Porcupine Vacation

Step 1: Talk with Dennis

Message Dennis Pratt on Signal (781-413-6014) before you start planning your Porcupine Vacation. He has discounts, ideas, and more information about what a Porcupine Vacation entails.

Step 2: Join The Plan-Your-Visit Group

When you start planning your visit, Dennis will put you into a Signal group with the friendliest Porcupines he could coax to greet you - where you introduce yourself and your interests and you will meet Porcs with similar interests (or knowledge of others who share your interests). You can hook up with other Porc groups and find insider Porc events to attend that align with your particular interests, making your visit with us even more fun and edifying. To access this group that has 100 welcoming Porcupines representing various aspects of the Free State, send me an intro on Signal that introduces you to them. I'll introduce you with that, and put you in. :)

How to Introduce Yourself to the Group

For sure, share your name, where you are from, why you are coming to NH, what you'd like to see or learn about while visiting, and other demographic info like where you've lived in the past that might interest our group of volunteer advisors.

But also talk about what is your interest in the Free State, what would you like to explore while you are visiting, what are you curious about living in NH, any major hobbies/activities that are important to you, what you'd like to learn/talk to folks about re: the Free State (politics, community, events, hobbies, outdoors, community, families, groups, games, etc.) and any other questions you might have.

The idea here is to give enough about you that some of these good folk connect with something and start sharing in an area that you are particularly excited about. That's a big win-win.

Generally, the more hooks you set, the more they'll connect, and the more they can inform you. My hope is you will make connections that you not only can start discussions before you visit, but you can then follow up on IRL meetup while you are here. (Offer a lunch, coffee, beer ...)

Your intro will start a conversation, but don't be shy! Any of your areas of curiosity you might want to highlight later on, such as, "Hey, does anyone white-water canoe? I do that here, but I'm not sure if you guys do that in NH." Single items like that, after you are introduced, can help focus on a single item of high interest to you!! :)

Step 3: Talk with Chris Lopez

Tell Chris Lopez when you're coming for your visit. Tell her you're doing a "Porcupine Vacation" with Independence Inn. Ask her additional questions to connect with other types of folks or activities you might like to check out.

Step 4: Come for your Porcupine Vacation!

Take a week's vacation. Mormons visit Utah. Kids visit Disney World. Muslims visit Mecca. Gays visit San Francisco. Libertarians? Well, if you love liberty, you have to visit the libertarian homeland and spend the week living like a Porcupine.

Stay for a week in the "heart of liberty" at the Free-Stater-owned Independence Inn in Strafford. It's in the middle of nowhere, but the center of everything.

From there, each day you can take up to 10 different tours, heading in a different compass direction to explore different regions of the Libertarian Homeland, to enjoy New Hampshire sights and natural beauty, to go to Porcupine events, to connect with Porcupine groups, and to lunch, coffee, and dine with Porcupines who live here who match your interests.

What is a "Porcupine Vacation"?

Choose a week to visit the Free State. We suggest booking two weekends, and the intervening week. Although NH has Porcupine events every day, our social events tend to happen more often on the weekends, so two weekends will make your stay more social.

You'll get a special code for deep discounts off your stay at the Independence Inn, which you can use only on the website. You can also get a 20% "Porc Discount" for shorter stays, but the discount for a week is 50% off for liberty lovers.

(If you are interested in staying until you can find an apartment, or job, etc., we give 66% off for liberty lovers staying more than a month. (See Porcupine Pre-Move.)

Plan out your stay

Check the Free State Project Calendar. (This lists the public FSP events - there are plenty of other events you can find out about in the secret Intro Signal group.) Circle the events you want to go to. (The number of events will very likely increase as your visit date comes up, so check back before you come for additions that might appeal more.)

Connect with Porcupines who share your interests! Tell the Plan-Your-Visit Group on Signal your interests and set up to meet privately with Porcs in your specific interest areas.

