The 100 Best Affordable Vacations (34 page)

 Dress for the weather; wearing full leathers in a southern summer swelter is no fun.

 Plan to arrive at your evening destination at least an hour before dark.

 Always wear a helmet, even in states that don’t require it. Riding otherwise just isn’t worth the risk.

stay on a working ranch

AMES, OKLAHOMA

Ain’t nuthin’ like ridin’ a fine horse in new country.

—
AUTHOR LARRY MCMURTRY,
LONESOME DOVE
(1985)

40 |
Of all America’s icons, perhaps the cowboy best captures the public’s imagination. Independent and resourceful, a wrangler just requires his horse, a rope, and the wide-open range. It’s an image well known from movies, and it continues to exist in small pockets across the West. But for travelers, the cowboy experience can be hard to find. Guest or dude ranches let vacationers play at being cowboys, although often the experience is manufactured—and expensive.

You’ll find an exception in Ames, Oklahoma, about 100 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. For five generations, the White family has operated a ranch on a 5,000-acre island in the middle of the Cimarron River. They’ve been in Oklahoma since the land run of 1889, and settled the ranch in 1893. The place looks so authentic that Levi Strauss & Company, Justin Boots, and other makers of Western products have filmed commercials here.

Visitors are welcome to join the Whites at their Island Guest Ranch from April through October. Guests can ride horses every day if they’d like, but they’re also invited to join in ranch chores, such as moving the 350 head of Braford, Brahman cross, and longhorn cattle to new pastures, tending the herd of quarter horses, and repairing fences. They can also practice cowboy skills like team penning and roping in a ranch arena. For recreation there’s trap shooting, fishing, and swimming in a pool. Guests get three hearty meals a day. Most of the food comes from local sources—expect rib eye and T-bone steaks, fried chicken, locally grown vegetables, homemade bread, cobblers, and apple pie. Another ranch favorite is cowboy stew, a red beans and rice concoction with plenty of vegetables.

This all-inclusive experience runs just $130 a day for adults, less for children—one-half to one-third the cost of most dude ranch vacations, and discounts are available for weeklong visits. Accommodations are in ten air-conditioned cabins, with private bathrooms and queen-size beds.

“You really get the opportunity to experience a Western lifestyle without sacrificing the comforts of modernity,” says Jordy White, one of the newest generation to help manage the ranch. “We try to give people a picture of the West and Oklahoma and what it’s like living and working in an idyllic situation where you can just get on your horse and go.”

The ranch is home to a variety of wildlife from deer and coyotes to turkey and armadillos. Guests also often see cranes, roadrunners, quail, and scissortail flycatchers.

Horses are carefully matched with riders based on their skill levels and guests who want to can ride several times a day. It’s a learning experience for novices though. “You have to remember you’re not riding a box or a bicycle, it’s a living breathing animal,” Jordy says.

In the evening, guests might take a trolley ride pulled by a team of Belgian draft horses. The Whites often invite over a neighbor who sings songs for square or country dancing, or they might host friends who are Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians who will perform a mini powwow for guests. If you’re visiting on a Friday or Saturday night, there are usually community rodeos in the region, and the staff can take you even if it’s an hour or two away.

Although cowboys are part of the U.S. national heritage, most people checking in to Island Guest Ranch aren’t Americans. The property attracts Europeans looking for an authentic slice of the Old West. Perhaps, we’re missing something.

In 2011, the ranch plans to start a cowboy school for urban dwellers (that’s the politically correct term for “city slickers”) who want an in-depth ranch experience. They’ll learn how to train and break in horses, cover the basics of working with cattle, and build fences. “They’ll really get an understanding of what a cowboy does on a daily basis,” Jordy says.

HOW TO GET IN TOUCH

Island Guest Ranch,
Ames, OK 73718, 800-928-4574,
www.islandguestranch.com
.

$PLURGE

FIVE-STAR RANCHING

Montana’s Triple Creek Ranch offers amenities that John Wayne would never have recognized. From a wine cellar to in-cabin massages, the ranch, which is a member of the prestigious Relais & Châteaux group of hotels, knows how to take the edge off roughing it. Cabins include stocked wet bars, nightly turndown service, and fresh-baked cookies and trail mix. Although you could spend days visiting nearby art museums or taking a helicopter tour, TC’s still a ranch offering a chance to take part in cattle drives, try your hand at fly-fishing, or just hike out into the surrounding Bitterroot National Forest.

