I
IF YOU’VE EVER STAYED in fancy
fi ve-star hotels with pool butlers, pil-
low menus, thousand-count linens, and
staff who offer to shine your shoes and
unpack your suitcase, you know how
expensive they can be. It’s a little silly,
Santa Barbara, Calif., offers fun in the sun.
isn’t it? If you’re like me, you’re looking for back-to-basics vacations,
where the scenery and setting are the point, not getting pampered or
pretending to be posh. But I don’t want to rough it either — I still ex-
pect hot showers and a real bed.
The solution? A cabin in the woods fashioned ice cream parlors. But by who relish the scent of campfi res
where you can dress down, relax on a September and October, the beaches mingled with brisk sea air, who want
front porch, cozy up in front of a fi re- are deserted except for scattered drift- to wake in the morning to birdsong,
place, and sleep soundly at night. Here wood; the trees put on a glorious show and who believe s’mores are the best
are four destinations to consider. of gold, crimson, rust, yellow, and or- dessert ever invented. But the oak-
ange; and you’ll have the trails, woods, and sycamore-studded coastal camp-
Postcard perfect lighthouses, and lake vistas to yourself. ground also was designed for people
With its white clapboard homes, You and your family can make your- who are less enthusiastic about using
steeple churches, and country roads, selves at home at Bay Breeze Resort, a unpleasant outhouses or sleeping in
Door County, Wis., is known as “the woodsy and warm log cabin with a lumpy sleeping bags.
Cape Cod of the Midwest.” This pic- stone fi replace in the living room (and You’ll stay in a cedar cabin, fur-
turesque peninsula is 75 miles long stacks of wood on the hearth), a well- nished simply with a king-size bed, a
with small towns like Fish Creek, equipped kitchen, four bedrooms, out- couple of chairs and table, and a stove-
Egg Harbor, and Sister Bay strung door decks, a family-size dining room pipe heater. A small kitchenette is
along the shoreline. with fl oor-to-ceiling windows, and equipped with a coffeemaker, a micro-
A vacation here is like traveling spectacular harbor and park views. wave, and a refrigerator — but be sure
back in time. There’s a drive-in the- With all the fun outdoor activities to bring your own dinnerware and
ater still in operation, Pioneer Ceme- to do around the lake, I’m still bet- utensils. The bathroom not only is
tery, and red-trolley rides — not to ting your favorite part will be sitting stocked with thick towels, but it also
mention goats grazing the grass- on the front porch swing accompa-
thatched roof at Al Johnson’s Swed- nied by a good book, a mug of hot Interesting places to eat like
ish Restaurant (pictured below). In cocoa, and a slice of cherry pie. (from left) Wilson’s Restaurant and
the summer, families enjoy miles of Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant
sandy beaches, hike and bike on lake- Comfort camping abound in Door County, Wis. If you
front trails, pick cherries and apples El Capitan Canyon on California’s prefer the west coast, California of-
in the orchards, and gather in old- central coast is a place for people fers plenty of vineyards and beaches.
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