![[Lake scene drawing]](http://images.midwestweekend.com/graphics/lake_scene.gif)
I applaud anyone who takes on the job of planning a family reunion.
When more than a few branches of a family are involved, planning a reunion requires the strategic skills of a general, the diplomacy of an envoy and the social agility of an emcee. In other words, plan carefully, because it's hard to make everyone happy.
First, find out what people really want. Are they expecting to spend most of their time reacquainting themselves with far-flung family members, or more time acquainting themselves with the golf course and swim-up bar?
Contrary to common wisdom, the best deals in travel aren’t too good to be true.
The minute I heard about the “rustic group camp’’ at Big Bay State Park on Madeline Island, in the Apostles, I was interested. It’s not a camp but a lodge, with a choice location near the lagoon of Big Bay. There’s space for 20 people and a kitchen with a full-size refrigerator and stove, and it was available to nonprofit groups for $40 per night.
For that, I didn’t expect much. But when I went there one August with the Minnesota Rovers Outdoors Club, we found a
two-story, atmospheric log lodge with a fieldstone fireplace, plank floors and a long screened porch, set in its own grove of
cedars.
Collectively, no one knows more about traveling in the Upper Midwest than its outdoors clubs.
Club members organize dozens of excursions year-round — hiking, paddling, skiing — and they know all the best
places. Once, I thought I'd made a real discovery — High Point Village, an appealing little resort with 10 miles of
hiking and skiing loops around the foot of Timm's Hill, Wisconsin's highest point.
It turned out the Twin Cities-based North Stars Ski Touring Club already had found it and reserved it for one of their trips.
Want to save money on trips? Then, step away from the fancy catalog.
Glossy pages of snow-capped mountains and medieval castles are eye candy for travelers. But the prettier the brochure, the more eye-popping the prices.
Luxury excursions are like Jaguars and Jimmy Choo shoes. We covet them, we window-shop for them, but only a few of us can afford them.
Most guided adventure trips cost quite a lot. If you're prepared to pay, great; if not, you have options.
If you want to hike the Superior Hiking Trail on Minnesota's North Shore, for example, you can pay up to $379 per day, per person, or as little as $40 per day. Here's how it works out:
All of these trips include lodgings, meals and transportation as noted. Cost is per person and, for lodge trips, based on
double occupancy. For camping trips, meals (mostly groceries) are estimated at $20 per day.
As adults, we sometimes forget how great it is to be a kid.
People give you toys to play with. They show you new games and explain things in interesting ways. They feed you freshly baked cookies and s'mores.
Kids take it for granted. But I didn't one January, when I got to stay at Deep Portage Conservation Reserve, in the woods north of Brainerd.
In hindsight, it's good to be grown up and out of school: no more tests, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks.
But it's also good to be a grown-up who's back in school, because schools have grown up, too. There are no tests and few books, and teachers are as friendly and attentive as cruise-ship hosts.
In fact, attending some schools is a lot like being on vacation.
Out in the forest, solitude can be overrated.
Occasionally, we all need silence. But you may have more fun if you play follow the leader.
When I go on a hike, especially if I don't know the area well, I like to tag along with naturalists. Thanks to them, I've learned all kinds of interesting things.