Favorite Vacation spots

Here are some of my all-time favorite vacation spots. I highly recommend them. :)
Especially if you are about quirky places and having fun on the cheap, and not about luxury that I can't afford.

Glorieta - We went practically every summer as a child. They have interesting day camps for kids, and Centrifuge for youth. Those who have gone back say its not nearly as individualistic and interesting as it was in the 80s (its also not as booming, hmm, i wonder why....) but it still can be fun and inspirational. If I could afford a vacation house, I would buy one in Glorieta.
Lifeway Glorieta Baptist Conference Center

Glorieta Events


Stagecoach Inn - This is a nice romantic getaway. The mineral bath pool is absolutely amazing. I could spend hours in the lovely warm water. The restaurant is unique in that you pay one price ($18-24) per person, and then choose your selection for appetizer, dinner and dessert. Its located in a western boarding house type decor, and so the atmosphere is great, and so is the food. You can walk around the grounds in the day, and there are several great niches to read books or observe nature. Its a wonderful place to spend a weekend. While you are there, you can shop in Salado, which has amazing stores. At Christmas, they pull out all the stops with horse-drawn carriages, caroling, hot chestnuts, etc. Then, five miles down the highway in Belton is an old-fashioned movie theater with curtains and balcony seating.
Stagecoach Inn

Salado info

Salado Calendar of Events - because I always like to do some of the local flavor when I go places.

The Beltonian - an oldfashioned movie theater - click for days and times of showings

Trails End Guesthouse- This is a very romantic getaway - Its in the hill country of Texas. The view is beautiful. The breakfast is good, plentiful, and different! The pool is on the hill overlooking the view, and is "adults only" - no kids. Its perfect for a midnight swim. :)
In nearby Kerrville, there is a restaurant where we had the best steak of our lives. In fact, now, when we crave steak, we wish we were at the Cowboy steak house in Kerrville.

Trail's End Guesthouse

Cowboys steak house


Hot Springs - The Park Hotel - We especially like this hotel because each room is interesting, and you just get that 20's feel from the hotel. Reminds me of several European hotels that have a vintage flair. We haven't been back since the new management, but from the pictures, things look the same - and now they have bike rentals for just $5 for the entire stay.
Hot Springs is a great town with lots of wonderful mom and pop shops, and lots of things for the kids to do - from the alligator farm, to the tiny town model village to the amusement park - its just all around fun. On one of my vacations, I took a cooking lesson at an herb farm - that was different. :) Usually, we just go and browse the shops and relive history down bath house row. And drink the mineral water, of course! And we always eat the Friday Night Seafood Feast at the Arlington Hotel (right next door to the Park hotel). Its usually the only place I eat oysters - cause you can eat as many as you want. :)
Here's a listing from the official site:
If you have an adventuresome family, excitement is the key word at Magic Springs theme park and Crystal Falls water park. Play in interactive wonder in the Mid-America Science Museum. As you drive through the Hot Springs National Park, be sure to see the mountains in full panorama from the Hot Springs Mountain Tower or take the whole family digging for treasures in a quartz crystal mine.

Park Hotel of Hot Springs

Hot Springs Activities

Friday Night Seafood Feast