The Great Family Escape:
Babes | Tykes | Junior | Teen | All Family Trips
Trips for Tykes:
Ages 5 Years and Up
Islamorada, Florida
Playing the Upper Keys
Cheeca Lodge & Spa's 27-acre (11-hectare) spread, an hour-and-a-half drive south of Miami on the island of Islamorada, has an impressive roster of aquatic activities. Try snorkeling the only living coral reef in the continental U.S., casting for snappers and grunts off a 525-foot (160-meter) classic wooden pier, or swimming a palm-lined beach. "We also have a lagoon where kids feed the fish," says Les Riley, a "snorkel-mate" at Cheeca's Watersports Center. "Or we take them out to the reef in our 40-foot (12-meter), glass-bottom pontoon boat." Waterlogged families retire to Cheeca's West Indies-inspired beachfront bungalows with kitchens and large balconies.
Where to Play: Cheeca Rocks, a group of inshore reefs, offers snorkeling among parrotfish, queen triggers, and angelfish. For adults and kids ten and up with scuba experience, Key Dives (www.keydives.com) runs shallow (up to 25 feet [8 meters]) night dives to spot moray eels.
Post-Curfew: With young ones entrenched at Camp Cheeca, you are free to take a private, half-day backcountry fishing trip to the Keys and Everglades National Park with Captain Xavier Figuero ($400 for two people). Most nights kids get entertained with pizza and a movie, while parents work over spiny lobster dumplings and Florida stone crabs at the lodge's Atlantic's Edge restaurant.
Details: Rooms cost $369; www.cheeca.com.
Gallatin Gateway, Montana
Saddling Up in Big Sky Country
Set on the Taylor Fork of the Gallatin River, 7,000 feet (2,134 meters) high in the Montana Rockies, Nine Quarter Circle Ranch is the real deal. The Kelseys—Kim and Kelly, and their kids Konnor, Kameron, and Kyleen—who have run the early 1900s ranch for over 60 years, have wrangled family dude ranching into an art form. "Small Fries" (under age six) roam the ranch with a skilled ranch hand; "Rough Riders" (six to nine) take daily trail rides; and adults both young and old go on 20-mile (31-kilometer) horsepacking excursions. At the end of the day, rustic cabins with knotty-pine interiors, handmade quilts, and private baths soothe saddle sores.
Where to Play: After trying the ranch's famous caramel-pecan rolls, saddle up one of 120 Appaloosas bred on-site for a half-day or full-day ride into the Gallatin National Forest and Lee Metcalf Wilderness. Weeklong excursions head into the adjacent Taylor Kilgard Wilderness.
Post-curfew: In Quarter Nine Circle tradition, kids eat together at their own tables, according to age group, while adults kick back for a dinner of prime rib or pine-nut-crusted halibut.
Details: Cabins run $1,477 per person a week (10 to 30 percent discount for children under 15); www.ninequartercircle.com.
Ely, Minnesota
Navigating the North Woods
Minnesota's million-acre (four-hundred thousand hectare) Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is the second largest wilderness east of the Rockies and surprisingly easy to access. Bill Forsberg, Jr., owner of Boundary Waters Outfitters, can custom design canoe trips for any family—zero outdoor experience required. "With the detailed maps we provide, you should be able to get from point A to point B with very little difficulty," Forsberg says. "We go over the entire route, all the gear, how to set up the tents. And help you brush up on your J-stroke." Guided options offer an extra layer of comfort and another pair of hands for portaging that loaded, 42-pound (19-kilogram) canoe.
Where to Play: Pick from more than 20 different entry points, over 1,500 miles (2,414 kilometers) of canoe routes, and some 2,000 solitary campsites. (The entry point at Isabella River offers the best chance of seeing a moose.)
Post-Curfew: Dinner is honey-lime chicken with asparagus and long-grain rice—surprisingly tasty freeze-dried fare, provided by Forsberg. And if your kids haven't crashed, toast marshmallows together under the stars.
Details: A four-day, three-night unguided excursion for a family of four costs $1,040; guided, $1,840 (both include Kevlar canoes, sleeping bags, tents, meals, and water-purification and bearproofing kits); www.boundarywatersoutfitters.com.
The Great Family Escape:
Babes | Tykes | Junior | Teen | All Family Trips
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