Blue water, wide-open parks.35 lakefront towns and national-park basecamps made for summer.

An 8,495-foot Central Sierra ski mountain off Highway 4 with 359 inches of snow and a Mokelumne Wilderness backyard

An alpine lake town ninety minutes from Los Angeles

A 1849 Gold Rush town on Highway 120 with the Iron Door Saloon, Pine Mountain Lake, and the Big Oak Flat entrance to Yosemite 25 miles up the road

A 800,000-acre national park where the Mojave and Colorado deserts meet — Joshua trees, monzogranite boulders, and the darkest International Dark-Sky Park within a 3-hour drive of Los Angeles

An alpine lake at 6,225 feet — Emerald Bay's Vikingsholm castle, the Heavenly Gondola from South Lake village, and the West Shore's bike trail past Sugar Pine Point

An 11,053-foot Eastern Sierra ski mountain with five alpine lakes and Yosemite out the back door

The south-shore Tahoe city — Heavenly Mountain's 8-passenger gondola, Stateline's casino strip, Tahoe Keys lagoon homes, and Emerald Bay five miles west

An alpine town where the Sierra opens wide

The Hi-Desert town between Joshua Tree National Park and Pioneertown — Black Rock Canyon's western park entrance, the Sky Village Outdoor Marketplace, and pool-friendly desert estates 90 minutes from LA

Park City's value-tier Heber Valley neighbor — Jordanelle Reservoir, Deer Valley East access, and a year-round Wasatch Back base

Zion's quiet east-side gateway — Canaan Mountain backcountry, Water Canyon's slot waterfall, and the Arizona-Strip horizon

Sand Hollow's red-rock reservoir, the Sand Mountain ATV dunes, and a 30-minute Zion National Park gateway

St. George's Swiss-pioneer western neighbor — the Snow Canyon back-door entrance, the Tuacahn Amphitheatre, and quieter desert evenings

Southern Utah's red-rock capital — a 90-minute drive to Zion, Snow Canyon State Park out the back door, and the Mighty 5 day-trip launchpad

St. George's red-rock eastern neighbor — Coral Canyon golf, Green Spring trails, and Sand Hollow ten minutes away

A Summit County lakeside town on a 3,233-acre reservoir at 9,017 feet — fifteen minutes from Keystone, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, and Arapahoe Basin

Grand County's lakeside hub at 7,935 feet — the western gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, with Granby Ranch ski-and-bike resort in town and Winter Park twenty minutes south

Colorado's Western Slope hub at the foot of the Colorado National Monument and the 11,000-foot Grand Mesa — Palisade wine country fifteen minutes east, Lunch Loops mountain biking five minutes south, and Moab two hours west

Summit County's value-tier resort hub at 9,035 feet — within 30 minutes of Keystone, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, and Arapahoe Basin, with the Outlets at Silverthorne and the Dillon Reservoir as the in-town anchors

Lake Tahoe's upscale Nevada north shore — Diamond Peak's locally-owned ski mountain, two championship golf courses, and the Hyatt Regency lakefront

The Nevada side of Heavenly — Zalanta and the gondola plaza, the South Tahoe Events Center, and the casino strip from Hard Rock to Harveys

Lake Tahoe's Nevada east-shore strip — Skyland lakefront, Cave Rock State Park, and the MS Dixie II paddlewheel out of Zephyr Cove Marina

Cumberland County's classic lake town on the western shore of Sebago Lake — Sebago Lake State Park, the Songo River lock, the Naples Causeway, and the Krainin Real Estate camp-and-cottage rental tradition

Cumberland County's southwest-shore Sebago Lake town — the Maine State Building from the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, the Bonny Eagle Dam on the Saco River, the Watchic Lake summer cottage scene, and a 25-minute drive south to Portland

The 8,200-acre Hill Country reservoir between New Braunfels and Wimberley — the cold-water Guadalupe trout fishery below the dam, eight Corps of Engineers parks, and the Horseshoe river-tubing loop

Texas Hill Country river town between Austin and San Antonio — Schlitterbahn, the Comal and Guadalupe tubing chutes, and the 1845 German hamlet of Gruene

Quartz Crystal Capital of the World on Lake Ouachita's western shore — Mountain Harbor Resort, the Crystal Loop scenic byway, and the cleanest large lake in North America at the edge of the Ouachita National Forest

Inland Citrus County's lakes-and-trail anchor — the Withlacoochee State Trail trailhead, the Lakeside Country Club golf community, the Tsala Apopka Lake chain, and the Crystal River manatee springs 25 minutes west

Indiana's Twin Lakes town — Lake Shafer, Lake Freeman, Indiana Beach since 1926, and the Madam Carroll on the Tippecanoe

Kansas's Cross Timbers fishing-and-cabin country — Toronto Lake, the 4,600-acre Toronto Wildlife Area, and the Verdigris River valley

Garrett County's Deep Creek Lake resort village — Maryland's only ski mountain at Wisp Resort, the 3,900-acre Deep Creek Lake, the Lodge at Wisp 169-room year-round base, the Swallow Falls 53-foot waterfall, and the ASCI Olympic-spec whitewater course

Emmet County's Northwoods cabin village 8 miles south of the Mackinac Bridge — Wilderness State Park's 10,512-acre Lake Michigan shoreline, Sturgeon Bay's white-sand beach, the Headlands International Dark Sky Park, and the M-119 Tunnel of Trees drive south to Cross Village

The Ozarks' tri-lakes town — Silver Dollar City, Table Rock and Taneycomo, and 76 Country Boulevard's neon theater strip

Central Oregon's high-desert airport hub on the Deschutes Plateau — Roberts Field (RDM) the closest commercial airport, Smith Rock State Park 10 miles east, the Eagle Crest Resort and three 18-hole courses 7 miles west, and Bend 16 miles south

Okemo Mountain Resort and the Black River Valley — 121 trails on Okemo's 3,344-foot summit, Lake Rescue and Echo Lake on the town's edge, and Calvin Coolidge's Plymouth Notch homestead ten minutes north