SEDONA, AZ

1. Find your path in Arizona
In Sedona, the path to enlightenment involves hiking boots and yoga mats. Sedona Spirit Yoga & Hiking offers four-day retreats where you'll take guided hikes through red rock wilderness to vortex sites, places where the Earth's energy is supposedly strongest. You'll also learn meditation, experience a Native American sweat lodge, and maybe even nail that eagle pose. Abbreviated three- to six-hour yoga hikes are also offered.

Play hooky In between downward dogs and trail switchbacks, check out uptown Sedona's restaurants, which include vegan and raw choices, or browse art galleries.

INFO Sep–Jun; from $995, including lodging and breakfast; yoga hikes from $90; 888/282-9901. –Nora Burba Trulsson

OAXACA, MEXICO

2. Mix up moles south of the border
Learn to tell your chiles from your chapulines (toasted grasshoppers) at Seasons of My Heart, a cooking school in the Oaxacan countryside of southern Mexico that kicks off with some serious market research. Guided by Mexican food maven Susana Trilling, sample and buy local delicacies, then head back to the chopping blocks and stoves of Trilling's spacious blue-tiled kitchen to create complex moles and picante bisques.

Play hooky While you're in Oaxaca, ascend the ruins of the ancient city of Monte Albán for spectacular vistas of Oaxaca Valley.

INFO Year-round; $75 for full-day class, including transportation from Oaxaca City. -Edie Jarolim

ENSENADA, MEXICO

3. Speak Spanish in Baja
Get beyond your Mexican-restaurant-level Spanish without going back to school by spending a week at the Baja California Language College in Ensenada, Mexico, where there are no exams or grades. Thursday afternoons are set aside for excursions to a winery or a local taqueria to learn the difference between salsa verde and pico de gallo — en español, of course.

Play hooky Afternoons and evenings, you're free to surf, explore the area's burgeoning wine region, or practice your language skills at the harbor's fish market as you search for the perfect tacos de pescado.

INFO Year-round; $279 for weeklong classes in which you log 30 hours; 877/444-2252. -David Lansing

NEAR STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, CO

4. Blaze some trails in Colorado
Connect with your inner cowboy at the Vista Verde Ranch, a cluster of cabins and a main lodge on the flanks of the Continental Divide 45 minutes north of Steamboat Springs. With 80 horses, daily clinics, and morning and afternoon rides, greenhorns and seasoned equestrians can develop their skills in the arena and on trails threading through the aspen forests. Plus, resident horse-whisperer Orval Bedell is on hand to teach rodeo tricks such as how to rope a calf.

Play hooky Soak in 105° mineral waters at the Strawberry Park Hot Springs ($10; 7 miles north of Steamboat Springs; 970/879-0342).

INFO Jun–Sep; from $3,200 per week, including meals, lodging, and activities; 970/879-3858. –Jad Davenport

SALMON RIVER, CA

5 Master whitewater paddling
Get command of whitewater paddling basics at Otter Bar Lodge Kayak School, a wilderness hideaway on Northern California's Salmon River, about 112 miles northeast of Eureka. You'll start by practicing stroke technique, wet exits, and rolling in the lodge's flat-water pond before graduating to day trips on the warm class I–II water of the Salmon and Klamath Rivers. Don't sweat it if you can't master a roll on the first day: Otter Bar's instructors shadow your every paddle stroke, and if you go over, they're more than happy to right your boat (in kayak-speak, the "hand of God").

Play hooky The wood-fired sauna and on-call massage therapist can work out your paddling kinks.

INFO Apr–Sep; $2,190 per week, including meals, lodging, and gear; 530/462-4772. –Katie Arnold

KAUAI, HI

6. Rock out in Hawaii
Dig beneath the surface with geologist Chuck Blay of TEOK Investigations on hikes all over Kauai, including a kid-friendly amble along the southeast coast to wild Maha'ulepu Beach.

Play hooky See a reverential torch-lighting ceremony at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort (808/742-1234).

INFO Year-round; from $100 ($75 ages 5–12), including lunch; 888/233-8365. –Harriot Manley

NOOTKA ISLAND, B.C.

7. Surf off an island
What better place to learn to surf than at a lodge set in a coastal rain forest with views of bears, eagles, and whales? On Nootka Island, off British Columbia's Vancouver Island, Tatchu Surf Adventures offers instructors, beginner-friendly waves, and water temps that hit the 60s. Crowds? No way. The island has only six residents.

Play hooky Sip scotch in the sauna.

INFO May–Oct; $2,218 U.S. per week, including meals, lodging, and gear; 250/934-6600. –Steve Hawk

DENALI NATIONAL PARK, AK

8. Unravel celestial mysteries
To understand what makes the Northern Lights so spectacular, take a crash course in astrophysics at Camp Denali, an 18-cabin retreat inside Alaska's Denali National Park and Preserve. During three- and four-night programs, Neal Brown, space expert and director of the Alaska Space Grant Program, will explain the magnetic forces that create the aurora borealis and other atmospheric phenomena. By day, you can grill Brown with questions you might have; at night, he'll call your cabin if he spots the elusive lights above.

Play hooky Spend your mornings moose- and caribou-watching with 20,320-foot Mt. McKinley as a backdrop, visible on clear days from just about everywhere on Camp Denali's 67-acre plot.

INFO Book now for Sep 2009; from $1,425, including meals and lodging; 907/683-2290. –Matt Villano

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA

9. Take in terroir at the Ahwahnee
Roll out of bed at the Ahwahnee, drink in the Half Dome view, then sip some California wines at Vintners' Holidays. Winemakers host daily seminars, and a closing gala is held in the hotel's dining room.

Play hooky Hike to Mirror Lake and walk in snow-dusted valley meadows.

INFO Annually in Nov and Dec; from $1,008, including two-night stay; 801/559-4884. –Sara Schneider

BISHOP, CA

10. Snap to it in the Sierra
Paint alpine meadows with pixels in the eastern Sierra Nevada during Mountain Light's three-day photographic workshop in Bishop, California. Both amateurs and pros learn to turn landscapes into works of art using a variety of techniques, including lens selection and filters. Days begin well before dawn during field trips to secret meadows and iconic locations such as Mono Lake, followed by lectures and critiques back at the gallery.

Play hooky Time is tight, but for a pick-me-up you can always sneak next door and order an espresso forte and pecan-topped coffee cake at Black Sheep Espresso Bar.

INFO Classic Workshop: May 8–11, Sep 25–28, Oct 2–5 and 9–12; from $1,395, including meals and lodging; 760/873-7700. –J.D.

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