The 100 Best Affordable Vacations (69 page)

Visitors in mid-to late August can take in performances by the opera’s apprentices on two consecutive Sunday nights, with tickets running from $5–$15. These talented singers undergo an extensive audition process to get the prestigious posts. They serve in chorus and in minor roles during the operas, and also as understudies for the stars. Several apprentices, such as Joyce DiDonato, Dimitri Pittas, and Samuel Ramey, have gone on to stardom.

You can also hear the apprentices during Opera Week at
Vanessie
(434 W. San Francisco St., 505-982-9966), a restaurant and lounge. The multinight fund-raiser, usually held in late July, features the singers in two sets at the piano bar. Cover is $10. The restaurant’s a favorite with performers, and throughout the season, you might find opera singers kicking back and singing at the restaurant’s piano bar on nights the amphitheater’s dark.

But on performance nights, the drama starts well before the first note is sung. Like football fans, opera lovers tailgate in Santa Fe, often setting up elaborate meals in the amphitheater parking lot. Some may have chandeliers and champagne set up on folding tables. “It’s a strange and wonderful and absolutely delightful thing,” Prezant says.

ARIAS UNDER THE STARS IN NEW YORK

Just north of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, Glimmerglass Opera company has been performing in the innovative Alice Busch Opera Theater since 1987. The 900-seat venue can slide open its walls, allowing patrons to enjoy an evening breeze between arias.

The company runs four productions every summer, and guests in August can sometimes see all of them in one packed weekend. There’s also a free backstage tour on Saturday mornings and free pre-opera lectures an hour before each performance. These include audio clips and are held in a preview pavilion. Changeover Talks are held Saturday afternoons between the matinee and evening performances. Audience members can watch as walls are moved and the stage is transformed from, say, ancient Rome to medieval Spain. A production staffer explains what’s happening on stage. “We have two hours. It’s synchronized and choreographed,” says Brittany Lesavoy of the opera company. “Some companies have automatic stages, but all our changes are done by hand.” Patrons are welcome to picnic before performances on the grounds.
Danny’s Main Street Market
(92 Main St., 607-547-4053) offers inexpensive sandwiches and bottles of wine.

Tickets start at $26, with discounts available for children, students, and educators.
Glimmerglass Opera, 7300 Hwy. 80, Cooperstown, NY 13326, 607-547-2255,
www.glimmerglass.org
.

If you’re not on a caviar budget, you can pick up gourmet takeout and a bottle of wine at a bargain price from the grocery store
Trader Joe’s
(530 W. Cordova Rd., 505-995-8145). Even cheaper, but authentic and still acceptable, is a green-chile cheeseburger from nearby
Blake’s Lotaburger
(3200 Cerrillos Rd., 505-471-2433).

[$
PLURGE
: For a splurge, sign up for the opera’s Preview Buffet ($52 per person), which includes dinner, wine, and dessert in an open-air venue. The meal finishes with a guest speaker, who discusses the night’s performance while dessert is served.]

Santa Fe lodging isn’t generally cheap. For budget accommodation, look along Cerrillos Road. For example,
King’s Rest Court Inn
(1452 Cerrillos Rd., 505-983-8879) often has rooms in the $50 range.

HOW TO GET IN TOUCH

Santa Fe Opera,
7 Governor Miles Rd., Santa Fe, NM 87506, 505-986-5900,
www.santafeopera.org
.

spread your wings

OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN

There is no sport equal to that which aviators enjoy while being carried through the air on great white wings.

—
PIONEER AVIATOR WILBUR WRIGHT (1905)

87 |
Before commercial airlines became flying cattle cars, aviation was a sport of passion, romance, and exploration. For the estimated 500,000 private pilots in America who claim small-plane flying as their hobby, that’s still the case. “Up there you get a perspective you just don’t get from the ground,” says Dick Knapinski, who flies a 1967 Piper Cherokee. “You look at the countryside below and see how everything fits together.” And there’s a sense of accomplishment, he says, of just learning to fly the machine.

If you long to play Charles Lindbergh or Amelia Earhart but find flying lessons pricey, head to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in late July to check out the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, a fly-in convention that has been a tradition since 1953. (EAA—Experimental Aircraft Association—sponsor of the convention, is a membership organization that encourages recreational aviation.) Some 2,500 small planes—vintage aircraft, experimentals, homebuilts, military planes, seaplanes, warbirds—fly in for a week of demonstrations, afternoon aerobatics displays, training sessions, seminars, workshops on planebuilding, and camaraderie at the country’s largest air show. Evening entertainment includes bands—one year the Beach Boys, another Chicago—and “fly in” movies. Activities include a kid’s hangar, play dates, and a teen dance. And whether you’re looking for airplane models, historic patches, or the latest avionics gear, you’ll find it here.

The show draws pilots and enthusiasts from corporate CEOs with the newest equipment to working people who have scrimped for years to build ultralights or kit planes, says Knapinski, who works with the show. “It’s celebrating the fact that yes, we can fly.”

Entry for an adult costs $37 per day. (If you’re planning to attend for at least two days, pay $40 for an EAA membership, which brings the entry fee down to $25 per day and $21 for your spouse.) Included is that day’s admission to the
AirVenture Museum
(920-426-4800,
www.airventuremuseum.org
, regular entry $12.50 adults).

EAA membership also allows you to camp at the show site, with tent sites starting at $22 per night with a three-night minimum. For a price-savvy alternative, book a room in a local college dorm room, often for less than $50 per night. Options include the
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
(920-424-3326, e-mail: [email protected]),
Lawrence University
(920-832-7024, e-mail: [email protected]) in Appleton, and
Marian University
(800-262-7426, e-mail: [email protected]) in Fond du Lac. Many local homeowners rent out rooms during the show.

NOTABLE HISTORIC AIRCRAFT AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

 
1903 Wright Brothers Flier
. National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC, 202-633-1000,
www.nasm.si.edu
.

 
1916 Curtiss JN-4D “Jenny” Military Tractor.
College Park Aviation Museum, College Park, MD, 301-864-6029,
www.collegeparkaviationmuseum.com
.

 
1918 Fokker D-VIII.
Fantasy of Flight, Polk City, FL, 863-984-3500,
www.fantasyofflight.com
.

 
1944 Grumman Duck.
EEA Aviation Center, Oshkosh, WI, 920-426-4800,
www.airventuremuseum.org
.

 
Original Air Force One.
Museum of Flight, Seattle, WA, 206-764-5720,
www.museumofflight.org
.

 
Saturn V Rocket.
Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL, 866-737-5235,
www.kennedyspacecenter.com
.