great takes on family travel in the U.S.

Everyone needs a girls’ night every now and then, and Dallas has lots to offer women of all types.

A women-owned business that considers itself one of North Texas’ premier girlfriend getaway destinations is MD Resort Bed & Breakfast. To help keep costs down, rooms are available from $109 - $299 a night and it’s BYOB and snacks. Bring on the wine coolers and peanut M&M’s. There is complimentary tea, hot chocolate and popcorn, and they offer a full home cooked breakfast and activities such as playing games, jokes, poems, movies, lounging at the pool or just hanging out, and massage and spa services. In addition, occasionally they host scrap booking retreats and murder mystery weekends.

Or you could escape to The Westin Galleria with your girlfriends for a pajama party in luxurious Heavenly beds and pampered in-room spa treatments. This package includes a “superfoods” breakfast for two, $25 spa credit per person, two robes and a 4pm late checkout. You can call 1-866-716-8137 and ask for rate plan WIGRLPKG. This is one of many local girls’ getaway lodging options.

The Spa at The Crescent, on the lower level of Rosewood Crescent Hotel, is a great getaway for women who want to refresh their mind, rejuvenate their body and enrich their spirit. They offer over 77 health and beauty treatments to make you happy in your own skin. Some of these treatments include purifying algae, rare mud and essential oils and herbs for your body. What better way to relax with friends.

Laughing is a fun, happy way to bring people together, so stop by Ad-Libs, an Improv comedy troupe that performs three nights a week in downtown Dallas. The subject matter comes directly from the audience, creating interactive entertainment with a loyal following. It’s fresh, energized and a great way to create wonderful memories for the years to come.

Want a little culture with your girls’ getaway? Dallas Arts District is a 19-block area near downtown and the largest urban cultural district in the country. Explore the arts with your friends by viewing art, enjoying music, watching some theater and dance or just site seeing.

100 acres of land with over two thousand showrooms featuring more than 35,000 product lines makes up the Dallas Market Center. It’s the ultimate spot for buyers searching for gifts, home accessories, men’s, women’s and children’s clothing as well as containing restaurants and a lounge with panoramic views of downtown. Shopping and bonding go hand-in-hand.

Finally, if sports are more your thing, the American Airlines Center is home to Dallas Stars hockey (NHL), Dallas Mavericks basketball (NBA), Dallas Desperados Arena football, concerts and other events.

Thanks to Saquan for the martini picture!

There’s three places you can go to for a spa vacation - Palm Springs and Napa Valley in California and South Beach in Miami, Florida. And the best of the lot are in South Beach. These are more like luxury retreats than simply spa treatment providers. Every oceanfront resort on South Beach has a magnificient spa with oceanview treatment rooms and sun decks.

Best part is that these are not run-of-the-mill resorts, but upscale luxury resorts like the Mandarin Oriental, frequented by A-list stars from the West Coast and celebrities who want to getaway from the limelight and relax in the heat and enjoy ‘other’ kinds of heat. The resort is located on Brickell Key, with a private beach and beach club and views of Biscayne Bay. And you can’t enjoy all this if you’re staying in the hotel, or a paying customer at the spa.

The 15,000 sq ft spa at the Mandarin Oriental in Miami has 17 different treatment rooms, with 6 spa suites and floor to ceiling windows overlooking the bay. Facilities at the spa include separate male and female sauna and steam rooms, fully equipped fitness center, manicure and pedicure facilities, and outdoor massages for both single cutomers and couples, which are offered in private cabanas at the resort’s Oasis Beach Club. The spa employs expert masseuses specially flown in from Thailand.

Oh, and one more thing. The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau had organized a ‘Miami Spa Month’ for July 2008. Based on popular demand, the spa month has been extended beyond July, and is now valid until the end of August, with good chances of being extended further. During this period, you can get special treatments for $99 at Miami’s premier spas. Here’s the list of participating spas (includes the Spa at the Mandarin Oriental). If you go through the list, you’ll see what I mean when I say that most all major Miami hotels have a great spa in-house.

Photo copyrights - Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau

When I am in the mood for a big splurge and pamper-fest, I head to San Francisco. In addition to great museums, restaurants and outdoor activities, San Francisco also boasts great places to while away the afternoon with a spa treatment or two, and by that I mean massages, facials and mani/pedis. With over 100 spas in San Francisco to choose from, the decision can be a little overwhelming, but I have narrowed it down to my top 5 choices:

Recharge Spa on Nob Hill

This full-service salon offers a treatment for nearly every part of your body, including parts I did not even know I had (laser hair removal from my glabella?). Located just up from Union Square, and down the street from the Grace Cathedral, this spa is perfect for locals and visitors alike. Note, the spa is closed on Wednesdays.

Tenaya Med Spa

Across town, on Union Street, Tenaya Med Spa, specializes in laser hair-removal treatments and Botox. Great place to go if you are feeling like a facial pick-me-up, something those of us with young children encounter quite a bit.

