Dreaming of the perfect summer vacation? It's time to book it

If early January's driving rains didn't drive you out of town, we're guessing the continuous downpour at least prompted plotting your next escape. But if you think winter weather is daunting, try booking an August vacation for a family of four at a favorite Northwest vacation spot.

Census statistics are taking the spontaneity out of summer getaways. With more than 400,000 new residents elbowing into Washington since 2000 and an added 100,000 expected annually, there's huge competition not only for the HOV lane, but for our favorite campsites and bed-and-breakfasts. August is the rush hour of summer fun.

Dreaming of that August campsite at Lake Chelan? The state parks Web site shows you're almost out of luck. Shakespeare tickets in Ashland? Going fast. Best oceanfront cabins? Don't dawdle.

Neither should you despair. There's plenty of summer fun still available. But now is the time to book.

A whole family to help

We've created a fictional family of four to do some research to help you with your own preparations. They're booking a getaway in August, if they could only decide which vacation to take:

The higher-priced trip: A wannabe thespian, Mom visits Ashland and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival every few years to live vicariously stage-right of some of Shakespeare's modern-day finest. This year she wants her family to come along.

The mid-priced trip: Dad won't consider it a real vacation unless he comes home with sand in his shorts. He's voting for the Long Beach Peninsula, where he spent a week every summer when he was a boy.

The budget trip: The kids, 15 and 13, want to go camping, so they can bring a couple friends along.

Our family's getaway dates are Aug. 12-15. For lodging, they've budgeted up to $150 per night.

Guidebooks in hand, here's what we found for them in a real-life search on the Web and on the phone in the past two weeks:

Destination: Ashland, Ore.

To please Mom, we went looking for a bed-and-breakfast, not an easy task with two teens in tow. Our goal was to be within walking distance of the Shakespeare theaters because trying to park downtown on show nights can leave you more woeful than Hamlet.

"Best Places Northwest," our handy guidebook from Sasquatch Books, didn't offer much in our price range for four people, but offered good suggestions for couples. For the family, we found it easiest to use the Ashland Bed and Breakfast Network's Web site. It allows vacation seekers to enter desired dates and criteria ("children welcome," swimming pool, "2 beds in room," distance from theaters, etc.).

When we called, innkeepers assured us the Web calendar of vacancies is kept current; it registers changes immediately after a reservation is made.

When we entered "two beds, kids OK, less than ½ mile to theaters, free parking," only four listings came up for our dates. Upon calling, we discovered that just two of these actually had rooms that could accommodate two adults and two teens. On our fourth call, we were lucky to find a two-bedroom cottage, four blocks from the theaters, at the Ashland Royal Carter House, a 1909 Craftsman on the National Historic Register.

The cost: $149 for a couple — plus a budget-busting $50 additional for the two kids, and tax on top of that. But a full kitchen means our vacationers can save a few dollars by cooking some meals on their own. If the idea of sharing a hide-a-bed freaks out the kids, a sleeping bag and Therm-a-Rest can serve as backup. (And as compensation, we decided, Mom and Dad will pony up for a half-day rafting trip on the Rogue River, a few miles up Interstate 5.)

The Carter House's biggest asset is a pool. The National Weather Service quotes average highs of 94 degrees in Ashland in August, so while the folks attend a free talk with actors and directors, the kids can hang by the pool.

For booking theater tickets, the Shakespeare Festival's Web site was fast, informative and fun to use. (And it also provided a link to accommodations if you opt for one of the town's numerous chain motels.)

We used the site's "festival planner" to reserve plays as well as tickets for other events such as backstage tours and play prefaces (crash courses presented before the curtain lifts). The site's "education" section even offered Mom and Dad ideas of what to read ahead of time to make the plays more accessible for the kids.

Before making play choices for the family, we looked under "bring your students to OSF" for play age recommendations.

Factoring in travel time to and from Ashland plus the river trip, there's time to see two productions. We decided on "Merry Wives of Windsor" and "Cyrano de Bergerac," both recommended for young playgoers. A bonus: Both will be on the Elizabethan Stage — an outdoor theater where the audience can see Shakespeare's world come to life under the stars.

As we went to press, play availability for these choices was marked "good" on the Web site. Some event availability came up "moderate," such as backstage tours and prefaces on both Saturday and Sunday for our trip weekend. (Not to pester, but thou wouldst be wise to reserve today!)

There are no plays on Mondays so that's when our vacationers will hit the river. Note that you can save a few dollars on tickets by attending plays Sunday through Thursday.

Destination: Long Beach Peninsula

The locally proclaimed "longest beach in the world" stretches a sandy 28 miles with several towns scattered along its shores. Dad wanted an oceanfront spot that was located — for the kids — within walking distance of the town of Long Beach, the center of nightlife for the go-cart and arcade set.

We looked at a map first to get familiar with the peninsula's towns. The only Long Beach listing in "Best Places Northwest" sounded perfect for a couple's getaway, but didn't have rooms for four. Two "Best Places" listings for Ocean Park sounded intriguing and would likely be much quieter than Long Beach.

But we had to be in the middle of the action.

In our search, the local visitor bureau's funbeach.com Web site was useful, but often slow to load. Be patient — this source is worth the wait.

Under "Lodging," we found listings for B&Bs, hotels/motels/cottages, RV/camping and vacation rental homes. After checking out a few cottages (one memorable innkeeper lauded her ironed sheets!), we decided that a rental home would be more workable for a family of four.

