HIDDEN TRAILS, RAFTING

     If you like an active but structured vacation, try HIDDENTRAILS.COM, which gives you a choice between “outdoor vacations,” which include “hiking, biking, rafting, sea kayaking, canoeing,” including the Galapagos and the Amazon. Or you can choose “equestrian vacations” in the U.S. West and around the world, including “on horseback from inn to inn, castle to castle, wilderness rides, horse drives, working ranches.” Find it all at:

http://hiddentrails.com/

WALKING ADVENTURES

     I’d consider it exciting to take a walking tour of France or Italy. But these people list walking tours of Beijing and the Great Wall of China, Central America, Australia/New Zealand, and Iceland. They generally bus you to an interesting site, and after that you walk.

http://walkingadventures.com/

PILOT A PLANE OVER MOSCOW

     Yes, these people offer you a chance to pilot a Russian MiG. You can also have shark adventures and space flight training. And skydive of course. When they promise adventure, they mean it.

http://www.incredible-adventures.com/

ARCHAEOLOGY BECKONS

     Click on “Fieldwork” to discover how you can spend the summer in a hole. Along with genuine archaeologists, of course.

http://archaeological.org/

WOULD YOU BELIEVE DOGSLEDDING? IN CALIFORNIA?

     You don’t have to go to the Arctic Circle to dogsled any more. Dogsledding has invaded the lower 48 states -- though Maryland surprised me too. Assuming there’s snow, of course, you can take the kids dogsledding or have a fun weekend yourself in many areas besides Alaska and Canada. Would you believe Massachusetts? Iowa? California and Colorado? Check out the following website:

http://www.dogsledrides.com/index.php

     CARRIAGE RIDES, HAY RIDES, AND SLEIGH RIDES: My mother told me I’d never get to ride in a horse-drawn sleigh, because the twentieth century had better ways to get around in winter. I knew that was wrong thinking from the git-go. And now the twenty-first century hath given us what the twentieth century took away: horse-drawn sleighs. And carriages.

     Sleighing outfits mostly started with “romantic” horse-drawn carriages, especially suited to summer weddings. Then it occurred to someone that they could let the horses work for their winter hay and give people a nice sleighride too. Some places also cater to children’s birthday parties, and/or offer a petting zoo.

http://dmoz.org/Sports/Equestrian/
Carriage,_Hay,_and_Sleigh_Rides/

     The above list comes from DMOZ.ORG, the OPEN DIRECTORY, which is notoriously slow to add new websites. Which means that there are many good sleigh rides and carriage rides not listed, and perhaps one near you. If you put “sleigh rides [your state]” or “horse carriage rides [your state]” into the Google search box you’ll see what else there is.