The 100 Best Affordable Vacations (43 page)

The
Crested Butte Music Festival
(970-349-0619,
www.crestedbuttemusicfestival.com
) schedules concerts throughout July. Take your pick of jazz, symphonies, chamber music, dance, opera, or bluegrass. Although a few performances can be pricey, there are nearly a dozen free concerts and several pay-what-you-can performances. Families particularly like the free concerts on Saturday mornings.

A variety of other summer concerts also fill the calendar. Crested Butte Mountain Resort offers free concerts (970-349-4769,
www.livefrommtcb.com
), featuring everything from swing to country to world music, on Wednesday evenings in July and August. And all of CB, as it’s called, comes out for the free Monday night Alpine Glow Concerts in the town park. Bring lawn chairs, watch the local characters, and don’t worry about the odd rainstorm. Tradition is that the weather will always clear in time for the concert.

OTHER NOTABLE SUMMER SKI RESORTS

 
Saddleback, Maine.
Big on fun, not flash, this family-style resort and the surrounding Rangeley Lakes region make for a perfect summer destination. The 111 Rangeley Lakes (and ponds) are famous for fishing (especially fly-fishing), boating, and hiking along the Appalachian Trail. There’s free swimming at Rangeley’s Lakeside Park. Or take a free evening moose tour offered twice a week by Saddleback on the “pickle”—an old school bus painted John Deere green. You’ll find a handful of locally owned stores, but no fast-food restaurants and chain motels. Instead there are cabins and condos at the mountain. Accommodations begin at around $85 for bed-and-breakfast inns, and $100 for motels. At the Saddleback ski resort, one-bedroom condos begin at $175 a night.
Saddleback Maine, P.O. Box 490, 976 Saddleback Rd., Rangeley, ME 04970, 866-918-2225,
www.saddlebackmaine.com
or Rangeley Lakes Maine Chamber of Commerce, 6 Park Rd., Rangeley, ME 04970, 800-685-2537,
www.rangeleymaine.com
.

 
Taos Ski Valley and Angel Fire, New Mexico.
In the mountains north of Santa Fe, you’ll find two lovely ski resorts—and summer destinations. Taos Ski Valley and Angel Fire are about an hour’s drive apart, so you can stay at one and make a day trip to the other.
At Taos Ski Valley, you’ll find free opera and chamber music concerts from Memorial Day through the middle of August thanks to the resident Taos Opera Institute and the Taos School of Music. Come during a full moon and join the mayor on a night hike to Williams Lake, timed to arrive just as the moon rises. The average summer motel price is about $75.
Taos Ski Valley Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 91, Taos Ski Valley, NM 87525, 800-517-9816,
www.taosskivalley.com
.
At Angel Fire, guests come for golf, fishing, and mountain biking. The ski lift ($10 for one trip, $20 for a day pass) might sound pricey, but it’s a scenic wonder on one of the country’s longest lifts. At the top, you can picnic, play disc golf, and hike. Or bring a bike and you can coast all the way down. Once a week, there’s a free movie under the stars and complimentary popcorn. And on most Saturday nights, the new country club offers free dance lessons and music. Make sure to schedule a stop at the state’s moving Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial (575-377-6900,
www.angelfirememorial.com
), one of the first in the country. Area lodging begins at $65.
Angel Fire, P.O. Box 130, 10 Miller Ln., Angel Fire, NM 87710, 800-633-7463,
www.angelfireresort.com
.

You’ll have a chance to soak in the arts, too. The
Crested Butte Arts Festival
(970-349-1184,
www.crestedbutteartsfestival.com
) brings out hundreds of craftspeople in one of the country’s top-rated fine art shows. It offers music, a hands-on kids area, and even culinary arts demonstrations—that’s art you can eat!

But of course, it wouldn’t be Colorado without enjoying the incredible outdoors. You’ll find miles of hiking and biking trails. Crested Butte shares the honor of being the birthplace of mountain biking with Marin County, California, as you’ll learn at the town’s
Mountain Bike Hall of Fame
(970-349-6817,
www.mtnbikehalloffame.com
). And even if you’re not interested in flying down a mountain on two wheels, no one can resist renting a townie (one-speed bike) and tooling around downtown. You’ll see these bikes everywhere, and since it’s such a small town, no one bothers to lock up. And even if you’re not interested in working your muscles, you can grab a free Mountain Express shuttle bus 3 miles to Mount Crested Butte and take the chairlift to the summit for a peak picnic experience.

Cheap eats are found all over town. Try the early bird special at the
Timberline Restaurant
(201 Elk Ave., 970-349-9831) from 5:30 to 6 p.m. every night. For $15, you get a three-course meal; grab a seat on the front patio for outdoor dining. Other favorites include pizza, beer, and people-watching from the deck of the
Brick Oven Pizzeria
(223 Elk Ave., 970-349-5044) and
Donita’s Cantina
(330 Elk Ave., 970-349-6674), which offers big baskets of chips and fresh salsa.

