Like many families this year we took a long and hard look at the type of vacation we could afford.

With gas prices pushing near $4 for most of the summer a traditional road trip in the northeast was prohibitively expensive even before we added in lodging.

And a vacation at Disney for our family would’ve been a “break the bank” $8,000 when you add in tickets and meals!

Well, we settled instead for staying near home and enjoying day trips to our favorite New England destinations and activities we could do as a family. Our most memorable times together were when we did rafting and biking as a group and simple things like visiting parks for picnics, flying kites and kicking soccer balls. None of these activities were wildly expensive and took just a little planning ahead of time.

As good as our time together was using our regular home as our vacation base meant we never really got away from the normal routine or surroundings. What we really could’ve done with was an in-between getaway. Something that got us away from home for a week but didn’t require we took out an equity loan on our house to pay for it.

Recently I heard about the camps operating out of Lake Fairlee in Vermont.

These camps are run by the Aloha Foundation, and offer family camps in the same tradition as their boys and girl’s summer camps. The family camps are run out of their Ohana Camp location.

If the hectic school year and kid activities leaves you breathless and your family strung out with just making sure everybody is in the right place at the right time, then doing the same on vacation at Disney or other resorts, isn’t much of a break is it?

The Ohana Family Camp offers rustic cabins on peaceful Lake Fairlee, Vermont in the Upper Valley of the Connecticut River. The Green Mountains and White Mountains of New Hampshire are only one hours drive away, but there are lots of activities on the Ohana grounds as well, and a chance to reconnect as a family in the beautiful surroundings of the camp.

Outdoor recreation activities include plenty of hiking and biking opportunities, swimming, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, row boats, fishing, bird watching, tennis, horseback riding, golf, and much more. The camp has a number of boats, canoes, and kayaks for use on the lake.

Of course you’ll find lots of shade and that perfect tree to just relax and read your book.

You can explore the historical and cultural attractions of the area, and hike along the famous Appalachian Trail as it winds its way from Vermont across the border to New Hampshire and passing through the valley. Or you can explore the great hiking trails in the Green Mountains an hour to the west or the White Mountains of New Hampshire an hour’s drive to the east.

Family camps are offered spring through fall with accommodation in fully equipped cabins, each with its own kitchen, sitting porch and picnic table, and the lodging is an affordable price.

With the fall season fast approaching if you’re skipped a family vacation so far this year it’s not too late to snap up time with the family in September and October and experience the renowned Vermont foliage season at Camp Ohana. I know I have it in my sights already for 2009.

For more information on Camp Ohana or the other camps check out the Aloha Foundation web site here.

They’ll be another posting on a Vermont experience in a few days time so be sure to bookmark us or even better save your time and subscribe to our RSS feed here so you get automatic notification of new postings in your favorite reader.

Yankee Traveler
New England Destinations and Events

If you enjoyed this posting please share it with others at your favorite sites below…

Related posts:

1. White Water Rafting on the Deerfield River with the Crab Apple Family
2. Vermont Farm Family Vacations