The 100 Best Affordable Vacations (38 page)

HOW TO GET IN TOUCH

El Yunque National Forest,
787-888-1880,
www.fs.fed.us/r8/Caribbean
.

Puerto Rico Tourism,
800-866-7827,
www.gotopuertorico.com
.

camp at the ymca

NATIONWIDE

It’s fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A.

—
VILLAGE PEOPLE, “Y.M.C.A.” (1978)

46 |
Remember summer camp? A typical day might include swimming, hiking, and making crafts. Evenings were reserved for campfires and long conversations. You can relive those idyllic days at a YMCA family camp. At several sites, the service organization purposely re-creates the experience for vacationers, with the goal of bringing families closer together.

But at these camps, you don’t have to sleep in a bunk with strangers. Instead you’ll find basic motel-and lodge-style rooms, or cabins. Activities such as guided hikes and nature programs aim to get visitors to slow down and appreciate the simple things. But don’t expect TVs, telephones, or video games. Families spend their evenings playing miniature golf or board games. Or there might be a movie night, campfire, or other evening program. Within hours of arriving, you can feel the stress disappearing.

“I call it heaven on earth for kids, and it’s the same thing for adults,” says Lynn Ketelsen, longtime visitor to the YMCA of the Rockies, some 65 miles north of Denver. Most camps have a meal plan. Food is basic—think meatloaf, spaghetti, or baked chicken, plus a vegetarian option—but tasty. Others have snack bars and more formal restaurants, too. Consider staying for a while at one of the following YMCAs:

Frost Valley YMCA.
This camp in New York’s Catskill Mountains has a split personality. During the summer it’s a traditional Y camp for children, but from late August through spring, it welcomes families every weekend. Winter visitors can hit 15.5 miles of cross-country ski trails, with free instruction and equipment rental. There’s also snowshoeing, ice fishing, and ice-skating. A favorite activity comes every March when guests are welcomed to the Maple Sugar House to learn about (and taste) maple syrup, which is made from the camp’s sugar maples. There are many other traditional camp activities, and several special ones like naked-eye astronomy, and yoga and wellness classes. The camps run from Friday night to Sunday afternoon and include accommodations, meals, and programs. Prices can be as low as $100 per person, but are generally $143 in a cabin with bunk beds.

Frost Valley YMCA,
2000 Frost Valley Rd., Claryville, NY 12725, 845-985-2291,
www.frostvalley.org
.

Silver Bay YMCA of the Adirondacks.
For more than a century, this retreat on the western shore of Lake George, New York, has welcomed families with a full offering of camp activities, from archery to boating to tennis lessons. There are also beach games, a Slip ‘n’ Slide, campfires, and evening movies. For additional fees, you can take watercolor or craft classes. Rates begin at about $100 per person per night for food and basic accommodations, with prices lower during spring and fall. Guests must also pay for membership, which runs about $55 a day for families, with discounts for longer stays.

Silver Bay YMCA of the Adirondacks,
87 Silver Bay Rd., Silver Bay, NY 12874, 518-543-8833,
www.silverbay.org
.

YMCA of the Ozarks.
This camp is set on a mountain lake, about 75 miles south of St. Louis. Along with traditional camp activities like archery, riflery, swimming, and bicycling, there’s lake swimming, a rope swing, kayaking, and four zip lines. Most visitors stay in 79-room Trout Lodge, which overlooks the 360-acre spring-fed lake. Spring rates, which include a lodge room, three meals a day, and most activities, begin at $99 for the first adult, $69 for additional adults, and up to three children 17 and under are free. During summer the base rate rises to $149 for the first adult.

YMCA of the Ozarks,
13528 State Hwy. AA, Potosi, MO 63664, 573-438-2154,
www.ymcaoftheozarks.org
.

YMCA of the Rockies.
This YMCA, with two camps, has developed a stellar reputation with families. Its 860-acre
Estes Park Center
is nestled in Rocky Mountain National Park, where summer activities center on hiking, and in the winter, snowshoeing and snowboarding. But that just scratches the surface. Ketelsen, who has come with his family for more than 20 years, says first-time visitors can’t believe the crafts studio. “It’s a wonder. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of different projects to do and people to show you how.” There’s also everything from skateboarding to a ropes course with climbing wall. You’ll find Frisbee golf and even a prayer labyrinth.

The second camp,
Snow Mountain Ranch,
is in Winter Park, west of Denver. While popular for winter activities, there’s ample summer programming, too—everything from canoeing to scavenger hunts to magic lessons. In the evenings, activities might include a dance or a movie screening.

Rooms at both locations begin at $79 during parts of winter and spring. At the height of summer, a five-bedroom vacation home at Snow Mountain runs $449 a night, but it sleeps up to 12 people. Reservations are taken months early, so plan ahead. You don’t have to be a YMCA member to stay, but the $200 annual fee does offer some discounted rates.

YMCA of the Rockies,
Estes Park Center, 2515 Tunnel Rd., Estes Park, CO 80511 or Snow Mountain Ranch, 1101 County Rd. 53, Granby, CO 80446, 800-777-9622,
www.ymcarockies.org
.

ride with wild horses

SIERRA NEVADA, CALIFORNIA

A lovely horse is always an experience…It is an emotional experience of the kind that is spoiled by words.

