via Hoopla blog

You deserve a vacation. You’ve worked hard, waited out the long winter and now it’s time to relax. But how can you unwind with the price tag of your summer getaway looming overhead?

The answer? Stay local.

Iowa offers a heap of alternatives to big summer vacations, right in our backyard. Save money and skip frustrating air travel, without losing any of the fun.

Traveling Iowa wine trails
If your dream vacation is spending afternoons sampling wine and taking in scenic Napa Valley with your closest girlfriends, tour a handful of Iowa wineries instead.

For less than the cost of a plane ticket to California you can spend the week navigating one of Iowa’s five wine trails. Several wineries offer complimentary – that’s right, free — tastings, and you can take home a bottle of your favorite blend for anywhere from $8 to $20 depending on the variety.

Of course, one can’t live on wine alone, so pack a picnic lunch to enjoy with your vino as you take in the view at your winery of choice. And when you’ve tasted all you can, treat yourself to a room at an on-site bed-and-breakfast like the one at Eagles Landing Winery in Marquette.

Not sure where to start in planning your trip?
Check out the Iowa Wine and Beer website,
www.iowawineandbeer.com, for an A to Z list of wineries, maps for each of Iowa’s wine trails and links to the wineries’ and vineyards’ individual sites.

A Las Vegas alternative
Looking for a long weekend of gambling, partying, and taking in a few shows? Few places encompass the party atmosphere better than Las Vegas. If you’re flexible with your dates, you can get to Sin City for less than $200. But add in the cost of shows, club entry, overpriced drinks and food and the bill for a weekend away can easily get out of hand. Instead, try an Iowa casino and resort and use the cash you’ll save to try and win big at the slots, blackjack tables or track.

You have your pick of destinations. Head to Riverside Casino and Golf Resort if you want to enjoy a round of golf or spa treatment between poker hands, or Prairie Meadows in Altoona if you can’t decide between betting on the ponies and plugging your money into slots. Dubuque’s Diamond Jo Casino recently underwent a serious upgrade, moving the former riverboat casino to land and adding Cherry Lanes bowling, a live entertainment venue in the Mississippi Moon Bar and four quality dining options – including every casino’s must-have, a buffet. Or check out the Isle of Capri in Waterloo for live entertainment, fine dining and oh, yes, some gambling action.

With so many options, choosing a casino will be more difficult than shouting out black or red at the roulette table, so visit the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission’s website, www.iowa.gov/irgc, for a complete list of licensed Iowa casinos and links to their sites.

All about the family
Staying local can reduce the stress of family vacationing to a dull roar. By keeping car time to a minimum, you can curb the back seat fighting and “Are we there yet’s?” and avoid the hassle of navigating airports with a stroller and toddlers.

If swimsuits and waterslides are your family’s style, check out Grand Harbor Resort and Waterpark in Dubuque. Their Huck Finn II Tree house will keep the kids entertained with water cannons, slides and squirt guns, while you feed your adventurous side on the 200-foot water tube slide. Slip into dry clothes and visit the National Mississippi River Museum, enjoy a walk along the river and take a ride up the historic Fourth Street Elevator. The resort offers family packages that include water park tickets, breakfast and a pizza dinner along with accommodations; and since the water park is indoors, your vacation is weather proof.

If water-sliding in the sun is more up your alley, head to Lost Island in Waterloo. In addition to many waterslides, there’s a lazy river, plenty of shallow spots for the kiddos to play and the park has go-karts and a golf course.

Want a more rugged backdrop for family memories? Iowa has more than 70 state-run parks to choose from. Pack up your tent, fishing poles, hiking shoes, and s’mores fixin’s and pick the park closest – or farthest — from you, depending on how far you want to tote the tots.