Overnight Camps for Grown-ups

To ride the waves: Founded 15 years ago, Las Olas is a weeklong women-only camp for surfers of all experience levels. In addition to surfing and paddleboard lessons, you can pass the day in sunny Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, with yoga on the beach.










Pictured: Julie Cox, Las Olas surf instructor

To flex your craft muscle: Whether it's ceramics or woodworking, printmaking or weaving, you'll find a lesson to make your crafty heart sing at Peters Valley Craft Center, situated in the serene Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Workshops are two to five days and are taught by nationally recognized artisans.

To blow your own horn: Play your heart out with roughly 70 other band geeks for six days straight at Jazz Vermont, a 28-year-old camp for intermediate and advanced musicians.

To get cooking: Becoming a full-on chef may not be on your menu, but that doesn't mean you can't turn the heat up on your cooking skills. The Culinary Institute of America's vacation camps span two to five days and range from Pastry Boot Camp in New York and Texas to Wine Lovers Boot Camp in California.

To knit up a storm: The annual Moontide Knitting Retreat on Cape Cod mixes a sun-and-sand summer vacation with afternoon and evening knitting circles and technical instruction. Attendees, who stay in surfside cottages in the town of Wellfleet, work on a retreat-focused group project, as well as individual projects.

To feel creatively recharged: Ghost Ranch in New Mexico is where Georgia O'Keeffe painted in the later years of her life. Each fall, the Wild Heart Painting Retreat welcomes to the monumental desert landscape people in need of an artistic jump-start. The focus here is less on traditional technique than intuitive painting, a style that seeks to express your inner artist.

Next: 7 ways to spark your creativity