Airlines are getting into the Christmas spirit with a rash of great deals on plane tickets, sometimes for travel right through until spring. Visit cheapflights.com or travelzoo.com or just log onto your favorite airline's Web site to see what kind of a deal you can find.
I'm always on the look-out ways out of Chicago the minute the mercury drops and the snow starts flying. But I understand there are people in the world who actually choose to spend their vacations in places where it snows and is cold. Since I believe travel should be an equal opportunity endeavor, here are some deals for those of you who crave white powdery mountains rather than white sandy beaches.
Winter Park Resort in Colorado has three-day ski packages good through Dec. 14 for $525 per person, based on four people in a two-bedroom condo. Includes lift tickets and ski rentals. The Web site boasts 11 inches of white stuff fell in the last 24 hours.
Copper Mountain Resort has a buy-three-get-one-free deal starting at $95 per person. Kids 12 and under ski free and stay free when you book this package.
If you prefer skiing in Big Sky country, there now are direct flights from Chicago to Bozeman, Montana. And when traveling with kids, nothing can kill a parent's fun faster than a lengthy wait to change planes in a strange airport.
For the boldest skiers, Canadian Mountain Holidays, which claims to be the world's largest helicopter skiing company, is offering three Family Heli-Skiing trips from Dec. 22-29 for families with kids ages 12-17. (Kids under 12 might be accommodated, but you need to talk it over with the company.) When the kids get tired (although I have noticed that my kids rarely tire before I do), they can be helicoptered back to the resort for supervised kids' activities.
Please share if you have a favorite family ski spot. Tell us where you go and what you like about it.
And let me know if you have some favorite non-ski activities. As I learned when I took my son to Aspen to learn to snowboard and he broke his arm an hour into his first lesson, it can be pretty boring if you can't get on the mountain.