Other stories in "Learning vacations"

• Whitewater 101
  In northeast Wisconsin, novice kayakers learn moves at a resort that refuses to die.
• Minnesota road trip
  Photography students have camera, will travel.
• Classroom in the Clearing
  In a tranquil Door County forest, students gather to reflect and learn.
• Now they're cooking
  For weekenders, rubbing elbows with a real chef is better than TV.
• Slinging cement in Mineral Point
  In a historic Wisconsin village, students follow some dusty footprints.
• Curiosity camp
  With fun day trips, the University of Minnesota finds a cure for "vacation-deficit disorder."
• Living in a lighthouse
  The first keepers were ready to assist and rescue. Now, volunteers are returning the favor.

Schools of know-how

In resort areas, many people go home from vacation with a new skill.

In hindsight, it's good to be grown up and out of school: no more tests, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks.

But it's also good to be a grown-up who's back in school, because schools have grown up, too. There are no tests and few books, and teachers are as friendly and attentive as cruise-ship hosts.

In fact, attending some schools is a lot like being on vacation.

Door County was aglow with autumn colors while I spent a week studying photography on the wooded campus of the Clearing, and it was prime ski season while I studied German at Concordia Language Villages in Bemidij. I was away from home, staying in a beautiful setting, eating well, getting exercise, meeting interesting people — it sure felt like vacation.

I've also studied photography at a learning center high above the North Shore and at a retreat on a lake. I've learned how to string snowshoes at a beautiful state park, skate-ski at a northern Wisconsin environmental center and improve my tennis game at a college campus in the Minnesota River Valley.

You'd think I'd be pretty good at stuff by now. But learning from people who really know what they're doing only drives home the fact I know very little. As Eartha Kitt said, "I'm always learning. My tombstone will be my diploma."

Next, I want to learn whitewater kayaking at an adventure resort deep in Nicolet National Forest. On the North Shore, I want to study glassmaking at the Grand Marais Art Colony and bread baking at the North House Folk School.

Why lie around on vacation when you can acquire a skill?

Learning the old ways

At the North House Folk School in Grand Marais, retired mechanical engineer Albert Knutson of Minneapolis is a veritable glutton for learning. First, he took a class on making moosehide mukluks. Then, he learned how to make dogwood baskets, Finnish puukko knives, carved spoons, Swedish shrink boxes, Windsor stools, trestle work benches, birchbark berry baskets and artisan breads.

He took another basket class from Dennis Chilcote, a fellow engineer from Minneapolis, who showed the class how to harvest bark without harming the tree. And he planned to take a class on rosemaling, the Norwegian folk painting that, he says, originally was performed by itinerant men who traveled from village to village.

"I can't tell you enough how much I learn from those teachers up there; it's incredible," Knutson says. "They're so young for what they know, and I can't believe they know so much about the old ways of doing things."

Most of the classes take several days, so Knutson gets a room at Lund's Motel and eats meals at the Pie Place. Over the years, he has become a part of the North House community, even organizing a benefit when one of the instructors suffered a stroke.

"We're all good friends," he says. "I go up there, and it's old home week."

Informal education

Like the North House, the Clearing in Door County was founded on the Scandinavian tradition of folk schools — but 62 years earlier, in 1935. Like the North House, it's in a beautiful area that draws vacationers. Many of the vacationers eventually put down year-round roots, allowing the Clearing to draw instructors from a deep pool of talent.

"It's bottomless," says community-programs director Tom Bronsky. "It's such a super-enriched environment up here, you wouldn't believe it."

Many instructors are renowned in their fields; the instructor of "Atomic Energy and Atomic Bombs," Bronsky said, o had worked on the Manhattan Project. In winter, classes are held all over Door County, but in summer, they're held in and around lovely stone buildings on the 130-acre wooded campus.

Courses focus on science, history, theater, film and religion as well as the arts, but the hands-on classes fill fastest, says Clearing director Mike Schneider. They're all noncompetitive; the Clearing's founder, Danish landscape architect Jens Jensen, meant for it to be a place where ordinary people could escape the city to learn and relax in a beautiful, stress-free setting.

"There's nothing formal about anything here," Schneider says. "If you want to skip class, you can do that; I encourage it sometimes, on a nice day."

Winter is the time to sign up for summer courses at schools and centers in the region. At the Clearing, classes in watercolor,  quilting and woodcarving fill especially quickly, though many people on waiting lists eventually get in.

For many people, learning or honing skills in beautiful areas — Door County, the North Shore, the north woods, Mineral Point, the bluffs of northeast Iowa — are special treats. And for others, it becomes a lifestyle.

"I fell in love with the people and the area," Knutson says of Grand Marais and its folk school. "And it just went on and on."

Trip Tips: Learning Vacations

If the school is in a popular resort area and you will need lodgings, register as early as possible and make sure you can get a place to stay. Often, students can save money by camping nearby and paying the commuter rate.

In addition to the schools listed below, many environmental learning centers offer classes and also lodgings. Classes also are available at arts and heritage centers, historic sites, state parks and wildlife refuges. Often, it pays to become a member and get a discount on classes.

