The 100 Best Affordable Vacations (11 page)

BOOK: The 100 Best Affordable Vacations

4.04Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

ads

1982
: The largest crowd in minor league history—65,666—watches an American Association game (and a giant fireworks show) at Denver’s Mile High Stadium on July 4.

1999
: The NAPBL changes its name to Minor League Baseball.

Durham bubbles with a host of gourmet eateries, but for the real
Bull Durham
experience, don’t miss
Bullock’s Bar-B-Cue
(3330 Quebec Dr., 919-383-3211), a Carolina classic. Grab takeout, rent a copy of the movie at the video store, and spend your postgame hours steeped in Durham style.

Chain lodgings abound; for more ambience, check out bed-and-breakfasts like
Carol’s Garden Inn
(2412 S. Alston Ave., 877-922-6777,
www.carolsgardeninn.com
), where rooms start at $85.
Eno River State Park
(919-383-1686,
www.ncparks.gov
) offers basic campsites a few miles from Durham.

HOW TO GET IN TOUCH

Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau,
101 E. Morgan St., Durham, NC 27701,
www.durham-nc.com
, 800-446-8604.

sleep in an american icon

CALIFORNIA & TENNESSEE

Don’t throw the past away

You might need it some rainy day

Dreams can come true again

When everything old is new again

—
SONGWRITER CAROLE BAYER SAGER, “EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN” (1974)

12 |
In these fast-moving times, reinvention has become a way of life. It can also be a vacation when you book into a lighthouse, ship, or train turned hotel. You’ll be sleeping in history—with modern conveniences.

Chattanooga Choo-Choo,
Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Now a hundred years old, the
Chattanooga Choo-Choo
—inspiration for the Glenn Miller orchestra’s 1940s classic, “Pardon Me Boys, Is That the Chattanooga Choo Choo?”—recently spent four million dollars sprucing up its guest rooms, gardens, and the Grand Dome Lobby.

Wait, isn’t this a train? Well, yes and no. The steam locomotives that once ran through the city are now museum pieces. In 1973, the station terminal was transformed into a hotel that today encompasses restaurants, gardens, pools, and a model railroad. The hotel’s 323 guest rooms are located in restored Victorian train cars and adjacent terminal buildings.

Rooms in the buildings start at $100 with advance purchase online, while sleeping in a train car starts around $155; all include wireless Internet access. No time for an overnight stay? Stop in for a taste of history at the Sweet Stop ice-cream shop, the Silver Diner eatery, or the Station House, where servers double as performers and sing for
your
supper.

Chattanooga Choo-Choo,
1400 Market St., 423-266-5000,
www.choochoo.com
;
Chattanooga Area Convention & Visitors Bureau,
2 Broad St., Chattanooga, TN 37402, 800-322-3344,
www.chattanoogafun.com
.

Delta King,
Sacramento, California.
Live your
Maverick
fantasies by spending a night aboard the
Delta King
. Born in 1927 as a river boat paddling the Sacramento River, the
Delta King
offered up booze, gambling, and jazz during the ten-hour trip from Sacramento to San Francisco—quite an excursion during Prohibition. The Great Depression brought the fun to a halt, and during World War II the
King
was drafted into service as a barracks, troop-transport, and hospital ship.

Afterward, the
King
became something of a derelict. In the mid-1980s the ship was stunningly restored with plenty of wood paneling and traditional decor. Since the late 1980s, the 285-foot paddle wheeler has made its home on the Sacramento River, moored at historic Old Sacramento as a hotel and restaurant. You can often catch a rate of about $100 per night including breakfast unless there’s a special event on board. Alternative: Go for lunch, when a simple meal costs less than $10.

When you get off the boat, be sure to wander
Old Sacramento
(916-558-3912,
www.oldsacramento.com
), a 28-acre gold-mining historic district with raised wooden sidewalks and Old West flavor.

