Out & About: Not Quite Off-the-Grid Getaways

May is almost here and now's the perfect time to plan ahead for the inevitable summer-in-the-city doldrums with an escape to more pastoral environs. Not quite ready to strap on a 30-pound pack for some backwoods camping? Don’t worry—GGMG Magazine Editor-in-Chief Sonya Abrams has you covered with some non-traditional, rustic overnight options.

Bunk up in the windswept Marin Headlands. Point Bonita YMCA Family Weekends are offered throughout the year, featuring “military chic” dorm lodging with private rooms for families, hot meals, and facilitated activities for the whole gang and some for kids only, providing some much-appreciated parental relaxation time.  

Is a weekend of outdoor movies, rock wall climbing, and a pool with cabanas more your speed? Petaluma's KOA campground is tricked out with amenities including wifi, a petting farm, playground, and accommodations ranging from tent sites to swanky cabins with cable and private bathrooms, some of which are handicap-accessible.

Feeling too hemmed in by the Bay Area? Set your sights on Inn Town Campground, nestled among the redwoods in the Sierra’s Nevada City. In addition to hosting tent and RV sites, Inn Town boasts a bevy of deluxe canvas tents with beds, heated mattress pads, electricity, and balconies; a few are even dog-friendly. Also on offer is a pool, laundry, and a camp store with beer, wine, and s’mores fixings.

Pescadero’s Costanoa Lodge puts the “glam” in glamping. When not enjoying the coastal views from your lodge room, cabin, tent bungalow, or campsite, ditch the rugrats at the kids club (ages 6-12) while treating yourself to a massage at the spa. There’s also horses, mountain bike riding, and a restaurant, complete with a kid’s menu.

A freelance photographer and editor, Sonya Abrams used to spend many summer nights in the woods under the stars, but nowadays she just longs for a time when sharing a tent with a family of five won’t be akin to entering the Thunderdome.

This article originally appeared in the August/September 2017 issue of GGMG Magazine.