The 100 Best Affordable Vacations (15 page)

The museum at the base of the Mount Washington Cog Railway is free; a ride on the rail costs $62. For information about camping, lodging, state parks, outdoor recreation, and covered bridges, see
www.visitwhitemountains.com
.

Mount Washington Cog Railway,
Base Rd., Bretton Woods, 800-922-8825,
www.thecog.com
.

White Pass & Yukon Route, Alaska.
When a gold claim was registered at the Yukon’s Klondike River in 1896, droves of prospectors surged to Skagway, Alaska, the closest seaport. From there, prospectors faced a daunting overland trek across the steep peaks of the Coast Mountains separating Alaska and British Columbia. The solution: The White Pass & Yukon Route railway, a 110-mile engineering marvel requiring tens of thousands of laborers and 450 tons of explosives, and completed in just 26 months.

The first 67.5 miles of the narrow-gauge rail route now operate as a tourist attraction from May to September.

The 3.5-hour round-trip White Pass excursion is popular with cruisers but costs $110. For a less expensive option, book the railway’s hiker drop-off service to the trailheads for day hikes to Denver Glacier or Laughton, starting at $31.50 round-trip (reservations required). At either trailhead, you can stay overnight in a railcar turned cabin run by the Forest Service. The town has a hostel and several campgrounds.

Much of Skagway forms part of
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
(907-983-2921,
www.nps.gov/klgo
)—which means free ranger-led walking tours of the town and maintained trails for day hikes and longer hauls along the 33-mile Chilkoot Trail, tracing the onetime path of the prospectors. The park’s visitor center is open May through late September. After you’ve seen the exhibits about the hardships of building the railway, you’ll be grateful it’s all in the past.

White Pass & Yukon Route,
231 2nd Ave., Skagway, 800-343-7373,
www.wpyr.com
;
Skagway Visitor Center,
907-983-2854,
www.skagway.com
.

revisit the cold war

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, WEST VIRGINIA

We don’t propose to sit here in our rocking chair with our hands folded and let the Communists set up any government in the Western Hemisphere.

—
PRESIDENT LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON (1965)

16 |
Between spy novels and movies, the Cold War sometimes seems like a figment of pop culture. But Americans of a certain generation remember all too well the nuclear bomb drills of the 1960s. Berlin was divided by the wall. American warheads were pointed at Russian warheads and vice versa. When the Soviets placed warhead-armed missiles in Cuba just 90 miles from the Florida coast in 1962, American schools began training children in Cold War safety measures.

You can recall those treacherous days on a
bunker tour
(300 W. Main St., 800-624-6070 or 304-536-7810,
www.greenbrier.com/site/bunker.aspx
, $30) at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

The bunker was designed to shield key members of Congress. The resort—a longtime favorite of the posh and the powerful, including Presidents and industrial barons—offered easy access from Washington (a train still rolls right to its gates) but was far enough to avoid nuclear fallout in the event of an attack on the capital. And who would expect a secret government hideout on the grounds of an exclusive resort?

A 25-ton door of steel and concrete would secure the powerful 720 feet underground. Congressional leaders would sleep in dormitory bunks and subsist on freeze-dried beef, breathe filtered air, and drink from an underground water tank. The 112,544-square-foot hutch feels grim—just like the times they were built for. Reservations are required for the 90-minute tour and children under the age of 10 are not admitted.

$PLURGE

WHITE-WATER RAFTING

West Virginia is famous for its white-water rafting, especially along the New and Gauley Rivers northwest of White Sulphur Springs. The water typically is wildest in spring, and unless you’re a white-water expert, you’ll need to join an organized trip—usually around $100 per adult. You’ll find tamer—and cheaper—alternatives at the
Greenbrier River Campground
(800-775-2203,
www.greenbrierriver.com
), where a river tube, shuttle ride, and life jacket costs $17.50. Tent campsites here start at $21.50; RV sites are also available. If you’d prefer to stay inside, check out the
Dawson Inn
(2625 Lawn Rd., Dawson, 877-332-3349) where rooms start at $63 a night.

MORE COLD WAR ATTRACTIONS

In recent years, a number of formerly closed Cold War government sites have opened to tours. Group sizes are limited, and most require advance reservations. Here are few worth considering:

 
Minuteman Missile National Historic Site
. Located in the heart of South Dakota’s Black Hills, this site offers tours Monday through Friday in winter and Monday through Saturday in summer. Visitors with limited time can take a peek at a Minuteman II missile; those with deeper interest can sign up for a 90-minute guided tour of the living quarters, the underground launch control center, and the launch facility. Tours are free but reservations are required.
Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, 605-433-5552,
www.nps.gov/mimi
.