White Ginger Day Spa & Gallery

A complete spa, along with work from local artists, White Ginger is also the place to take your daughter for Mommy-Daughter Day, with special services for the under-12 set. Both of you can enjoy manicure and pedicure as part of their Mommy and Me package. Dads, don’t feel left out, you are invited too!

PatrickEvan Salon & Spa

Is your hair fried from too much summer fun in the pool? Maybe you need a new style, something sassy for the first day of school? Head over to PatrickEvan, where in addition to a top-notch salon, you can also relax with spa treatments galore. You will come out feeling (and looking) like a million bucks!

Re:fresh, A Day Spa

After a long day of shopping at Union Square, hit this local favorite for a massage from one of their experts, who can get knots out of even the tightest muscles! Reasonably priced, this place won’t break the bank, leaving you enough for a little cocktail at KoKo’s around the corner.

What is your favorite spa in San Francisco? Let’s get relaxing!

Photo courtesy of Thomas Wanhoff. 

There’s some spas in Napa which take pleasure in treating guests like pigs. Yep, that’s right - you’ll end up wallowing in mud up to your neck. This would be the mud spas in Calistoga, where a mix of volcanic ash, essential oils and water from the region’s mineral hot springs are used to offer a body and skin treatment which, believe it or not, is actually cleansing and relaxing.

Before we get to the spas offering this treatment, here’s a bit of background about why these mud spas are centered around Calistoga. For that, we need to go back 148 years to 1860, when a bright spark called Samuel Brannan had the idea to mix some volcanic ash from Mount St. Helena with the plentiful mineral water from the hot springs in the area  and offer spa treatments at his’Calistoga Hot Springs Resort. The mud bath thing kinda caught on, and now Calistoga is ground zero for mud baths, with a string of resorts and spas offering said treatment. For the record, Samuel Brannan was Calistoga’s founder, and a cottage built by him - The Brannan Cottage Inn - is now a Bed and Breakfast.

The spas offering mud baths in Calistoga include the Calistoga Village Inn & Spa, Golden Haven Hot Springs Spa & Resort, Solage, Oasis Spa, Indian Springs Spa and the Lincoln Avenue Spa.

Of course, spa treatments are not just about minerals and massages, so it helps that Napa Valley in general, and Calistoga in particular, offers a splendid vista and a beautiful landscape for a romantic holiday or getaway. Poking around the wineries and the historical landmarks, with some relaxing downtime at the spa in between, is what really makes these Napa vacations really memorable. And you get to fool around in the mud without anyone telling you to get out of there at once!

Photo copyrights - Golden Haven Spa

From guest blogger Marsha Takeda-Morrison of Sweatpantsmom

Are the triple-digit temperatures getting you down? How about immersing yourself in a vat of bubbling hot water? Believe it or not, it can be a refreshing experience, as long as you’re in a Jacuzzi at a nice spa. In other words, don’t try this at home.

Here are some spa retreats that you might want to check out for a cooling, calming break from the summer heat. Don’t forget to hydrate!

A popular destination for spa-loving Angelenos, Burke Williams is a chain so there’s probably one close to where you are. Definitely in the upscale realm of spas, they offer a standard menu of massages, facial treatments and spa facilities in lush surroundings. I’ve been to the Pasadena and Santa Monica locations, and while I got a decent massage at both, I found the experience unremarkable considering the steep price: $125 for only a 50 minute session, much more than what I’ve paid at other spas. Perhaps you’re lucky enough to have a rich friend (or husband) who will gift you with the $790 all day spa experience, titled ‘A Day Beyond’ (apparently they left out the words, ‘My Budget.’)

For a more down-to-earth experience why not try the Beverly Hot Springs, located in Koreatown. This no-frills spa boasts L.A.’s only pure-alkaline mineral water spa, and also a celebrity clientele. I tried to impress at a party once by telling them how I had seen Brooke Shields in the lobby, but was quickly trumped by someone else who had seen Madonna, naked, in the boiling-hot spring pool. Their prices are reasonable - $30 will get you the use of the hot springs and for another $60 you can have my favorite, the Body Care treatment, which consists of a 50-minute massage and skin conditioning session using milk, oil and cucumber. Besides feeling great, you come out of there smelling like a nice salad.

If you’re really feeling crazy on one of those sweltering days, why not drive for two hours to the blazing hot desert to Two Bunch Palms. Located on what was once Al Capone’s hideout in Desert Hot Springs, this resort is also a celeb favorite – Meryl Streep and Bette Midler have been known to escape to this ultra luxurious resort. Known for theier mineral springs, they also offer a full menu of spa and pampering services ranging from a standard Swedish massage (a fairly reasonable $115 for 60 minutes) to something called Watsu, which has you “cradled in the water in the amrs of your therapist” while your receive a shiatsu treatment. Sounds a little freaky to me, but whatever floats your boat, er, body.