Unplug and escape with ranch, island getaways
For ajc.com
Are you looking to get away for it all? And away from everyone? Unplug those gadgets then, and escape! Here are two vacation ideas where your cell phone wouldn't work even if you snuck it along in your bag.
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Looking for a destination with no roads, no cellular service, and no television signal?
The Rock Harbor Lodge & Marina of Isle Royale is one of the country's most remote National Parks. It's reachable only by water or air, and open only from May to Sept. 5 . Guests here indulge in hiking, canoeing, kayaking, guided fishing, birding and listening to silence. Maybe you'll get lucky enough to experience the heavenly Northern Lights.
This 45-mile long island, in the northwest corner of Michigan's Lake Superior, looks much the way it did hundreds of years ago. Nearly every bit of it has been designated as protected wilderness.
Cozy up in a cabin with a kitchenette or with motel-style accommodations.
Package rates for two, including transportation to the island, are $1,422 on three-night weekend stays through Sept. 5.
Included with accommodations is a ferry ride on the Queen IV from Copper Harbor, Mich. (100 passenger vessel, 3-hours, one-way), breakfast, lunch, dinner each day, a half-day sightseeing trip of Isle Royale National Park and a free half-day canoe rental. Four-night stays are $1,799 for two persons.
Reach this place of solitude even quicker with a small aircraft flight from Copper Harbor with Royale Air Service. Rates are from $285 per person, round-trip.
How about a longhorn ranch?
Near Big Bend National Park (a very special secret spot on its own!), the Cibolo Creek Ranch is a real working longhorn ranch situated on 30,000 acres (or nearly 47 square miles) of well, nothing — except for cattle and other roaming animals like elk, buffalo, antelope and camels.
If that's not enough to peak your interest, the ranch setting looks like something out of a great Western with John Wayne. Endless sky and the red peaks of the Chinati and Cienega mountains provide a dramatic backdrop.
Guest accommodations are three historic forts which were originally built as a defense against the Apaches and Comanches. All feature luxurious appointments, antiques. Each of the 32 rooms are individually designed, uniquely furnished. But remember, there are no radios, no phones and no TV. Will a campfire do?
Because of the remote location and extreme levels of fine guest services, all of this will set you back a pretty copper penny. Room rates include three gourmet meals each day of stay. Expect rates from $475 per day, double occupancy.
Cibolo Creek Ranch is in Marfa, worthy of a visit for its classic Texas town square and historical architecture. Ask the locals about the Marfa Lights.
If you go, fly into El Paso, rent a car and drive 214 miles.
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