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e traHoustonChronicle TRAVEL September 27,2016 ABOVEITALL Treehouses,zip linesofferadventureinLaos.Page 4 All‘activevacations’aren’t equal, Skiersendurewildweather swings Touring colleges is agreatway so planning is key. Page 2 to getthat perfect powder.Page 8 to sneak in familytime.Page 10 Z2 | Tuesday, September 27, 2016 | Houston Chronicle | HoustonChronicle.com and chron.com xxx Travel NYT How to plan an active vacation By Shivani Vora | calories to balance out all groundwork of mapping Yo ur idea of an active “If you take a trip that’s Spain, is a hiker’s dream, New York Times News the eating and drinking that out routes, vetting out good vacation could mean wak- too easy or too difficult,” but the narrow trails don’t are typical on vacations,” hotels along these routes ing up early to embark on a she said, “you may feel like offer the ease of open roads Forget the standard she said. and buying the right equip- full day of heart-pumping it was a waste of money and for biking. hangout by the beach or But she cautions that ment,” she said. movement. For another time.” sightseeing through a city all active getaways aren’t Reliable outfitters for traveler, however, a half- Don’t limit yourself vacation. Hiking, walk- created equal and offers tips walking, hiking and biking day of leisurely walking Choose your to one activity ing and biking are less on planning one that’s best trips include Backroads, with breaks built in for long destination second Multisport trips offer common ways to explore for you. Butterfield & Robinson, lunches and cultural tours Are you a biker, or are more variety than a trip a destination, according Gray & Co., Mountain constitutes activity.Pick walking and hiking your that’s solely walking or to Susan Sparks, a travel Choose a reliable Travel Sobek, DuVine a trip according to your activities of choice? Keep biking. adviser at Points of Interest outfitter Cycling & Adventure Co. definition of active. in mind that not every des- “There are many fun trip Travel in Aspen, Colo., who Ye s, you can plan an and Trek Travel. Most offer Sparks also advises tination is suited to every options that combine walk- specializes in customized active vacation on your private and group trips, and choosing a trip that kind of activity.Tuscany, ing and biking and also active trips. own, but Sparks said that all have specialists who can matches your fitness vele l. for example, is a haven for have rafting and kayaking “When you take an booking with an outfitter is help you choose a trip based If you’re looking for a week bikers, but the busy roads thrown in,” Sparks said. active trip, you’re out in a smarter way to go. on your interests, budget of challenging hiking, for and lack of walking trails One example is a nature and get a perspective “A seamless active and fitness vele l. example, the flat and even make it less ideal for a walk- Backroads trip to Croatia’s on a place that most travel- vacation can be logistically terrain in Mallorca won’t ing holiday. Similarly, El Dalmatian Coast that in- ers don’t. Plus, you’re mov- complicated to plan, and What does active cut it, but the steep inclines Camino de Santiago, a pil- cludes walking, biking and ing a lot and burn plenty of trip outfitters veha done the mean to you? in Italy’s Dolomites will. grimage route in northern kayaking. xxx Houston Chronicle | HoustonChronicle.com and chron.com | Tuesday, September 27, 2016 | Z3 Travel Family travel five: Nature hikes with someextraordinaryscenery By Lynn O’Rourke Hayes | The Dallas Morning News Take to The Trail for fresh numerous popular hikes. air and adventure. Here are Families like to visiT during five places for families to the dry months to hike and take a trail hike. wade the river. During wet- ter months, plop in a tube Avalanche Lake, or kayak your way through Glacier National Park, the scenic landscape. The West Glacier, Mont. Devil’s Garden, considered 1 Within 4.5 miles you “easy” and located 12 miles will witness some of the south of town, provides mosT extraordinary scenery another family-friendly the national park system option. utah.com; nps.gov/ has to offer. Expect rushing glca/planyourvisit/escalan- creeks and towering cedar te.htm and hemlock trees, lead- ing to a pristine lake with Chesapeake and Ohio waterfalls as backdrop. Canal, Washington, Take time for a snack or D.C. picnic lunch and soak in 3 Take a break from hik- the stunning views. The ing between museums and trail launches from the galleries and stretch your legs wheelchair and stroller on an historic and scenic path accessible Trail of the jusT 20 minutes from the capi- Cedars one-mile loop. Stay tal. The trail begins at the Old in nearby Whitefish where