Mascoma Lake's sandy beach has canoes and kayaks pulled up along the shore, with the hills of the Upper Valley rising behind the water. Up at the campground there's a playground with a GaGa ball pit and a jumping pillow, and somebody in the group usually has a line in for fish. The motorhome stays at the site with the awning out all week, and with town this close, nobody needs to move it.
When the beach wears thin, the campground is a short distance from Dartmouth College and downtown Lebanon, so a morning swim, an afternoon walking the Dartmouth campus and Hanover, and dinner back at the fire ring all fit in one day. In fall the hills around the lake turn color, and leaf season is the reason to stretch the trip past summer.
The RV sites come with 30-amp or 50-amp service, water and sewer at the pad, which keeps a full week of showers and dishes from turning into a dump run. Tent, cabin and tiny-house sites share the grounds, handy when grandparents or a teenager would rather have their own roof for the week.
Hanover has a smaller park of its own at Storrs Pond Recreation Area, a summer place with pond swimming and hiking trails that leave right from the sites. Its RV sites have electric hookups and a dump station and take rigs up to 50 feet, though the bridge from Reservoir Road is tight and the operator sends anything over 40 feet in by East Wheelock Street and Grasse Road.
Lake Sunapee, Mount Cardigan and Lost River Gorge each get their own trip on the smaller-rig Lebanon page, a better fit for two people traveling light than for a family settled at the lake. The White Mountains and the state parks with full hookups on Winnipesaukee and at Hampton Beach are on the New Hampshire RV page.
Quechee Pine Valley, across the river in Vermont
Evenings at Quechee Pine Valley Campground happen on the patio, with the gas grill going on a deluxe site and the motorhome parked on gravel behind it. The campground is on Woodstock Road in White River Junction, on the Vermont side of the Connecticut River, and it's the first place to look when Mascoma Lake is full for your dates or the group would rather spend its days in Vermont. All the RV sites are gravel, and the full-hookup sites run 30-amp or 50-amp.
From the pad, the days head west to Quechee and Woodstock. The gorge and Quechee State Park beside it are written up as a day out on the Lebanon page for smaller rigs.