake is beautiful, the village not so much.

+1

A lot of the shoreline is highly developed. There are thousands (literally) of other lakes up there.

"The Adirondack Park boasts 3,000 lakes and ponds, and 30,000 miles of rivers and streams"

Anonymous wrote:Lake George, NY! We go every summer and absolutely love it.

I’m guessing you must stay north of the village of Lake George?
While the Lake is beautiful, the village not so much.

We enjoy SML every year. We rent a house and a boat. You want the boat, but rentals are easy to come by.

We rent a house at Lake Winnipesaukee every summer. It is our favorite week of the year. Water is clear and clean and it is nice escape from the humidity here. You can drive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. These lakes look amazing. I am going to make a future vacation list.

I was actually looking for something we could drive to. I don’t think we will be flying for a while.

I’d you are in VA then smith mountain lake isn’t bad if you have a boat. I don’t so it’s not amazing as you are pretty limited to just your lake house. There’s a few resorts where you can rent stuff but it isn’t my fav but it isn’t terribly far.

One that I love but is currently closed for rentals until things open up is Douthat State Park. I love their cabins! There’s a number of lovely state parks with nice cabins.Its not luxurious but we thought it was pretty romantic, the beach and view are really nice, the little restaurant is nice, and you can get lemonade slushies, sit in the shade and read while the kids play on the beach Soo it works!! I actually might do that this summer.

We live in NVA and do not have a boat.

I was just googling closest lakes to us and there is a lake(s) in Reston. There are some nice lake houses. The houses looked cute and pics had boats on the lake. Not sure if there were any fish. DH was not excited about renting a lake house in Reston.

I think I’ve been to that one. I would honestly look a little farther. There’s lots of little lakes in Virginia (all man-made). Lake Anna would be even closer to you than Douthat and you could rent a private cabin. Honestly though, check out the state parks. Many have lakes and would work for a simple trip. Now that
I wrote about Douthat, honestly I think we will just try to go there vs smoky mountains....I don’t want to be so far that i burden someone else’s health system this year but maybe things will improve
Enough that isn’t an issue.

Anonymous wrote:Lake Morey Resort in Vermont

https://www.lakemoreyresort.com/

Lake Morey! I graduated from high school in Vermont and this is where we had our senior retreat.