Idaho All-Inclusive Wilderness Adventure from $600/Day Family of 4

Have you thought about taking an all-inclusive family vacation in the American West? Now, you can trade in your boogie board for an inflatable raft and swap breakfast buffets for gourmet meals of locally-grown, sustainable meats and produce... and do it all in Idaho.

If you're familiar with ROW Adventures, the people who popularized five-day whitewater rafting trips for families with young children, you will be pleased to learn they have a wonderful guest ranch in Idaho. The River Dance Lodge is a small log cabin resort surrounded by three of the original eight Wild & Scenic Rivers protected by Congress in 1968. Open spring, summer and fall only, this year it will be offering all-inclusive, four-day family vacation packages including room, dining, and activities such as whitewater rafting, biking and horseback riding.

Notes Peter Grubb, ROW founder and environmentalist, "Nothing has changed about our commitment to our guests and our core values to the community and environment. We've simply refined our focus to reflect people’s need for worry-free vacations that are an outstanding value." You can read more about the company's trips in this first-hand family review of their Salmon River Family Magic Rafting Adventure.

Situated on the banks of the Clearwater River and adjacent to the 1.3 million-acre Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness area, River Dance Lodge was built in 2005 as Idaho’s first outdoor adventure resort. Since then, it has been listed as one of the 150 best places to stay in the world by the National Geographic Traveler "Stay List."

Each season, new packages are introduced. In the spring, all-inclusive packages are focused around the Lochsa River where guests can experience world famous whitewater rafting. According to Grubb, between May and early July, depending on the weather and the prior winter's snows, the Lochsa can be huge, and a tremendous challenge for experienced rafters -- alert the teens!

Summer brings packages with an emphasis on being in the sun, horseback riding, river float trips that don't require whitewater skills, and mountain biking. If you're traveling the American West with preschoolers or perhaps adult kids, think about an autumn trip. Fall packages focus on enjoying nature's color change with walking tours, fishing, bike rides and Clearwater River float trips.

Packages, either four or five days long, are value-priced at less than $150 per person per day for a family of four, all included. Typically, they run from Thursday to Sunday and Sunday to Thursday.

Depending on your interests and the ages and abilities of all family members, there's a daily choice in activities. Families can choose from a menu that includes an Explorer Series and an Adventure Series. The Explorer Series is perfect for people of all abilities and ages with activities such as easy walks or bike rides on level terrain, gentle float trips or cultural tours -- by van -- in the surrouding region. The Adventure Series has more active options such as whitewater rafting, longer hikes, or bike rides on more demanding roads or trails and is ideal for families with active teens.

Besides the activities, packages include accommodations and food. Hand-crafted log cabins line the mountainside, each with its own private hot tub. Small cabins sleep four to six people, while the larger cabins accommodate six to 10 and would be ideal for a rustic family reunion. To learn more and book your own adventurous, all-inclusive vacation, visit the River Dance Lodge website, or call 800/451-6034.

At ROW Adventures, you can also check out some of ROW's other land-based adventures. For example, the company is offering a 5D Bitterroot Wilderness Adventure that combines biking, hiking and rafting, with overnights in camp, for only $1,400 per family of four, all-inclusive.  Families who opt to do the same type of itinerary but stay in inns and ranches along the way will pay $1,600, and kids 12 and under receive discounts on pricing.