ABCDE Travel sunday, september 12, 2010
IMPULSIVETRAVELER Ou est
la nouvelle France? In Quebec, it’s sometimes hard to figure out exactly where you are. F6
Are frequent flier and other travel loyalty programs worth it?
Vote now, and join our live chat Monday at noon for more discussion:
washingtonpost.com/travel.
WELLSHOD
Shoe City, Italy A company that still makes footwear by hand. F2
You call this camping? F EZ
PHOTOS BY REBECCA D'ANGELO FOR THE WASHINGTON POST Guests at the FallingWaters Adventure Resort in Bryson City,N.C., sleep in yurts equipped with electricity, queen-size beds and other comforts of home—but not bathrooms. For those, you have to walk outside.
where comfort isn’t optional. BY NANCY TREJOS “T
here’d better be a Four Seasons at the end of this road,” said my friend Rebecca as our
rented Kia struggled down a steep hill. (Mental note: Don’t take a Kia camping in the mountains.) We’d been going in circles for an hour, taking the wrong exits and search- ing for signs to our campsite. Alas, there was no Four Seasons
at the end of the road. But the accommodations we did find weren’t too shabby. Yes, they call it camping, but there was no tent to pitch, no sleeping bag to unroll, no fire to build. At our campsite at FallingWaters Adventure Resort in
Bryson City, N.C., eight yurts — insulated circular canvas tents — overlooked Fontana Lake and a pond. Each was furnished with a queen-size bed and a futon and equipped with electricity, a private deck and a skylight for stargazing. Andthentherewas thehot tubafew yards from our yurt. After unload- ing our bags (mental note No. 2: Don’t go camping with a silver Di- anevonFurstenbergsuitcasewhose wheels get stuck in the dirt), I climbed into the steaming water to soothemy aching limbs. “Now, this is my kind of camp-
ing,” I thought as I felt my muscles relax. The economyhas takenthe camp
out of camping, making it more appealing to cash-strapped Ameri- cans. The new thing is glamping (short for glamour camping), or camping lite. To attract travelers who don’t want to sleep on the groundorputuptheirownshelters, state parks and resorts now offer alternative accommodations: yurts, first used by nomadicCentralAsian peoples; teepees; luxury tents; and spruced-up cabins or lodges. To meet a 25 percent increase in
demand for its lodges, Kamp- groundsofAmericaisadding400to KOA campsites, some with flat- screen TVs and fireplaces and all with full kitchens. Camping, said spokeswoman Lacey Thornton, “doesn’t have to be an uncomfort- able experience.” The campgrounds themselves offer amenities such as outdoor movies, petting zoos and espresso bars. The luxurious African safari ex-
Each of the eight yurts at Falling Waters Adventure Resort is perched next to a lake or a pond.
periencewas the inspirationbehind glamping, but in the United States and Canada, glamping can range fromhigh-end—a luxury one-bed-
HELAYNE SEIDMAN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST glamping continued on F4 Bryce Therrien and Sarah Sellers relax at their campsite atMalouf'sMountain Sunset Camp in Beacon,N.Y. S
No, it’s glamping,
Only if you manage to get lost. BY ANDREA SACHS
itting around the crackling fire in aHudsonValley camp- site, I proudly surveyed my forested domain from the
throneofacanvaschair.Mytentwas perfectly assembled andmoodily lit by a hanging lantern. On the two- burner gas stove, the cheese was melting on a veggie burger, while a hashofpeas andcornheatedupina pot.Asweetpotatoslowlyroastedin
the fire pit. I pulled up the iron grill and threw more logs on the flame with an expertise that was, well, false. I had an enviable campsite, but I
could not take credit for any of it. Malouf’s Mountain Sunset Camp- ground, not I, deserved the merit badge. NestledonFishkillRidgenear the
Hudson River, the hike-in/hike-out destination caters to co-dependent camperswho aremore comfortable following the leader and to urban-
iteswhowant effortlessnature. “I target people who don’t have
cars or camping gear butwant to be in the outdoors,” said Dick Malouf, who opened the campground five years ago on his 60-acre mountain plot. “Everything’s all set when you come in.” Malouf’s operation is rare in the
camping world because it fuses the ease of a hotel (shuttle service, lug- gage transfer, preassembled nest)
n.y. camping continued on F5
Roughing it?
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166