Lodging doesn’t have to be a budget breaker. The cheapest sleeps are at
Crested Butte International Lodge & Hostel
(615 Teocalli Ave., 888-389-0588,
www.crestedbuttehostel.com
), which has bunks, individual rooms, and apartments—a private room for four runs about $100. Or try locally owned
Old Town Inn
(708 6th St., 888-349-6184,
www.oldtowninn.net
), where summer rates begin at $119, including breakfast. Also look for deals at
Crested Butte Mountain Resort
(800-810-7669,
www.skicb.com
).

HOW TO GET IN TOUCH

Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association,
202 E. Georgia, Ste. B, Gunnison, CO 81230, 800-814-7988,
www.gunnisoncrestedbutte.com
.

roughing it in comfort in a state park

NATIONWIDE

In a cottage, there may be more happiness than a king or his favorites enjoy.

—
ROMAN POET HORACE (65 B.C.–8 B.C.)

55 |
There’s one problem about getting back to nature. Bedtime. Luckily, there are ways to commune with the wild, and still sleep in comfort. Many state parks offer a cost-effective way to stay in the great outdoors without camping: cabins. Several park-owned cabins have historic touches and in recent years, some parks have opened new, or radically refurbished, structures. If you’re picturing a cinder block square out in the woods, think again. Here are a few state parks that offer cabins with character to spare:

Cama Beach State Park, Washington.
Cama Beach State Park, located on Camano Island, took its inspiration from the past, refurbishing a 1930s-era Puget Sound fishing resort listed on the National Register of Historic Places and reopening it as a new 443-acre park. The waterfront cedar cabins and bungalows are basic (only some have private baths) but they’re cute and offer easy access to the area’s stunning scenery. Inside, you’ll find beds covered with handmade quilts, a small refrigerator/freezer, and a microwave, all just steps from a mile-long beach.

Once you’re here, there’s no reason to leave. Among other things, the park offers beach walks, kids’ crafts, and boatbuilding classes. You can go crabbing, play horseshoes, or just relax. Rates range from $45–$129 per night during the summer. Camano Island is about a 1.5-hour drive from Seattle and is connected to the mainland by a bridge.

Cama Beach State Park,
1880 S. West Camano Dr., Camano Island, WA 98282, 360-387-1550,
www.parks.wa.gov/camabeach
.

Crystal Cove State Park, California.
You can find a bit of Hollywood glamour at Crystal Cove State Park, near Newport Beach in southern California. Although movie stars once flocked to this 3.5-mile stretch of sand, it is now known as an affordable beach vacation close to Los Angeles but far removed from the frenzy. The park’s cottages are now preserved as a historic district with beachfront bungalows, originally built between the 1920s and ’40s. More than a dozen have been restored and outfitted with vintage furniture. They rent from as little as $60 per night, for dorm-style accommodations, although the average rate is $180 in a private cottage.

Crystal Cove State Park,
35 Crystal Cove, Newport Coast, CA 92657, 800-444-7275,
www.crystalcovebeachcottages.com
.

David Crockett State Park, Tennessee.
After a day of exploring David Crockett State Park in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, you’ll feel good about spending the night in new environmentally friendly cabins. The seven accommodations have cork flooring and native plant landscaping and are silver-certified by the U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) project. The two-bedroom, two-bath cabins overlook Lindsey Lake, about 80 miles southwest of Nashville. Come for hiking, fishing, swimming, and boating. Cabins run $135 a night and rentals have a six-day minimum from Labor Day to Memorial Day and a two-day minimum other times of year.

David Crockett State Park,
P.O. Box 398, 1400 W. Gaines, Lawrenceburg, TN 38464, 877-804-2681 or 931-762-9408,
www.tennessee.gov/environment/parks/DavidCrockettSP
.

Gulf State Park, Alabama.
With furnishings from Pottery Barn and satellite televisions with DVD/VCR players, you can’t say you’re roughing it at Alabama’s Gulf State Park. Its 11 three-bed, three-bath cottages each have equipped kitchens, screened porches, and lakefront decks. But there are plenty of reasons to go outside. The park faces a fishing lake and is just a few miles from the beach and a 1,544-foot fishing pier, the longest on the Gulf of Mexico. Cottages range from $188–$210 per night.

Alabama’s Gulf State Park,
20155 State Hwy. 135, Gulf Shores, AL 36542, 251-948-7275,
www.alapark.com/gulfstate/cottages
.

Kiptopke State Park, Virginia.
Virginia’s Eastern Shore has never been short on scenery and natural attractions. Kiptopke State Park sits along a major flyway, providing a chance to see migratory birds. The park is an important bird population studies site, and visitors can see researchers band birds of prey September through November. There’s also swimming in the Chesapeake Bay, hiking and biking trails, and beach bonfires.