Angler’s Inn and follows the lake activities, restaurants, canal towpath for 2.3 miles to farmers markets and golf the GreaT Falls Tavern, pass- add to your vacation experi- ing old locks along the way. ence. explorewhitefish.com; The outing provides an op- hiddenmooselodge.com; portunity to discuss the way firebrandhotel.com; nps. locks once lifted boats 600 Jan Bryan / Associated Press file gov/glac feet during the years — from Bring a picnic to Avalanche Lake at Glacier National Park in Montana and take in some stunning views. the 1830s until 1924 — it was Grand in use. The canals provided in this expansive state park, own block can be an adven- A hiker Staircase-Escalante a lifeline for communities plus more than 600 residenT ture for the littlesT explor- traverses Peek- National Monument, along the Potomac River. In moose. Expand your knowl- ers. Note colorful gardens, A-Boo Gulch 2Kanab, Utah the same area, consider The edge of these compelling rugged tree bark, tiny bugs at the Grand To claim your favorite Billy GoaT Trail, a 4-mile loop creatures in the educational and birds overhead. Feel Staircase- section of this stunning hike. trailink.com; nps.gov/ visitors center. Ask about the breeze, commenT on the Escalante terrain, visiT the 1.7 million- choh/index.htm the local geocaching pos- sweet smell of neighbors National acre national monumenT sibilities and the possibility barbecuing or the scenT of Monument known for winding slot State Forest State to spend the night in one of freshly cut grass. As time in Utah. The canyons, mesas, roughly Park, Walden, Colo. several yurts in the park. passes, expand your circle national carved buttes and the Sprawled along cpw.state.co.us/placestogo/ and encourage your little monument was “crookedesT river in the 4the west side of the Parks/stateforest; colorado. ones to share their own established world.” Established in 1996, Medicine Bow Mountains com. observations. in 1996 and the national monumenT and reaching into the Never includes includes the Canyons of the Summer Range, family In your backyard Lynn O’Rourke Hayes is numerous Escalante, carved by the travelers will find ,071 00 Nurture the wonder the editor of FamilyTravel. popular hikes. area’s namesake river and acres of alpine lakes, foresT of discovery early. A com. Email her at its tributaries, and serves up and plenty of hiking trails 5slow stroll around your lohayesFamilyTravel.com. Karl Ritzler / CNS Z4 | Tuesday, September 27, 2016 | Houston Chronicle | HoustonChronicle.com and chron.com xxx Tra Treehouses on top of the world: Zip lining to lodgings in Laos Eliot Stein | The Washington Post uring our honeymoon, my wife strapped herself to a steel cable, kissed me goodbye and threw herself off the side of a mountain. I watched as she disappeared into the jungle Dmist, leaving only her scream. Then it was my turn. up a series of twisting Not only is this I clipped my roller mountain trails, you “fly” exhilarating adventure to the zip line, took over the rain forest on a one of the most a running start and heart-stopping network unforgettable experiences flew high above the of zip lines — some of in Southeast Asia, it’s also canopy as the forest which are suspended 500 one of its most effective plummeted below. It felt feet above the forest floor conservation concepts. like horizontal BASE and span more than six As people from all over jumping. The adrenaline football fields. At the far the planet swoop in to rush turned into wide- end, you hike up again to sleep and play high up in eyed wonder as I burst continue crisscrossing the the trees, they’re helping through the fog and canopy on this sky-high to protect a critically glided gently through superhighway. endangered primate: the the open window of a At night, you sleep Laotian black-crested childhood fantasy: a in some of the tallest gibbon. towering three-story treehouses in the world Due to decades of treehouse built 150 feet — thatched, open-air deforestation and illegal up in the branches of a observatories surrounded hunting, this sprawling mammoth strangler fig by panoramic views of the nature reserve between tree overlooking the rain forest and a symphony Burma (also known as forest. of birds. The only way in Myanmar) and Thailand “Welcome home,” said and out of your airborne is home to one of the last my smiling wife. abode is via zip line: Yo u remaining populations Were Tarzan to dream run off a ridge in the of this rare creature. In up an eco-tourism forest and gain enough fact, the subspecies was adventure, it would momentum to soar in on long believed to be on the probably look a lot like one line, then jump out road to extinction when the Gibbon Experience in and let gravity carry you Jean-Francois Reumaux, northwest Laos.