Many people are heading home after spending their Labor Day weekends at state campsites.

One camper we spoke with, Lori Follis, says she grew up camping, and now, with two girls of her own she's passing on her love of the outdoors to her family. She said, "In today's world, it's just too fast paced, too many people just don't take the time to spend with their kids and their families. So for us, it's a priority."

The Follis family has been coming out to Potato Creek State Park for seven years and say they love having the opportunity to spend time together and explore the outdoors. They say they try and go camping as often as they can, but on a holiday weekend there's a lot more preparation that goes into the trip.
"In order to make a reservation for Memorial Day, Labor Day or Halloween, you pretty much have to go on the Internet and book it six months in advance," Lori said.

This Labor Day weekend Potato Creek was completely booked, but even with the crowds campers say it was a great time. Mishawaka resident John Ransberger said, "It's a little more busy during the holiday weekends, but there's a lot of kids for Mason (his son) to play with, and we just have a good time when we're here."

For the Follis's, they say this is one family tradition that they plan to keep up with. Lori said, It gives us and environment where we can spend time together without the outside world coming in and saying, hey we have to go do this or we have to go do that. So ya, it's wonderful. It really is."

Many say they like camping because of the bonding time it gives them away from work, school and other distractions. Others mentioned the economy, saying it's much more affordable to head out to a campsite than to fly or even drive somewhere farther away.