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Getaways near Washington D.C. for families who want it all -- within a two-hour drive, without guilt, and without having to take out a second mortgage.

List of possibilities

Go directly to more information on:
Coolfont
Wintergreen Resort
Laurel Echo

• On the other side of Charlottesville and stay on a ridge-top condo. At Wintergreen Resort, you can use the pool, a spa, go on horseback rides or a canoe trip, all for $285 a night. Even better, enroll the younger units in an "explorer" program ($46 per day) -- even send them away on an overnight campout ($50). More information

• Economy class: Relax on a working farm (working on a working farm would be too economy). At Laurel Echo, a bed-and-breakfast a few hours away in Rockwood, Pa., the family can watch cows being milked and calves being born, ride ponies, play with cats and bunnies and roam the sylvan pastures. Bonus: Innkeeper Carol Pyle will babysit while you and your husband explore the trails and swimming holes of nearby state parks. Price: $75 a night. More information
 

There are a number of choices: ridge chalets, mountainside homes, even a log cabin. Many accomodations have whirlpool tubs and fireplaces. For those wanting to rough it, there is a campsite with hot showers. 

But it's hardly a wilderness destination, and can be very comfortable for all the varying wants and needs of a family. There's a spa and salon. Meditation and exercise rooms, too. Fitness classes are regular features, and if you eat organic or vegan foods, they'll do it for you.

A romantic dinner is possible in a "Treetop House Restaurant," which gives the feeling of being among the branches. Chefs try to focus on local, organic food, including free range chicken and beef.

There are lakes at the resort in which you can swim, fish, and ride paddleboats. Also: A riding stable, winter snowtubing slope, tennis courts -- and just down the road, a Robert Trent Jones golf course.

One bedroom cabins and chalets:

                                  From $101.50 to $124 per person, per
                                  night on Modified American Plan
                                  (includes breakfast and dinner).
Details:  Whirlpool tub, air conditioning, coffee station, telephone and wood stove)

Alpine Chalets 

                                  From $116.50 to $139 per person, per night
                                  on Modified American Plan (includes
                                  breakfast and dinner).

Details:  Two bedroom, air conditioned, with living room, wood stove,
coffee station, telephone and deck. Each bedroom has two extra long double and private bath with double whirlpool tub.

Ridge Chalets 
 

From $111.50 to $139 per person, per night on Modified American Plan (included breakfast and dinner).

The Manor House 

Details: Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the manor house is non-smoking. Each room has a private bath. 
 

(800-888-8768, 304-258-4500, www.coolfont.com)

Wintergreen Resort

Possible activities here are varied: in-line skating, mountain biking, paintball, basketball, volleyball, and a skateboard park with half-pipes and quarter-pipes, hiking, golf, skiing, tennis, swimming,
 fishing, boating, horseback riding -- all in a setting at the top of ridge in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

You can stay fit, visit a spa, eat out, or stay in a ridgetop condo and watch the sun rise and the clouds float by. 

Rates and details

(800-266-2444, www.wintergreenresort.com)

Laurel Echo

This is the economy version of a family-friendly holiday. You can stay on a working farm -- dairy and beef cattle for replacement herds. 

The rooms have queen-size feather beds, remote TV and AC, in a two-story farmhouse built around 1861. The setting: The Allegheny Mountains and Laurel Highlands in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

There's a fully-equipped private kitchen, and the family loves children, opening their home -- and toys and books -- to them.

There are nearby: Riding stables, a petting zoo, nature hikes. On the farm, the kids can play with kittens, bunnies, and help feed the calves, and go on hayrides. 

Also nearby: Seven Springs Ski Resort, Hidden Valley, Laurel Hill & Kooser State. Some 45 minutes away: The Youghiogheny River or Ohio Pyle State Park, where you can raft or boat. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright's famous "Fallingwater" is just down the road.

 (888-655-5335, www.bbonline.com/pa/echofarm),