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.

According to TV every mom wants a bunch of flowers for Mother’s Day.  Also, jewelry, but let’s stick with the practical.

You can buy flowers anywhere- the flower shop, obviously, but also any farmers market, supermarket or kid on the corner.  Flowers are a dime a dozen.  Well, a lot of dimes a dozen, but you get the idea- they’re everywhere.

Instead of killing plants to enjoy them why not visit them in their natural habitat (and kill them with smog and our dependence on foreign oil- sorry, it’s an equal time thing)?

Botanical Garden - Tucson

Botanical Gardens: Most bigger towns and cities have a botanical garden.  A botanical garden is a great place to stop and smell the flowers and/or butterflies.

Botanical Garden Butterfly Exhibit - Tucson

Reflection/Meditation/Self-Realization Garden: Many spiritual and religious groups have quiet sanctuaries where you can walk and enjoy various types of flowers and ponds.  It’s very tranquil and usually very free.  In some towns you may find similar gardens as part of a local park.

Self-Realization Temple in Encinitas, CA

Koi in Pond at Self-Realization Temple, Encinitas

Flower in the Temple

Wildflowers: It’s springtime and the wildflowers are in bloom.  A quick look in a local paper or website will easily guide you to what’s blooming in the area.  Generally speaking, these are called wildflowers for a reason and there may be a bit of a drive involved, but hey, gas is cheap (relatively).

These are but a few options that are available in most markets, whether they be home or just a stop along the journey.  All of them involve a bit more time than a dozen roses from Safeway, but here’s something that the TV doesn’t want you to know- time is the real gift.  Flowers just make it smell better.

New York City has an excess of everything, and it’s all packed in so close together that it’s impossible to walk a few blocks without tripping over an establishment worth a second look-see. So this Mother’s Day, which falls on the 11^th of May, here’s a guide to help you enjoy a classy and fun filled Mother’s Day in NYC.

Listed below are the best Mother’s Day activities in NYC – Where to go for brunches and teas, spa specials, cruises, music, shows and concerts, nature exploration tours, upscale shopping, flea market shopping, food shopping and best of all – Discounts, freebies, flowers, chocolates – which you get only if you’re a Mom.

Let’s start with a list of the best NYC restaurants offering a special Mother’s Day Sunday brunch.

Palm Court Restaurant, Plaza Hotel: The first on the list, and probably the only one you need to know about, is the historic Palm Court restaurant at the Plaza Hotel, with its stained glass windows, traditional afternoon tea and genteel service. The newly renovated and reopened Plaza has always been the center of gravity for the Grande Dame social circuit in the Big Apple.Every socially conscious Mom in NYC wants nothing better than to dress up and spend a few hours sizing up the other Moms in attendance. The brunch and afternoon tea is just something that the Palm Court offers as a reason for a gaggle of Moms to congregate. The experience, as a whole, is unforgettable, and there’s nothing better or more special that you can do for Mother’s Day, than foot the bill for brunch and tea at the Palm Court for your Mother.

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I started out intending to write about several things to do on Mother’s Day in Cleveland. But as I began my research, I found nothing that excited me as much as the Cleveland Botanical Garden (CBG). And let me make it clear that I do not garden, and much to my husband’s annoyance, I don’t notice when he gardens, either. I just can’t pull myself away from this place, though, so I have to make it the entire focus of this blog.

The CBG is having Mother’s Day Brunch at the Garden on Sunday, May 11^th, from 10am to 3pm. The menu will consist of traditional buffet fare such as carved beef, homemade soup, salads, and a pancake station. Cost and additional menu items can be found on the site.

The neat thing about this is that it’s not just a meal—your group will have access to the gardens and their special exhibit, Zensai:The Horticulture of Japan. After that, be sure to visit the other gardens, including the Hershey’s Children Garden, the Mary Ann Swears Sweetland Rose Garden, and the Western Reserve Herb Society Garden. There are several others as well, so there is plenty of beauty to enjoy on the grounds.

One thing I did not realize is how much goes on at CBG. In addition to the outdoor gardens, there is also a Glasshouse which houses the Cloud Forest of Costa Rica and Spiny Desert of Madagascar exhibits. The CBG also offers a wide selection of programs including classes, lectures, and travel programs for area residents. And you can rent the CBG for weddings, corporate events, and other private events, with catering provided.

I think this is a wonderful place to add to your Places to Visit list in the Cleveland area. If you can’t make it for Mother’s Day, be sure to check it out at another time. It’s simply stunning!

From guest blogger Marsha Takeda-Morrison of Sweatpantsmom

There’s a column in the Los Angeles Times every Thursday called ‘My Favorite Weekend’ where celebrities write about what their perfect weekend would be. Predictably, 99% of them start with breakfast at the vegan Real Food Daily, involve a vigorous hike in Runyan Canyon and end with an organic chai latte at Urth Cafe. I sometimes wonder if this is just the PC version from their publicist, and the celebrity featured is actually having an Egg McMuffin and a pack of Marlboros for breakfast before passing out until Sunday night.

Since Mother’s Day is coming up, I decided to write about what My Favorite Weekend would be. As you’ll see, without a publicist to speak of, pork products and sedentary activity prevail…

My ideal weekend would start with brunch in Santa Barbara at the Four Seasons Biltmore. They have the most amazing spread, and it’s easy to linger there forever enjoying the view. However, if the idea of spending a mortgage payment on a waffle is daunting that day, I would stay local and head over to Mo’s in Toluca Lake. They have great breakfasts, and I’d have the Eggs Florentine with a side of their bacon, which is the thickest and juiciest I’ve ever had. Also, the place is close to the studios and great for stargazing; on our last visit my kids spotted someone from The Hannah Montana show.

After digesting that huge meal and twelve cups of coffee I would have to get a massage. My husband and I are shiatsu aficionados, and the best one we’ve found is at the Miyako Spa in Little Tokyo. But it’s not for the faint of heart – don’t expect a lilac-fragranced room and a woman named Britta anointing you with oils. These are women from the old country, who will pummel you within an inch of your life while exchanging no pleasantries whatsoever. In other words, the most incredible, exhilarating massage you’ll ever have. Afterwards I’d soak in the jacuzzi in their bare-bones spa area and drink some mugi cha out of a paper cup.

Since a massage usually puts me into a coma, I’d sleep for a few hours and then we’d head out for a late dinner. I’d be in a healthy state of mind after the spa, so we’d go to a Japanese restaurant, maybe Sushi Roku on the Westside. Then I’d totally blow it by ordering Dynamite, which is basically just clams swimming in mayonnaise. Heaven.

On Sunday, which is actually Mother’s Day, we would have breakfast at home and relax. We hate having to fight morning crowds, so we would meet up with the rest of my family for an afternoon dim sum meal at NBC Seafood in Monterey Park. My brother’s new wife, who is Chinese, turned us on to this place and it’s made me realize that Panda Express is not really Chinese food.

In actuality, we’ll be celebrating Mother’s Day this weekend on Saturday, as all of our family and friends will be turning out to watch my husband’s band play at the Sagebrush Cantina in Calabasas. It’s been there for years, and attracts a wildly diverse crowd – everyone from bikers to young families. We’ll sit out on the patio and drink their strong margaritas and devour baskets of chips, and I’ll spend the day watching my two daughters dance in the aisles. Sounds like a perfect weekend to me.

How will you be spending Mother’s Day? What would your Favorite Weekend be like?