None of this comes cheap, of course. Cabins begin at $650 per couple per night, including three meals a day and some activities, such as on-ranch riding, hiking, and fly-casting lessons. The property is located about 65 miles south of Missoula in western Montana.
Triple Creek Ranch, 5551 W. Fork Rd., Darby, MT 59829, 800-654-2943 or 406-821-4600,
www.triplecreekranch.com
.

explore underwater

FATHOM FIVE NATIONAL MARINE PARK, CANADA

The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.

—
OCEAN EXPLORER JACQUES COUSTEAU (1910–1997)

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Diving is usually a tropical pursuit, but to reach one of the best places for underwater adventures, you must go north, not south.

Canada’s Fathom Five National Marine Park, located off the tip of Bruce Peninsula on Lake Huron, is home to 27 shipwrecks. The water here is almost turquoise, and when combined with the area’s distinctive white dolomite rock formations, it offers a surprising Mediterranean color scheme in the middle of Canada. Furthermore, the water’s crystal clear with viz (that’s diver talk for visibility) of up to 100 feet. And because it’s fresh water, the wrecks are perfectly preserved, looking like ghost ships under the water.

“They’re knock-your-socks-off shipwrecks,” says Lynn Graham, owner of
Divers Den
(3 Bay St., Tobermory, 519-596-2363,
www.diversden.ca
). “They look like they can sail away, even 100 feet down.”

The national marine park makes exploration simple. Some areas, like the Tugs Site, can be reached from a boardwalk, and some can even be explored by snorkelers, so it’s not always necessary to dive the wrecks to enjoy them. Most of the wrecks are clearly marked with buoys, which provide a place to moor your dive boat and lead lines that will take you right to the wreck. The park’s visitor center on the outskirts of the nearby town of Tobermory can provide maps and other information.

Don’t expect crowds in town or the water. “You’re not diving in a site where there are tour boats on top of each other and a hundred of your new best friends out there diving with you,” says Scott Parker, a biologist and dive officer with the park. Diving, he notes, is an easily accessible activity. “Technically, it’s not hard. You’re sucking air underwater. You can take people who can’t climb mountains or run around a squash court and they can do it.”

One of the most popular wrecks, the schooner
Sweepstakes,
was transporting coal when it went down in 1885, and it still sits 25 feet below the surface. “The hull is intact, and you can stand on the deck,” Parker says. Another one,
Wetmore,
has its boiler intact, and divers easily see the anchor, cribbing, and rudder.

Part of the national marine park’s appeal is the well-documented history of the shipwrecks. All scuba divers must register at the visitor center for a $4.90 Canadian daily dive tag (or $19.60 for a year), and they receive a booklet with diving and historical information about each of the wrecks. The visitor center also has an auditorium showing a high-definition orientation video, as well as 7,000 square feet of display space about the area’s ecology and aboriginal history. As guests learn, although beautiful on a sunny summer day, the Great Lakes can be treacherous during winter storms. The park area is studded with islands, invisible to captains during thick fogs. Most of the wrecks involved vessels running aground, which occurred during the late 1800s, claiming schooners, steamers, and barges.

Even if you’re not a diver, there is a lot to do here. The marine preserve is adjacent to
Bruce Peninsula National Park
(519-596-2233,
www.pc.gc.ca
), which offers hiking and kayaking opportunities—and swimming for the brave, since the water temperature tops out at just 75°F in August. The Fathom Five visitor center also serves as the visitor center for the Bruce Peninsula National Park. Bruce Peninsula separates Lake Huron from the Georgian Bay, and because most of the peninsula is designated parkland, the shore is largely left in its natural state.

From the town of Tobermory, you can take a two-hour glass-bottomed boat tour of the wreck sites with the
Blue Heron Company
(24 Carlton St., 519-596-2999,
www.blueheronco.com
, $29 Canadian), or hop the
Chi-Cheemaun
ferry
(8 Eliza St., 800-265-3163,
www.ontarioferries.com
, $27.50 Canadian) for a scenic four-hour cruise to Manitoulin Island. It’s also fun to wander around the pleasantly nautical town.