Vacations Blog

ONE:

The newly renovated Camelback Inn in Scottsdale is holding a Mother’s Day champagne brunch. The Inn’s incredible food is surpassed only by their phenomenal service. Take Mom here for Mother’s Day, and you’ll be raking in the brownie points for YEARS. ($69 per adult, $20 per child)

TWO:

Schedule your mother for a spa weekend at Canyon Ranch in Tucson. Canyon Ranch’s all-inclusive programs are famous for their nourishment of the body, soul, and spirit. Very high end, VERY pricey, but a gift that your mother or wife will never, ever forget. (Rates can be found here.)

THREE:

Take Mom on a day trip to Sedona. It’s just a ninety-minute drive from the Phoenix area, the views are breathtaking, and there are excellent dining and shopping opportunities (I highly recommend a stroll through Tlaquepaque - pronounced Tel-AH-ko-PAH-kee).

FOUR:

Get Mom tickets to a cultural event. The Phoenix Symphony’s spring calendar includes “A Salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein”, “Legends and Heroes”, and “007: Bond and Beyond”. The ASU Gammage Auditorium is featuring numerous performances over the next several months, including “Stomp!”, “Rent”, and “A Chorus Line”.

FIVE:

For the Rockin’ Mom, Cricket Pavilion is gearing up its summer concert series. Among many other performers and bands, Jimmy Buffet will be performing on 5/14, No Doubt is holding a show on 5/23, Aerosmith is landing on 7/27, and Def Leppard (with Poison! and Cheap Trick!) is performing on 8/29. I recommend the lawn tickets, which are generally only around $20, and you can kick back on a blanket and gaze at the stars overhead.

What I’m getting at is, don’t just get Mom the same old flowers, candies, and dinner. Kick it up a little and truly surprise her! Trust me, you’ll get all the value in the world out of your thoughtfulness.

The luxurious Bellagio of Las Vegas

With hotels in Las Vegas slashing room rates to attract vacationers, there’s no better time to experience the luxury of Bellagio.

Photo by Jason Roth

So one day before deadline, I remember I’m supposed to submit an ‘NYC restaurant guide’. I’m scratching my head in confusion here. That’s a subject for a thick book, not a blog post to be tapped out on the fly. I mean, it’s virtually impossible to even remember all the good restaurants in New York City, let alone list them with descriptions. And how many more new restaurants open each week?

And then if you start categorizing them – Romantic, kosher, pre-theater dinner, breakfast, soul food, ethnic, greasy fast food diners, rooftop lounges – Well, let’s just say that this is going to be one heck of a blog post. Read More »

Marsha’s post from yesterday got me to thinking about what others were planning for Valentine’s Day – I would love to say that I am hitting the road, pack on my back, to explore an exciting far-off destination. Turns out the best I can do is a date with my husband while my kids eat pizza with their favorite babysitter. Let’s see what my options might have been:

Erica at Blissful Travel pointed us over to Maybourne Hotel’s Truly Madly Deeply promotion. Luxury accommodations for Valentine’s Day, and looking at the deal, it goes through the end of February, so those of us slow on the uptake can book it as a post-holiday celebration. Valentine’s Day is amateur night* anyway, right?

Sheila from GoVisitHawaii tells us that we could have renewed our vows in Waikiki at the Outrigger Hotel. How romantic would that have been to renew our vows Hawaiian style? Maybe next year, sounds like sign ups begin in January.

Over at the Luxury Travel Blog, Paul highlights deals from One&Only, Sherman Travel, and Kimpton Hotels, including a romantic getaway to Venice. These would be the kind of gifts I like to give – the ones that benefit both the giver and receiver.

Sadly, I should have been reading Rick Seaney’s blog last month when he posted information about the Air France deals to Paris. What is more romantic than Paris?

Are you sensing a theme yet? All these would have been possible with a little planning! For those of you who are stuck for last minute ideas, Outdoorzy posted 5 gift ideas for the outdoorzy woman in your life, including a smashing pink bathrobe. And last (but not least) Viator has pulled together the ultimate list of gift ideas for the traveler. Its a beautiful post with very romantic suggestions for expressing your love for your partner, while traveling!

How are you celebrating tonight? If you are a planner, what’s on the agenda? If you prefer to fly by the seat of your pants, do you have an intended destination? Whatever you decide, we wish you a happy Valentine’s Day!

*Amateur Night – Valentine’s Night is the often the worst time to go out to dinner – the restaurants are packed, expectations are high, the food is sub-par (think warming tables) and they are eager to get you in and out, to make way for the next diners. Piece of advice, if you have not already made reservations, pick up a burrito (for two), grab your favorite movie (romantic or not) and a bottle of wine and spend the evening at home!

So Travel-Betty has the honor of being the first one to comment on our blog! So I thought I’d highlight her point of view on camping…namely pampered camping in the Bay Area, between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay on the Pacific Coast, in Pescadero, CA For those of you who don’t want to sleep on the hard ground, there is a better way. Its called Costanoa with Kango reviews here.

Travel-Betty does a nice writeup and breaks down the options as follows:

• The lodge – for people who need to stay in a hotel
• Douglas fir cabins – for people who need solid walls around them at night and a bed to sleep on.
• Tent bungalows – for people who want to feel like they are going camping, hear the crickets outside, but want to sleep on a bed with electric light and an electric blanket too!
• Bring your own camping equipment – for people who want to actually camp but also want it to be less crowded and with much nicer bathrooms than typical campsites. From the Costanoa website:
  “Comfort Stations are specially designed bathroom facilities that include a central courtyard with fireplace, sauna, heated concrete floors, private indoor and outdoor showers, sinks, flush toilets, and skylights.”

I’ve stayed at Costanoa in the Lodge for a corporate offsite when I was working for a Fortune 1000 company with $s to spend (sigh…miss that). I even paid for my team’s massages at the spa (I didn’t do one myself, but they looked pretty relaxed after the massages!)

Rates vary from $140 – 365 per night for the various lodging options, depending on time of year and day of week. If you just rent a tent site or RV site, its $40 – 65 per night. This may seem expensive relative to other campgrounds, but for a family of 4 its just $10 per person per night for 4 star bathrooms and saunas included. Hey, why aren’t we going here instead of Pescadero SP?

Do they have kids activities and babysitting?