The Great Outdoors at the YMCA

If you're headed for the "great outdoors," you might not have to go as far as you think. In cities like Indianapolis, several YMCA branches offer much more than a gym for members. Most facilities include walking tracks and outdoor pools. The YMCA also leads several summer sports programs, like baseball and soccer, for kids of all ages, and even intramural sports for adults.

If you want to get away from the city a little, look for your nearby YMCA Camp. The Flat Rock River YMCA Camp, southeast of Indianapolis, is a great place for outdoor recreation. Over Memorial Day Weekend and Labor Day Weekend, the Flat Rock River YMCA Camp hosts family camps. For $108 for each adult, and $96 for kids 7-17 (kids 6 and under come free), families stay in the camp's cabins and yurts and eat meals in the lodge. While they stay at the camp, parents, grandparents, and kids can kayak, canoe, ride horses, go rock climbing, swim in the pool, fish, or just hike around the 240 acres of wooded property.

Resident camp, at camps like Flat Rock, or day camp, like those offered at many YMCA branches, is another great way to get the kids outdoors this summer. At many camps, kids can climb, swim, shoot bows and arrows, and much more. They also meet new friends, learn more responsibility, and have the experience of a lifetime.

Whether you're looking to get out for the day, the weekend, or a whole week, remember that you don't have to go all the way to Alaska to experience the outdoors. Organizations like the YMCA may have just what you're looking for right in your neighborhood.