The Resort at Paws Up
Greenough, Montana
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| HOME ON THE PRAIRIE: No need to rough it in the furnished canvas tents at Paws Up. (The Resort at Paws Up) |
THE RESORT AT PAWS UP // Greenough, Montana
Admit it. Minus the mystery meat, bug juice, and sagging cots, you miss summer camp. Now the kid in you can enjoy a luxurious sleepaway with all the grown-up accoutrements of a five-star resort: better toys (a game of pool, perhaps?), fluffier beds (no jumping, please), and brag-worthy outdoor adventure (take a horsepacking trip into the million-acre Bob Marshall Wilderness or nab 18-inch rainbow and cutthroat trout from the Blackfoot River—believe us, the guys back at the watercooler will have their jaws dropping to the bottoms of their Dixie cups when you tell 'em about the fishing). Paws Up—inspired by owners Nadine and Dave Lipson's love for pooches—opened in June 2005, on 37,000 acres in southwestern Montana's Blackfoot Valley, 30 miles northeast of Missoula. It calls itself "the Last Best Place," but we'd like to change that to "the Last Best, Really Fun Place."
ROOM & BOARD: With commanding views of the surrounding picture-perfect, A River Runs Through It–like wilderness, Paws Up offers a ton of ways to have an epic vacation. Bunk down in the four-bedroom historic 1908 house, which will transport you back to homesteader days, or opt for one of the six posh tents or 17 new 1,440-to-2,430-square-foot lodge houses with gigantic flat-screen TVs. With a bellyful of smoked trout from the resort's Pomp restaurant, curl up in front of a blazing fire and drift off to sleep dreaming about tomorrow's skeet-shooting adventure.
OUT THE BACK DOOR: If traveling with tykes, drop them off at the resort's Kids Corps of Discovery day camp, grab a picnic lunch, and head out on a guided fly-fishing trip to the Blackfoot and Missouri rivers or mountain-bike miles of forested roads.
DETAILS: Tents and cabins, $595–$3,020, including meals (two-night minimum); 800-473-0601, www.pawsup.com
