Whether you're looking for fall foliage, a Thanksgiving where everyone else does the work, or simply a place to enjoy precious, precious Wifi in peace and quiet, consider The Homestead in Hot Springs, Va.
You'll have 3,000 acres in the Allegheny Mountains to play with, which should offer up some pretty decent hiking, and the place was recently Included on AAA's list of best places to enjoy fall color.
Situated about 215 miles from downtown DC, the massive resort includes nearly 500 guest rooms, and you'll find activities from horseback riding and golfing to carriage rides and all-important porch sitting.
The resort is offering special holiday packages, with special rates for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's and winterfest weekend (Jan. 27-29).
Thanksgiving rates start at $295, with dinner around $75 per person. Food stations include seafood, pasta, hot food, and a traditional Thanksgiving station. You can also build your own cupcakes, which is probably reason enough to shell out 300 bucks a night. (See PDF menu here.)
If you're looking for a suite, ask for one with a sun porch (and hope for good weather) or a working fireplace (hope for horrible weather). Artwork in the guestrooms has been carefully selected to illustrate the history of Virginia, and there's no arguing at the resort is, in fact, historic.
Even earlier than 1750, homesteaders began constructing guest cabins around the area's natural mineral springs, proving that even the colonials needed a place to get away from it all.
Case in point: George Washington, then commanding the Virginia militia, visited the springs in 1755 and 1756. Cabins just weren't enough, though, and 10 years later, a rustic wooden lodge was constructed.
Worth the Trip
And then they started getting swanky.
In the 1830s, the resort was reconfigured to feature fine dining and the ever-important ballroom. The old structures were razed in 1892, with Thomas Edison himself supplying the resort's first electricity.
As for the future and current presidents who've visited... Well, the list is long enough that it's almost a back-of-history-book roster, but at least 17 of them have popped in, from Thomas Jefferson to William Jefferson Clinton.
Lest you get too concerned about the history aspect, you'll also find WiFi and plenty of flat-screen TVs.
Just try to leave a little time for some quality rocking-chair time.