Delta King,
1000 Front St., 916-444-5464,
www.deltaking.com
;
Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau,
1608 I St., Sacramento, CA 95814, 800-292-2334 or 916-264-7777,
www.sacramentocvb.org
.

Delta Queen,
Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The
Delta King
’s sister ship, the
Delta Queen
enjoyed a more vaunted fate—at least for a while. Built and launched into service at the same time as the
King,
in 1947 the
Delta Queen
was sold, crated, and towed through the Panama Canal to New Orleans before she steamed under her own power to Pittsburgh for renovations.

From 1948 until 2008, the ship sailed the Mississippi as a tourist cruiser. In June 2009, the
Delta Queen
welcomed her first overnight guest as a hotel moored in Chattanooga. Rates start around $100 per night for a double, though a bunk room can cost about $20 less. Dinner and dancing are offered in the supper club, where a three-course fixed-price dinner costs $35.

Delta Queen,
100 River St., 423-468-4500,
www.deltaqueenhotel.com
;
Chattanooga Area Convention & Visitors Bureau,
2 Broad St., Chattanooga, TN 37402, 800-322-3344,
www.chattanoogafun.com
.

Queen Mary,
Long Beach, California.
When she was launched in the 1930s, the
Queen Mary
was the belle of the seas, carrying nearly 2,000 passengers at 28.5 knots as she steamed across the Atlantic Ocean. Like most ships of her day, she was pressed into military service during World War II. Once those days were behind her, the
Queen Mary
sailed once again in style—even hosting the Queen Mother. Her last voyage, in 1967, brought her to Long Beach, California, where she became a hotel.

An overnight stay starts around $100 for a double room. Alternatively, you can take a ship’s tour; a two-hour self-guided tour costs about $25 and includes a walk-through show on ghostly onboard happenings.

Queen Mary,
1126 Queen’s Hwy., 877-342-0738,
www.queenmary.com
;
Long Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau,
1 World Trade Center, 800-452-7829,
www.visitlongbeach.com
.

Lighthouse hostels, northern California coast.
Renting a lighthouse or staying in a lighthouse turned bed-and-breakfast sounds oh so romantic. It can also be oh so expensive. The northern California coast offers a cozy alternative: Lighthouse turned hostel. Hostelling International (HI) offers you two choices. And no, you don’t have to be 20 to stay in one; and no, you don’t necessarily have to sleep in a bunk.

At
Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel
(650-879-0633), 50 miles south of San Francisco, lodging isn’t inside the 1872 lighthouse itself but in its shadow, in the former lighthouse keepers’ quarters. Dorm rooms have six beds and cost $23–$25 per adult. Private rooms are available and cost $59–$68 for a single, $64–$76 for a double. The hostel makes a good base for exploring nearby redwood forests, as well as the breeding grounds for northern elephant seals at
Año Nuevo State Park
(650-879-20257,
www.parks.ca.gov
, $7).

About 25 miles south of San Francisco stands
Point Montara Lighthouse Hostel
(650-728-7177). Accommodations are in former Coast Guard quarters. Dorm rooms cost $23–$25 per person. Private rooms for one, two, or three people cost $63–$105. Set above a rugged coast, Point Montara offers convenient access to the picturesque town of Half Moon Bay.

Hostelling International Northern California Hostels,
415-863-1444,
www.norcalhostels.org
.

STAY IN A HOSTEL

Hostels aren’t just for college-age kids anymore. Most—including more than a hundred in the United States—accept travelers of all ages, including families. “A lot of people who were familiar with hosteling in the 1960s and ’70s came back to it as families or later in life,” says Mark Vidalin, marketing director for Hostelling International (HI) USA.

Still, the majority of hostel guests fall between the ages of 18 and 30, Vidalin says. At HI hostels, guests under 18 are allowed, but they must be with a parent or guardian. Nonmembers may stay at most HI hostels, but they pay slightly more per night, and members may get priority during busy periods. An HI adult membership costs $28. HI hostels are listed at
www.hiusa.org
.