For generations the American cowboy has been an icon of manhood, and dude ranches are probably one of the greatest mancation destinations available. Instead of a typical cow roundup, the Buffalo Roundup features wranglers going after buffalo, huge animals that can grow almost 7 feet tall and nearly 1,000 pounds!

This is about real men and while you can't participate in the roundup unless you have been certified as an experienced wrangler, it is a great opportunity to celebrate the wild west in a way that you can't imagine anywhere else in the country. The Buffalo Round is held every year in Custer State Park, located in the middle of South Dakota's Black Hills. This year's event starts September 26, with the roundup itself on Monday, Sept. 28, and features events ranging from arts festivals and historic reenactments to chili cook-offs and old-time fiddlers, all centered around the annual roundup of the park’s nearly 1,500 bison.

Ok men, going to the spa might not be the first thing on your list of "what to do" for your next guys weekend. However, after having experienced my first facial at that awesome AVANI Spa in Lake Geneva, I can tell you that it is really a nice experience. Don't worry though, you won't leave smelling like a girl or be placed in an evironment that is designed for women. Today, many spas have realized that men want to look and feel good too!

The AVANI Spa, located at the Abbey Resort on Lake Geneva, WI, has gone one step further and even created an entire mens spa package - complete with a private bartender, plasma TV, private hot tub, and guy-friendly foods (mini-pizzas, mini-brats, mini-hot dogs, nachos, and even BBQ wings!)

The following is a guest article from Trisha Miller, a friend of Man Tripping, a travel writer and founder of Travel Writers Exchange. She explores one of the potential obstacles to even the best planned mancation - your wife, girlfriend, or significant other. Most importantly, this is an article with advice that you can share with your significant other on why mancations are actually a good thing for relationships.

However, a mancation shouldn't be about getting away from your wife or girlfriend, it should be about taking time to unwind, de-stress, and celebrate those things that make us guys manly. Especially those things that our significant others might not embrace the same way we do - sweating, smoking cigars, drinking whiskey, and telling rude stories around a campfire, or boasting about how you ALMOST made it to the green, but the sea gull was in they way.

The independent wrestling circuit is a sideshow of sorts, and one that can easily entertain fathers and sons, a group of guys or even adventurous daters.

Countless “promotions” dot every state in the union. Some cater to a more “hardcore crowd” where fans are sometimes encouraged to bring their own trash can lids, stop signs and steel chairs for the athletes to use as weapons. Conversely, there are promotions that cater to a more family-friendly crowd, one that doesn't alienate crowds for the sake of shock, cussing and bloodletting.

While many guys weekend activities involve high impact sports such as sky diving and water skiing or athletic activities such as biking or hiking, sometimes it is nice to just float down the river in a tube with a case of beer and your closest buds.

While in Northern Michigan, we had a chance to do just that, tubing on the Lower Platte River.

A few different companies offer trips down the river, but the two main ones seem to be Riverside and The Honor Trading Post, we chose the Trading Post because they were friendlier and slightly cheaper.

If you have never been, fly fishing is as much an art form as it is a sport. While virtually anyone can stick a lure in the water and drag it behind the boat, fly fishing, IMO, requires even more understanding of your environment and brings you closer to nature - it is just you and the fish right there in the stream together.

There are trails of all sorts in this wonderful country, but North Carolina has created the Western North Carolina Fly Fishing Trail in the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains. If you love fishing and you love being out in god's country then you must at some point in your life visit this area.

One of the spots you should visit while in the area is the High Hampton Inn. Located in the heart of the new Western North Carolina Fly Fishing Trail, the High Hampton Inn now features their very own fly fishing school!  Being the only trail of its kind in the U.S., fishermen can experience peak fishing in an area with temperatures that are generally 15 degrees cooler than lower-lying regions because of the 3,600-foot elevation.

Every so often, I come across a cool town that isn't flashy and at the top of your mancation radar but might make a great destination for a quick guys weekend. One such town is Coos Bay Oregon.

Prior to a reader sending in the suggestion, I had never heard of the place but the name sounded funny and so I checked it out. What I found was that it has a lot of great stuff that would make a great guys weekend destination including fishing, boating, hiking, even some of the best sand boarding in the country.