 
Nike Hercules Missile Site
. Set in the Florida Everglades, this site was a reaction to the Cuban missile crisis that put the world on edge. For years the government denied its existence. Guided driving tours of the site are now offered on weekends during winter months only; the tours are free with park admission. You must have a car; reservations are recommended.
Nike Hercules Missile Site, 305-242-7700,
www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/nikemissle.htm
.

 
Nike Missile Site
. This site in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Recreation Area is one of the 288 Nike missile sites built by the U.S. Army as the last defense against a Soviet nuclear attack. Guided tours are offered Wednesday through Friday in the afternoons. On the first Saturday of each month, docents share real-life experiences from Nike missile sites.
Nike Missile Site, 415-331-1453,
www.nps.gov/goga/nike-missile-site.htm
.

The tour is a bit of a splurge, but thankfully the surrounding countryside is filled with parks, scenic byways, and cozy small towns, which means there’s plenty to check out that’s free or cheap.

Want to open the car windows and let the countryside roll by? The Greenbrier Valley is home to five designated scenic byways, including the
Farm Heritage Road
that passes fields and barns little changed in the past 200 years, and the
Lower Greenbrier River Byway,
which follows its namesake waterway through the town of Alderson, home to a restored Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad depot and a historic arched bridge. Information for both is available at
http://wvcommerce.org/travel/gettinghere/wvbyways/newgreenbrier.aspx
.

You can also toodle along U.S. 60, known as the
Midland Trail
(www.midlandtrail.com), a national scenic byway stretching 180 miles from White Sulphur Springs to the Kentucky–Ohio–West Virginia border. Just 10 miles from White Sulphur Springs lies the cozy colonial-era town of Lewisburg; its downtown, filled with shops and galleries, has been named one of a dozen Distinctive Destinations by the National Trust for Historical Preservation. Be sure to drop in for homemade soups and pastries plus a chicken BLT for lunch or roasted pork shank for dinner at the
Stardust Café
(102 E. Washington St., 304-647-3663).

Just north of town on Fairview Road is
Lost World Caverns
(304-645-6677,
www.lostworldcaverns.com
, $12 self-guided tour), a natural underground cave system that is home to the 30-ton stalactite dubbed the Snow Chandelier and the 28-foot stalagmite called the War Club.

For more natural pursuits, check out the nearby 5,100-acre
Greenbrier State Forest
(304-536-1944,
www.greenbriersf.com
) in Caldwell, with 13 miles of hiking and biking trail, plus an archery court, horseshoes, and a pool. Cabins start at $66 per night, depending on the season, campsites at $20. The 79-mile
Greenbrier River Trail
(www.greenbrierrivertrail.com) along a former railroad right-of-way is popular with hikers and bikers.

HOW TO GET IN TOUCH

Greenbrier County Convention & Visitors Bureau,
540 N. Jefferson St., Ste. N, Lewisburg, WV 24901, 800-833-2068,
www.greenbrierwv.com
.

take a road trip

NATIONWIDE

See the USA in Your Chevrolet

—
COMMERCIAL JINGLE (1949)

17 |
As a nation, we’ve done it by Conestoga wagon, VW minibus, and the family SUV, and it’s been memorialized in movies as iconic as
National Lampoon’s Vacation
and
Little Miss Sunshine.
No vacation is more truly American than a road trip. But a journey can be much more than motorized sightseeing. It’s a time for bonding and accumulating junk-food wrappers on the floorboard. Planned right it offers a chance to experience parts of the country too often bypassed when traveling via interstates and airplanes. It’s a rite of passage, a tradition everyone should experience at least once.

Both co-authors of this book have passed thousands of hours on highways and country roads. Jane Wooldridge once took 28 days to drive a zigzaggy 5,000 miles from Miami to Seattle, relying on e-mailed tips from strangers to choose her route. Larry Bleiberg has done his share of transcontinental travel: wheeling it from Virginia to Idaho, Kentucky to British Columbia, and each time emerging from the car bleary-eyed but a little smarter about his country—and himself. Road trips develop themes and theme songs. Even decades later, when Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” comes on the radio, Larry still flashes back to a middle-of-the-night drive across West Virginia with his younger brother.