Contact one of the realtors who specialize in helping Porcupines. They can provide you with a lot of information as well, and may even drive you about some of their favorite places. Of course, their focus is on buying homes, and that may be a long ways away from you right now, but it might be something you might consider some day. Mention to them that you are in the "Porcupine Vacation" portion of your investigation of the libertarian homeland and really want more of an overview:
Independence Real Estate
Porcupine Real Estate

By the time you get here, you'll have a list of Porcupines to meet, places to explore, events to participate in, etc. Each day, head in a different compass direction to explore beautiful NH, to meet-up with Porcupines and other Granite Staters in your interest areas, to attend Porcupine events, to get a sense of the variety of regions we have, to tour a community clubhouse, to talk to people in your occupation area, etc.

Where might you go?

Within 40 minutes from the Independence Inn, you can reach:

• Lakes Region to the north to visit Alton, Laconia, Lake Winnipesaukee, and several hiking mountains.
• The Carroll County region to the North-north east between Lake Winnipesaukee and Maine, where you can visit a growing Porcupine group in Wolfeboro and Ossipee.
• The Moose Mountain region to the NorthEast, where you can visit up-and-coming cities of Rochester and the more farming region of Milton.
• The Seacoast Region to the East, where you can visit the UNH college town of Durham, the suburban Dover, the artist town of Portsmouth. Go to The SHELL in Rollinsford, one of the most active social liberty community clubhouses. Drive from Portsmouth along Route 1A to Hampton Beach for spectacular views of, and walks along, NH's beautiful Atlantic beaches.
• The South Region to the south, where you can spend the day in the charming town of Exeter, visit the nexus town of Epping, and check out the border towns adjacent to Massachusetts, each within an easy shot to Boston.
• The Merrimack region to the west where you can tour our capital in Concord, visit the Prickle (another clubhouse with regular meetups), and hang in our most populous city of Manchester, with its busy regional airport, and our oldest liberty community clubhouse the Quill.

Hour-long day trips can get you to:

• Pemi Valley region, where you can visit Plymouth and the surrounding up-and-coming resort areas.
• Upper Valley region, where some of our busiest farms are and the way of life often involves livestock.
• Nashua, where the majority of population is centered, just north of the Massachusetts border, in the Merrimack region.
• Weare, where a thriving Porcupine community is growing in the location of the first revolt (Pine Tree Riot) that led to the Revolutionary War.
• The closest ski resort, Gunstock, is under 50 minutes from the Inn. You can make a day of it by skiing first thing and then exploring the Lakes Region. Or, visit all the larger ski areas - Waterville Valley, Bretton Woods, Loon, Attitash, and Cannon are all within 1.5 - 2 hours of the Inn.

And an hour and a half drive north gets you into the most rugged parts of the White Mountains and the larger ski resorts (ski in the winter and hike in the summer.) Or you can make it to the quieter beautiful Monadnock region in the southwest quadrant of the state, with its quaint city of Keene, where some of our most "direct action" Porcs hang out, and where homesteaders and homeschoolers live quiet lives.

Two hours gets you up to North Country, for their monthly potluck or their market days. (If you're lucky they'll have apple cider pressing, or maple syrup boiling gatherings going on. If so, don't miss!!)

The inn is less than a block from Bow Lake with swimming and boating in the summer and skating and ice fishing in the winter. Snowmobile trails also go by the Inn.

There are estuaries, lakes, and rivers to canoe and kayak in a beauty that finds you amongst eagles, herons, hawks, deer, moose, and bear.

When to take a Porcupine Vacation

I recommend that you take advantage of the off-season lack of tourists to focus your stay on what Porcupines are building here.

Meet up in our natural day-to-day activities to see what is really going on - the Free State has events every day.

Remember - the Free State Project sponsors two giant events which do require planning around. Going to these will not give you an idea of day-to-day living like a Porcupine, but you will meet many Porcupines.

If you come during PorcFest, that event is two hours north of the Inn, so it is better to stay onsite at the festival rather than the Inn. (You can stay for a week before or after the festival to have a fuller Porcupine Experience!)

Likewise, Liberty Forum is about a half-hour drive from the Inn and it makes more sense to stay on-site at the Forum's hotel. But, the Forum is only a weekend event, so you can stay the rest of the week at the Inn to explore!