Under "vacation-rental homes" we found single home listings and links to realtors and home-rental agencies. The offerings at All Seasons Beach Rentals were good and up-to-date, as well as those of Pacific Realty.

On the Web site for Beach It! Vacation Rentals, some calendars were blank, so we couldn't check to see which dates were booked. In addition, rental information wasn't always current — after finding Dad's dream house (wood paneling! a view through twisted shore pines to the sea!), we were disappointed to learn the house had been sold.

We found several homes available for our August dates, but don't be lulled by our luck; rental agents we talked to urged booking right away to find what you want for summer weekends.

Ashland, Ore.

More information

Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Reserve online at www.osfashland.org, or call 541-482-2111 to request a brochure.

Ashland Bed and Breakfast Network, www.abbnet.com or 800-944-0329.

Ashland Bed and Breakfast Clearinghouse, 800-588-0338 (not on the Web.)

To book a Rogue River rafting trip, try The Adventure Center, www.raftingtours.com or 800-444-2819; or Noah's River Adventures, www.noahsrafting.com or 800-858-2811.

Trip costs

• Lodging for three nights (four people): $597

• Tickets for two plays (2 adults and 2 youth, one weekend and one weeknight performance and one preface): $338.50

• Backstage tour (2 adults and 2 youth): $38.50

• Half-day raft trip ($69 per person): $276

Total: $1,250 plus tax, meals and transportation

Long Beach Peninsula

More information

Long Beach Peninsula Visitor's Bureau, www.funbeach.com or 800-451-2542. Call for a vacation planner brochure. Web site has links to lodging resources, plus loads of general information on area attractions.

Trip costs

Lodging for three nights at the Sea Star condo in Long Beach: $486 plus tax

Total: $486 plus tax, meals and transportation

Washington State Parks

More information

For information on Washington State Parks, and to reserve campsites online, see www.parks.wa.gov. To reserve by telephone: 888-CAMP OUT (888-226-7688)

Trip costs

Basic campsite fees are $15 per night, plus a $7 online reservation fee (maximum 8 people per campsite). There is an additional $5 daily parking charge. (You might consider a $50 annual parking permit — also available online — if you'll be visiting a lot of state parks this year.)

Tentsite for three nights with one vehicle at Deception Pass, plus reservation fee: $67

Total: $67 plus meals and transportation

To avoid making a lot of calls, first check the Web sites that list more than one rental home. When you call to inquire, the rental manager can streamline your search by checking availability on all of their listings at once. We found most agents easy to reach by phone, or they returned calls within the day.

A beach house a mile from town held a lot of appeal, but the best fit for our funseekers seemed to be Sea Star condo, found through Pacific Realty. We chose it for the dunes and ocean view, and its proximity (five-block walk) to town.

The rent: $150 per night plus tax and a $36 cleaning fee. Mom and Dad will like the king-size bed, and the kids will again make do with a pull-out sofa, though they might prefer sleeping bags on the ocean-facing deck. Again, the family can cook some meals to make up for going a tad over the lodging budget.

If the kids get their way, they'll each invite a friend to join our family for an extended weekend of camping.

We found it easy to reserve Washington State Parks campsites on the agency's well-designed Web site.

Go to the home page and walk through the process for making a reservation (or keep reading, and we'll hold your hand through it). Unless you have the option of heading out early on a Thursday morning to try your luck at one of the many "no reservation, first come" state campgrounds, relieve stress by reserving online.

From the State Parks home page, we started with "Park Information" and then clicked on "Browse reservation park maps" to find campgrounds that take reservations. We chose several parks we liked, then under "Tools" clicked on "Park Availability."

We found this multicolored grid to be the most useful part of the site. At a glance we could determine what campgrounds were still wide open, what's filling up and what's already full, for every week and weekend of the summer season.

Here's how it works: If you see a lot of red boxes on your first choice ("mostly taken"), try another park or weekend marked green for "go ahead." Yellow means "getting full." If your choices look fairly open, go to "new reservation" and fill in your dates.

Next you can look at a map of the campground and select a site. Try to find a site away from major traffic entrances and other campers, as state-park camping is "potluck" as far as neighbors go. You may end up next to a generator churning out music not of your choice.

As a buffer, consider reserving two sites side-by-side, creating a small compound. (The kids would revel in the privacy of their own campsite.)

We went looking for a two-tent site at Lake Chelan, Birch Bay, Kanaskat-Palmer, Cape Disappointment and Deception Pass state parks. Spencer Spit on Lopez Island was a contender until we decided to avoid summer San Juan ferry traffic.

For our dates, we found sites available at all but two of our top choices; Lake Chelan and Cape Disappointment tent sites were already nearly full. (Also heavily booked are Fort Flagler, Lincoln Rock, Steamboat Rock, Grayland Beach and Wenatchee Confluence.)

Settling on Deception Pass, a saltwater park straddling scenic Whidbey and Fidalgo islands, we looked for a site at the coveted Bowman Bay (a quiet section of the park on a lovely cove beach) but sadly found it already snatched up for our dates.

The forest loop was also full, but we were just able to secure a site on the lower loop. (The park was so booked that we were surprised that availability for these dates wasn't marked "yellow" on the Web site.)

The price was right: $15 per night plus a $5 parking fee.

With the money saved, our group will head home via Whidbey Island, stopping in Coupeville for a shellfish supper to celebrate a well-planned and well-played vacation.

Freelance writer Kathryn True lives on Vashon Island. She is a regular contributor to Northwest Weekend.