We would fly into Minneapolis from London........and from there we can hire a car.

New Forest, the state of Minnesota is about the same size as the United Kingdom, so are you going to stay in the Minneapolis area or go into the rural areas? Thats what I meant about where in Minnesota. You can drive from the airport to the Brainerd area in about 4 hours, check out the resorts on Gull Lake. Maddens Resort, Craguns Resort are two from which to start. Maybe someone from the Minneapolis area will know if they have any rentals on Lake Minnetonka. cheers, ziggypop

I second ziggy's info and questions. What else is included in your initial question of "where we can all do things?" What other things are you looking for?

For just catamaran sailing you wouldn't have to go outside the metro area. I believe you can do it as close by as Lake Waconia on the west side of the Mpls suburbs or White Bear Lake east of Minneapolis and St. Paul

But I like ziggy's starting points where there is a wider variety of things to do and more of the out-of-the-city feel you likely are looking for

We are an active family - interests are tennis,sailing,white water rafting,zip wire ,climbing. We have been to resorts before where each person can go off and do their own thing but still are within one place. I understand that certain activities would be off site. Or we could rent a cabin and have activities within the hours drive. We would have to fly to Minneapolis & St Paul but from there we could drive to resort . Looked at Smugglers in Vermont but my friend in MN told me to come there!!!!

www.brainerd.com/lodging/resorts/resorts.html

start here. if the link does not work try www.brainerd.com and click on the resorts button. There are a few 'big resorts' with lots of activities but Brainerd is a vacationland. Most of the big resorts have stay and play golf packages. cheers

Fabulous ! Thanks !

Another helpful website is Explore Minnesota. http://www.exploreminnesota.com