North House Folk School: Inspired by the folk schools of Scandinavia, this school on the Grand Marais harbor holds hundreds of workshops in traditional artisanry throughout the year and sailing in summer. Cost includes instruction only; students find their own lodgings and meals nearby. Students on a budget can camp next door in the municipal campground, which includes an indoor pool and sauna. 1-888-387-9762, www.northhouse.org.

The Clearing: This folk school in Door County has a gorgeous setting on Green Bay and offers many programs in the arts, nature and humanities. In summer and fall, six-day classes include meals and lodgings in lovely stone cottages. Students on a budget can camp nearby and pay the commuter rate, which includes all lunches and dinners on the first and last day. In winter, commuter classes are held at venues around the county. 1-877-854-3225, www.theclearing.org; for tourism information, call 1-800-527-3529, www.doorcounty.com.

Grand Marais Art Colony: Founded in 1947 by a professor from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, this school offers year-round workshops in the visual arts, including calligraphy, collage, printmaking, outdoors landscape painting, ceramic tile, fused glass and book arts. Students find lodgings and meals nearby. 1-800-385-9585, www.grandmaraisartcolony.org.

Concordia Language Villages: This sprawling lakeside complex north of Bemidji has separate campuses for each language, with architecture in the style of the country. The excellent cuisine also is in the style of each country. Youth attend the camps in summer, but adults can attend weekend and weeklong camps the rest of the year. Six-night camps are held in Finnish,  French, German and Spanish. Three-night camps are held in Norwegian, Swedish and Italian. 1-800-450-2214, www.concordialanguagevillages.com.

Tennis and Life Camp: These camps have been held on the campus of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., for more than 30 years. The camps, which combine sports with sportsmanship, have a very high teacher-to-student ratio and are very popular. Camps last four days and are held for youths 11-18, adults and families with children from age 8. Cost  includes dormitory lodging and meals. 1-507-931-1614, www.gustavus.edu/events/athletics/tlc/. In this region, there are also adult camps in sailing, golf, running, hunting, fishing and racecar driving.

Bjorklunden:  This Door County estate on the shore of Lake Michigan, near Baileys Harbor, is owned by Lawrence University and offers weeklong seminars in many subjects.  Summer seminars begin in June and include such topics as literature, politics and philosophy; at the end of August, topics become lighter, with seminars on film, water-color, fiction writing, bridge, drawing and nature.  Students can stay at the lodge, $615-$800 for the April seminars, including meals, and $675-$900 for the summer and fall seminars. People who want to save money by camping nearby can pay a commuter rate of $320, which includes lunches and Sunday dinner. 1-920-839-2216, www.lawrence.edu/about/bjork.

Trees for Tomorrow: This environmental-learning center in Eagle River, Wis., holds many workshops, including stained glass, quilting, photography, rustic furniture making, rug hooking, basket weaving and willow chair building. Two-night workshops include lodgings, meals and instruction. 1-800-838-9472, www.treesfortomorrow.com.

Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts: This charming center in the arts community of Mineral Point, in southwest Wisconsin, holds classes throughout the year in nine buildings, some from the 1840s. They include workshops in mosaic;  rustic furniture; acting and directing; gourds and baskets; hooking, dyeing and felting; and paper and polymer. Rooms in the 1840s Coach House and Mousehole Cottage can be rented, and there are many inns and cafes nearby. 1-608-987-3292, www.shakeragalley.com; for tourism information, call 1-888-764-6894, www.mineralpoint.com.

Split Rock Summer Workshops: Three-day and weeklong classes in painting, beadwork, fiction and nonfiction, Navajo weaving, photography, fashion design and many other topics will be held this summer on the East Bank and St. Paul campuses of the University of Minnesota and at the Cloquet Forestry Center near Duluth. Lodging is in private suites or two-bedroom apartments in a riverside residence hall or cabins at the forestry center, where the cost includes meals. Register at 1-612-625-1976, www.cce.umn.edu/splitrockarts.

Vesterheim: This Norwegian "home in the west" in Decorah, Iowa, has 15 historic buildings, a crafts and education center and a four-level museum where students can see examples of traditional Norwegian folk crafts. Classes in rosemaling, woodworking, fiber arts, fine arts, food traditions and knifemaking and blacksmithing fill quickly, especially those taught by instructors brought from Norway.  Students must find lodgings in the area, which is renowned for canoeing and other outdoor recreation. 1-563-382-9681, www.vesterheim.org.

Coldsnap Photography:  This studio near Two Harbors offers summer road trips around Minnesota and also workshops. 1-218-834-0756, www.coldsnap.com.

Wild Earth School: On a farm on the eastern outskirts of Hudson, Wis., George and Emily Vondriska teach woodworking, cabinetmaking, bowl turning, parent/child birdhouse making and Adirondack chair building. Lunch is included in daylong classes. 1-715749-9011, www.aboutwildearth.com.

Elderhostel: This national organization combines travel with learning for people 55 and older (companions can be younger), offering an incredible selection of low-cost programs in art, history, language, music and outdoor recreation. In this region, programs include such courses as a five-night class in Lake Superior culture and history, with lodgings at Naniboujou near Grand Marais; a six-night birding trip by trail and canoe near Eagle River, Wis.,  with lodgings at Trees for Tomorrow; and a five-night course during the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona. 1-877-426-8056, www.elderhostel.org.

Last updated on August 4, 2008