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Yes, like every other resort in the country, business is down in America’s most famous ski town. The mountains aren’t crowded and you don’t seem to see as many flashy ski outfits either. It’s easier to get dinner reservations or a table when you want one.
It’s lunch time at Beaver Creek Resort’s main mountain restaurant Spruce Saddle Lodge and the place is packed with families. You wouldn’t know there is a recession going on — until you start talking to people, like I did, table hopping
I feel like a crazy person! We’re 12 in our gang, ranging from a four year-old to two twenty somethings and a grandma who just turned 60. If you think getting your kids out the door to school or day care in the morning is tough, imagine getting them geared up for a day on the snow!
My mission: To see if a vacation with active teens and young adults can be successful at an all-inclusive resort. Conclusion: “yes”
Beaver Creek is a Vail Resort — about 10 minutes from famous Vail in fact — but it is a parallel universe. Even on a busy weekend, it is not crowded. The resort is known for its stellar learning terrain, kids’ school and green easy trails at the top of the mountain, though there is plenty of extreme terrain too.
“This is a lot more than teaching kids how to turn on the mountain. This is about using sports to do character development.”
There it is, right in front of us, a castle, a sprawling, Victorian castle, just a couple of hours north of New York City.
I’ve forsaken the slopes today, as terrific as they are at the brand-new Spruce Peak base area at Stowe Mountain Resort. I’m snowshoeing at the nearby Trapp Family Lodge
Oaxaca is in the southeastern part of Mexico and we’ve come here for a few days of cultural immersion after a week lazing on the beach
Welcome to Seasons of My Heart Cooking School ) that is run by well-known chef Susana Trilling, an American from Philadelphia who fell in love with Mexico on vacation more than 20 years ago and has lived here most of the time since, raising her two kids here.
Talk about loving your work. Eighty-eight year old Dona Sophia Reyes is a potter who works seven days a week and hasn’t had a day off since she was eight, she tells us when she welcomes us into her studio and home in San Bartelo Coyotepec, a village about 25 minutes from Oaxaca City.
We are on our bikes riding on dirt roads passing alfalfa and corn fields, passing locals hauling alfalfa by donkey carts. It is day two of a trip to Oaxaca in Central Mexico that Austin Lehman Adventures (www.austinlehman.com) has arranged for our family.
It tastes kind of like bacon and is seasoned with chile and salt. Not bad! We are walking through a market in Oaxaca City where we’ve arrived just this afternoon to spend a few days touring this cultural center on a trip organized for us by Austin Lehman Adventures. Locals are selling the “chapulines” — there are big piles of them! Cheap too — just 3 pesos for a bag (about 40 cents).
DAY 7 – I’m perched in a wooden tree house — the most comfortable I’ve ever seen — on a double mattress overlooking the turquoise…
It’s 7:15 am and I snag the last “beach bed” at the pool area closest to our room at the Azul Sensatori Hotel (www.karismahotels.com) south of Cancun. You can see why they are in demand — comfy oversized mattresses that are covered.
Despite the economy — or maybe because of it — there’s no better time for families to check out The Great White Way
This might be the best kids’ club I’ve seen. Certainly one of the best-thanks to partnerships with My Gym and Fisher Price at the Karisma Azul Sensatori resort just south of Cancun (www.karismahotels.com). There is a big play room complete with trampoline and balls to jump in.
I think I’ve seen the future of family travel. It’s called Azul Fives and it’s about a half hour south of we’re staying just outside of Playa del Carmen. Originally, we were supposed to stay here — I liked the location (plenty of action in town for the young adults, Mayan ruins a short drive away, good diving and snorkeling right from the resort).
I walk down the beach. A toddler is snoozing in the spacious covered “beach bed;” a grandfather is playing cards with his granddaughter; a dad is tossing a football along the beach with his sons. There is a beach volleyball game going on at one end of the beach and a kids’ soccer game at the other.
My mission: seeing if a vacation with teens and young adults can be successful at an all-inclusive resort. When they were younger, I liked all-inclusives for the organized kids’ activities that gave parents a break and the fact that I didn’t have to pay $4 every time they wanted a soft drink.