Active Vacation
 

My family (me, wife, 19 y/o boy and 16 y/o girl) are trying to plan a 5-7 day vacation this summer. We are drawing a blank on where to go. Criteria:

*Most days active to include rafting, fishing, zip-lining, hiking, exploring-caves, ghost towns etc.
*Some good lodge time
*Limited crowds, NO long lines
*No real "sight seeing"
*Hot and dry or cool and shady-either work

Anyone have any suggestions?

The Black Hills of South Dakota
Glacier National Park

Note: We have found both of these places to be relatively crowd-free in June. But they will be crowded in the months of July and August--as will most any place in the U.S.

I suggest the southern Oregon Coast, except I don't know of any ghost town in that area. You can add sand dunes to your outdoor activities and the Oregon Caves are accessible.

HTtY

Speaking of Oregon, how about Bend?

Since we don't know where you're coming from, and since your available time is pretty short, I'd probably try to keep your activities fairly close to a major airport.

My first thought was the Columbia Gorge and Hood River Valley area of Oregon/Washington. The Gorge is very close to PDX airport, so it would require minimal time from landing to getting where you want to go.

Within a fairly small radius of, say, Hood River, you've got alpine hikes (Mount Hood or Mount Adams, white water rafting on the White Salmon River, lots of hikes and waterfalls along the Oregon side of the gorge (Google "Oneonta Gorge" for example), Hood River is the self-proclaimed windsurfing capital of North America... Or in an hour you can be in warm/dry sagebrush country - visit Maryhill Museum and the nearby Stonehenge "replica," or visit the cool little observatory in Goldendale, or the wineries in the Maryhill area, visit or stay at Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood, or enjoy the food trucks and cool vibe of Portland itself. No sales tax in Oregon either, so decent shopping if that's of interest.

There are plenty of interesting little towns to visit, plenty of Lewis and Clark history, and the range of landscapes and environments within such a small area is remarkable.

Columbia Gorge - http://gardyloo.us/20100509_5a.JPG
Mt. Hood from Hood River Valley - http://gardyloo.us/20100509_85a.JPG

Oregon doesn't have much in the way of ghost towns:
http://traveloregon.com/see-do/orego...e/ghost-towns/

However, Jacksonville is an interesting historic town in southern Oregon:
http://jacksonvilleoregon.org

And, the pleasing town of Ashland (with its big theater festival) is not
far from Jacksonville: https://www.osfashland.org

There is a lot in the the area: http://www.rogueweb.com/rec.htm

HTtY



HTtY

Yep, HTTY has a good point, Ashland and the Rogue Valley are great; you could also add a day (or two-day) trip to the redwoods in northern California via US 199 and the Oregon caves. The area is a bit harder/longer to reach by air; you can fly into Medford from Seattle, Portland or San Francisco, but that would (probably) require more plane changes and cost a bit more than a bigger airport like PDX.

Hi Thurston,

I agree Oregon is a great vacation, but have you considered Park City, Utah?

Hot and dry, cool and shady depending on where you are! Lots to do, but no major site seeing must sees.

Golf
Horseback riding
Hot air ballooning
Hiking
World class fly fishing
Zip lines and much more in the way of thrills
Paddleboard lessons at one of the lakes
Historic mining town, good small museum
Art galleries
Excellent restaurants
Lots of lodging choices, condos, homes, hotels, lodges
Ice skating
Tubing on the Provo River
Wildflowers in Little Cottonwood Canyon mid-July to mid-August - amazing
Park City Arts Festival - 1st weekend in August
Free outdoor concerts at Deer Valley and Canyons

30 minutes drive from SL International airport.

Great responses and ideas. Thanks.

I guess I should have indicated where I live-Oregon. I've done a lot in Oregon, but have a LOT yet to cover, including some of the ideas provided here.

So, based on family discussion and these comments, it looks as if we will be spending 4-5 days in an Oregon location and then another week spend 4-5 days on on of the San Juan Islands or Vancouver Island.

So, more ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Ah, well then in that case maybe have a look at Whistler BC, which has much going for it during the summer, including a lot of excellent accommodation (built for big skiing crowds, overbuilt for summer.)

Or Olympic National Park - amazing variety (coast, mountains, forest, lakes...) or look at Stehekin on Lake Chelan (WA) accessed only by float plane or the Lady of the Lake ferry. Lake Chelan is basically a fjord stretching from the dry country at Chelan all the way into North Cascades National Park.

On Vancouver Island you've got a crazy amount of outdoor activities to choose from. How about bear watching? Go to Port Alberni Victoria Quay in late summer for black bears, and you can go on bear watching safaris from Telegraph Cove, Campbell River, or Port Hardy. Or ocean kayaking? There's loads of info here http://www.vancouverislandoutdoor.co...ater/kayaking/ and you can even do moonlit paddles.

Aspen. We had a great summer vacation in Aspen one year. Hiking, rafting, mountain biking, great restaurants, beautiful views, etc.

An area of Oregon not frequently mentioned is the Wallowas- beautiful country, lots of hiking, horseback riding. We took a day trip and went jet boating on the Snake River but you can also raft. We saw a lot of bears from the boat, plus mountain sheep and the rapids were wild. Loved that experience.
We stayed close to Joseph.

I love the area around Bend- so much for families of all ages to do- you said you have seen a lot of Oregon but don't mention where. Bend has everything you mentioned except ghost towns