If you are reading this, then you probably already know what a mancation is and probably you have participated in at least one. Simply put, a Mancation is any excuse to get away from the real world, hang out with other men who enjoy the same things you do and have fun - without having to worry about your wife, girlfriends, or other female companions. It may involve drinking lots of cheap beer, expensive whisky, or sampling fine wines - or it can be dry. For the purposes of this site, we focus on a more mature interpretation of a mancation and only cover those aspects of being a man that would be safe to share with your wife - or your sons!

There are hundreds of great places to go for a golf mancation, especially along the South Carolina coast, but not many that offer virtually everything you could possibly want in the ultimate mancation or boys weekend. Luckily I was able to visit one earlier this spring! Wild Dunes Resort is located at the north end of Isle of Palms, South Carolina and the resort is certainly more than just another golf course.

Salt River Tubing is probably one of the most relaxing but fun macations you can take. Located in the beautiful Tonto National Forest near Mesa and a short drive from Phoenix you can spend the afternoon tubing down rapids in the lower Salt River.

Visiting Skydive Chicago was absolutely one of the best Mancations I have ever taken.

If you are looking for a high adrenaline trip skydiving with Skydive Chicago is the place to go. Skydive Chicago is located just west of the city in Ottawa, IL. Not only is this Chicago's Premier Dropzone but as far as I am concerned, they are also the BEST! With a 220 acre mega resort, top notch skydive instructors, and a vast amount of non-skydiving activites this is an ideal trip for guys looking for the ultimate adrenaline rush!

You can go whitewater rafting in the midwest? ABSOLUTELY! At Wildman's Whitewater Ranch in Niagara, WI, you can spend the morning surfing the rapids, and the afternoon enjoying a challenging rock climb, or perhaps a competative game of paintball!

Are you looking for a place where guys can go to get away from all the stresses of home life - spouses, children, weekend projects etc? How about visiting a place not to far away, a place where you can sleep in, play a round of golf or two, take a nap, eat wings, drink beer and enjoy a night of poker or billiards, all while enjoying a big game on the TV.

That's exactly what Carroll Valley Resort offers and it is located in the small Pennsylvania town of Carroll Valley, just outside of Gettysburg.

Are you sitting at home reading this blog, looking at all the super cool mancation ideas and wondering where to start or how to plan the perfect mancation?

Don’t worry, these tips should help!

Are you sitting at home reading this blog, looking at all the super cool mancation ideas and wondering where to start or how to plan the perfect mancation? Don’t worry, these tips should help!

Remember when you were a kid?

Did your dad take you to the ballpark and you wondered what it would look like if you could explore the whole thing and see the areas only the players could see? Well, you don’t need to be a kid, you just need to visit Chicago’s Wrigley Field!

Father and son trips don’t have to be about nostalgia, but on some level that is what being a father is all about – passing down knowledge and experiences to the next generation.

That’s why a visit to your local railroad museum would make a great father son trip. Luckily for me, (and others of you in Chicago) there are several great ways to see trains in the Chicago area. One such place is the Fox River Trolley Museum.

While I like to focus most of our articles on the great guys weekends and mancation ideas right here at home, there are of course plenty of super cool places to go and things to do outside of the US as well.

One of our readers, Roger LaPlante of Leesburg, Virginia sent this awesome account of his father and son (Joshua LaPlante) mancation trip to Bunol Spain for the Valencia region's annual "tomato party" known as the La Tomatina Festival.

Are you ready for the ultimate outdoors mancation? Does hiking and fishing sound like fun? Well, if you are like me, stuck in hot and humid Chicago right now, then maybe it might be time to think about heading off to western Wyoming for a visit to the Grand Teton National park.

Unless you are stuck in Lapland, Northern Canada or Siberia, you probably don't think of visiting a ski resort as a great summertime destination for your next mancation. However, these winter playgrounds can also be fantastic year-round mancation destinations offering hiking, biking, art, music, spas, and tons of other great things to do for a mancation. One of these areas that looks like a great destination for guys is the Taos Ski Valley, in Taos, New Mexico.