—
BERYL MARKHAM, AFRICAN PILOT AND RACEHORSE TRAINER (1902–1986)

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Wild horses live large in the American psyche. For many of us, they symbolize the Wild West, the majesty of nature, and the freedom of open country. Although it seems the stuff of old Hollywood Westerns, you may be surprised to learn that even in these days of interstates and exurban shopping malls, untamed herds of mustangs still roam pockets of the nation.

One of the best ways to see these beautiful creatures is on a pack trip in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Perhaps fittingly, you’ll travel on horseback through John Wayne–inspired country on a three-day camping outing to reach them.

“When you get out and see horses living as a field animal, living with nature, living on the land, it’s a dream come true,” says Craig London, owner of Rock Creek Pack Station tour company, based in Bishop, California.

There’s debate on the horses’ origins. Some believe the herd first formed when animals escaped from prospectors that came to the region in the mid-1800s searching for gold. Others think they go back even further and are descendants of stock brought to California by the earliest Spanish explorers. But what is known is that unlike other wild horse herds, actively managed by the federal government, this population is kept in check by natural predators. Mountain lions feed on foals and cull the herd’s older and weaker members. What visitors see is a balance maintained by nature.

It’s something guests learn to appreciate. “It’s not just a sightseeing trip, it’s really an educational venture,” says Ann Driscoll, who has twice traveled from her home in New Hampshire to camp with London and gaze on the wild mustangs. “It’s an extraordinarily beautiful open space that goes on and on and on and on. The sky and land changes throughout the day.”

$PLURGE

GO ON AN AUTHENTIC PACK RIDE

If seeing horses in the wild whets your appetite for Old West adventure, why not take part in a real horse drive? Twice a year
Rock Creek Pack Station
invites guest to join them on a four-day 100-mile adventure, moving their pack stock, 120 horses and mules, from Owens Valley up into the Sierra Nevada mountains in June, or back down again to the winter range in late September.

“There are very few places in the world where you can do this,” London says. “You’re starting in the deepest valley and you end up at 10,000 feet.” Riders should expect to be in the saddle for long stretches. The cost: $925, plus $92.50 in fees.

You don’t have to be a cowboy to undertake this adventure, although guests must be in reasonable shape. Before the trip starts, guides split the group by riding ability. Those with little previous time in a saddle might ride for four or five hours a day. More seasoned guests could be out on the range for six hours or more. And the experience doesn’t cost a bundle. A basic four-day adventure starts at $495. For a bit of comfort, you can spend the first night at the historic
Old House B&B
at Benton Hot Springs for $100 more per person.

When the groups return to the base camp, everyone usually is wearing a smile. And it only gets better. Although accommodations are rustic (it’s mountain camping at 7,000 feet elevation, after all), it’s still camping in comfort. The outdoor kitchen has a generator and a propane-run water heater feeding a shower tucked back in the willows for privacy. Guests need to bring a sleeping bag, but other than that, guides provide and look after everything else, from cowboy coffee in the morning to educational lectures at night.

CHINCOTEAGUE’S WILD HORSES

The West can’t lay sole claim to wild horses. Several herds still live along the mid-Atlantic, most famously in Chincoteague, Virginia, where the wild horses live on nearby Assateague Island. Once a year, the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department rounds up the animals to thin the herd. Foals are sold at auction and some are domesticated, as was famously recounted in the children’s book
Misty of Chincoteague.

Watching the roundup and swim, which occurs on the last Wednesday and Thursday of July, is an unforgettable experience. The horses swim across the island channel at slack tide and are run through town, where they are penned. If you don’t mind getting your feet wet, head to the end of Pony Swim Lane and wade out into the marsh for a great view of the swim.

Motels and campgrounds in Chincoteague fill up, so reservations are essential and often made a year in advance.
Snug Harbor Marina and Cottages
(757-336-6176,
http://chincoteagueaccommodations.com
) charges about $1,500 to rent a two-bedroom cottage for the week of Pony Penning. The cheapest accommodations are at
Tom’s Cove Campground
(Chincoteague, 757-336-6498,
www.tomscovepark.com
), which charges $31.50 a night for tent camping, with a three-day minimum during the Pony Penning. Another place to camp is at Maryland’s
Assateague Island National Seashore
(410-641-3030,
www.nps.gov/asis
), which fronts the Atlantic Ocean. If your stay doesn’t overlap with the swim, you may have horses wandering through your camp, nonchalantly nibbling on vegetation. The
Chincoteague Chamber of Commerce
(6733 Maddox Blvd., Chincoteague Island, VA 23336, 757-336-6161,
www.chincoteaguechamber.com
) can provide more information on accommodations.

Andrew Riha of Los Angeles says he and a few friends first signed up for the trip eager to experience California’s wild spaces. He was astounded the first night when the guides hooked up a computer projector to the generator and used the side of a canvas tent as a screen. What followed was a detailed presentation about the mustangs everyone had seen that day, covering their history, habits, anatomy, and physiology.

Even a few years later, Riha clearly remembers one of his first encounters with the animals. “We spotted some over a ridge. They couldn’t see us, but we could watch them.” Then Riha stood up for a better view. He was wearing a white shirt and when the mustangs saw him, they galloped away in a plume of dust. But one of the horses turned around and came back, stopping within 100 feet of the group. “It was definitely an immersive experience,” Riha says. “It was spectacular.”

HOW TO GET IN TOUCH

Rock Creek Pack Station,
P.O. Box 248, Bishop, CA 93515, 760-872-8331,
www.rockcreekpackstation.com
.

take a scenic drive along an ice field