Photo by Images of Sommer
Read by the Fire
The Inn at Sugar Hollow Farm, located 17 miles from Charlottesville, Virginia, is a good place to visit during the winter months. In addition to four guest rooms with wood-burning fireplaces, the communal great room offers a floor-to-ceiling fieldstone fireplace and views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Want to bring your dog? Four dog-friendly guest rooms are located across the lawn from the main house in the Farmhouse building. The Dogwood Suite is the largest, with a kitchen, living room (with sofa bed) and bedroom. Trails on the grounds of the inn lead to Shenandoah National Park. Several nearby wineries and restaurants feature dog-friendly spaces. Weekend breakfast favorites include pumpkin (or buttermilk) pancakes with baked apples, and a Mexican egg-and-cheese dish with green chilies and cilantro. Weekend rates range from $199 to $319, including breakfast. The pet fee is $20 per dog, per night.
6051 Sugar Hollow Road, Crozet, Virginia; 434-823-7086; www.sugarhollow.com
Take a Winter Swim
Cure the winter stir-crazies at the new—always 84 degrees—Aquatopia Indoor Water Park at Camelback Lodge in Pennsylvania’s Poconos region, the largest indoor water park in the Northeast. Opened in May 2015, Aquatopia features 13 slides, ranging from the Venus SlydeTrap raft ride, which plunges through a serpentine flume, to North America’s longest uphill water coaster. The park’s transparent roof lets the sun shine in over seven pools, including a wave pool, a toddler pool, a pool with a swim-up bar, and a lazy river. Aquatopia is available to all guests at Camelback. The lodge’s 453 rooms come in 16 configurations, from family suites with bunk beds to loft suites with a fireplace. Rates start at $299 per night.
193 Resort Drive, Tannersville, Pennsylvania; 855-515-1283; www.camelbackresort.com
Ski and Snowboard
Wisp Resort, in Maryland’s Deep Creek Lake area, opened Sundown Village last winter in order to expand its offerings for beginning skiers and snowboarders. The village, which is housed in eight yurts from Alaska, serves as home base for the Adult Ski and Snowboard Learning Center, the Wisp Kids program, a Nordic Center that offers cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, and a casual eatery called the Sundown Café. Five conveyor carpet lifts service two new beginner trails and the children’s area, making multiple runs easy. Thanks to the addition of Sundown Village, the resort now offers 34 slopes and trails (35 percent beginner, 38 percent intermediate and 27 percent expert). But that’s not all: Wisp’s adjacent Mountain Park offers snow-tubing, an ice-skating rink and a mountain coaster.
296 Marsh Hill Road, McHenry, Maryland; 301-387-4000; www.wispresort.com
Escape to the Ocean
The Sea Spray Inn in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, made it onto the list of TripAdvisor’s 2015 “Top 25 B&Bs and Inns, United States.” Cared for meticulously by innkeepers Mary Ellen and Eric Tellefsen, the inn has seven luxuriously comfortable rooms and a three-course homemade breakfast that includes a special coffee blend from a local roaster. Guest room décor is in soft shades of aqua, gold, lavender or blue. Each coastal-themed room has unique features, from cushioned rattan chairs to claw-foot tubs and a porch overlooking the ocean. The walls of the romantic “Love Letter Room” feature an elegantly penned love letter on the upper perimeter, plus a painting of a woman reading a love note. The Rose Bud Room’s twin beds are perfect for girlfriend getaways. The inn reopens each year on Feb. 1. Rates begin at $115-$195 per night.
19 Broadway, Ocean Grove, New Jersey; 732-897-0700; www.theseaspray.com
