Wondering where to go for Labor Day weekend?  Here’s a round-up of great places to celebrate the end of summer:

(click each place for more info)

Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara is an idyllic coastal village, about an hour and a half north of Los Angeles. It’s a postcard-perfect town, surrounded by mist covered mountains and beaches…

Nantucket
Once home to many whaling sea captains, Nantucket is now a popular summer spot for the well to do. Walk along its cobblestone streets…

San Francisco
San Francisco is one of my favorite cities. And it’s easy to see why. It has a spectacular setting, moderate weather, cable cars, great shopping, interesting people and fabulous restaurants.

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Calling all hula hoopers!  In case you haven’t heard, tomorrow (August 8, 2008 or 8/8/8) is World Hoop Day.  World Hoop Day’s goal is to bring hoops and a little joy to children living in extreme poverty and underdeveloped neighborhoods around the world.  Events are planned in major cities all over the country with the biggest event in San Francisco. 

This year is the 50th birthday of the Hula Hoop and despite its age, the hoop is becoming increasingly popular for adults with hoop clubs forming in various cities. As a girl growing up, I remember spending hours each day during the summer hula hooping with my neighborhood friends.  We’d try to break the current record for most rotations or see what new trick we could come up with.  New fans of the hula hoop use it for exercise and as a form of expression.

If you’re looking to buy a hula hoop today, you’ll find that besides Wham-O’s hula hoops, many avid hula hoopers are creating and decorating their own hoops or buying hand-crafted versions. 

Links: World Hoop Day Events |  About Hula Hoops 

I’ve mentioned before how I think the best way to really experience a city is on foot.  But when you’re new to a city, how do you know where the best walking districts are?  One very cool site makes this easy for you.  Walk Score helps you to quickly find the best walking neighborhoods within a city.  After ranking over 2,500 neighborhoods in the 40 largest cities in the U.S., they show you the top walking districts for each city along with detailed Google maps of walkable destinations.  

Created as a tool for home buyers, this is also a great resource when choosing a hotel and seeing how well located it is in the city.  I just entered the address of the Hotel Andra, where I stayed during my last visit to Seattle and here are the results from Walk Score (green = best districts).   

Wouldn’t it be nice if every neighborhood were ranked a “walker’s paradise”! Unfortunately it’s more of a rarity than the norm in many cities.  It’s good to know there are tools like this that make finding the best walking districts a breeze.

Now that it’s the middle of summer, it’s not uncommon for me to see a daily forecast of 100 degrees.  When I do venture out into the heat, I’m either looking for a swimming pool or a shady spot where temperatures are significantly cooler.

In this type of climate, sun hats are a great accessory for summer.  They can be both stylish and very effective for creating your own personal shade.  Not only that, they’re becoming more and more popular as people want to protect their skin from potential skin cancer.  The Coolibar hats have a 50+ UPF rating and block out 98% of harmful UV radiation.   

Here are some of my current favorites:

Tula Hats  |  Coolibar  |  Sunday Afternoons  |  San Diego Hat Co 

Downtown Newport may be small, but there are plenty of choices for eating out.  Our B&B was located a block off of Thames Street, which is filled with shops and restaurants.  Our first night in Newport we walked down brick-laden Thames Street to the Red Parrot.  We shared Mediterranean and Lobster pizzas – both surprisingly good — along with some local ale. 

The following day we had a light dinner at the Black Pearl on Bannister’s Wharf.  They serve excellent clam chowder and it’s a great place to go if you want to see some authentic Newport sailboats.

We also had dinner at Pronto during our stay.  This restaurant has great Italian food, very good service and is perfect for good dinner conversation. 

Scales and Shells is a local Newport favorite and popular enough to take only cash (no chance it will be in a Visa commercial any time soon).  It’s a fun, boisterous place for seafood, but can be a little loud. We had to yell, to hear each other speak.

On our last day in Newport we had Sunday brunch at Castle Hill Inn where lodging ranges from $700 – $1500 per night.  This is a beautiful oceanfront resort with rolling lawns to the water, dotted with adirondack chairs.  Brunch was very nice, and this is also a great place for drinks at sunset, with its western facing views of the water.  If you do go for brunch, make sure and check-out adjoining Brenton Point State Park, where locals love to fly kites on the weekends.

  

Every year my sisters and I pick a beautiful location for our girls getaway and this year our destination was Newport, Rhode Island. We stayed at a quaint B&B called the Spring Street Inn (ranked #1 on TripAdvisor) which was ideally located in the heart of Newport’s walk-able downtown.  Pat, the B&B’s innkeeper, gave us a great overview of Newport, including cultural highlights, some historical side notes and great places for cocktails and dinner.  We didn’t have to worry about breakfast – every morning Pat served us a wonderful gourmet breakfast.  

Newport is where the ultra rich spent their summers at the turn of the 19th century.  Home of the America’s Cup yacht race for many decades, Newport is probably best known for its “summer cottages”.  These Gilded Age mansions were built for the Vanderbilts and Astors during an age when wealth was flaunted with lavish parties and hundreds of guests on sprawling lawns that stretched to the coastline.

The Newport Preservation Society now owns several of the largest mansions and allows the public to tour these summer cottages where the ultra rich once lived.   During our stay we saw the Breakers, The Elms, Rosecliff, Marble House, Kingscote, Isaac Bell and the Topiary garden.  The interiors of the mansions were amazing.  

Tip: we all bought a Preservation membership which included entrance to any property and allowed us to go to the front of the line at any mansion.  It also includes a free Behind the Scenes Elms tour which describes how the servants lived (recommended).

We timed our trip for the end of June to coincide with Newport’s annual Flower Show.  The judged floral arrangements were on display on the first floor of Rosecliff and we could hear seminars on topics like rose selection, orchids, and floral arrangements for lavish parties.  Here are a few of the arrangements from the show.

Don’t have any plans yet for 4th of July? How about spending it in Hawaii with a friend at a Little Big Town concert? From now until June 18, 2008, Little Big Town and Harley-Davidson are sponsoring an Aloha LBT! Contest.

I live in the southwest where temperatures are already hovering around 100 degrees, so I’d love to spend 4th of July in Hawaii’s perfect climate.  And good news - even if you don’t own a leather jacket or ride a motorcycle, you’re eligible to enter!

Grand Prize Details

- One (1) Grand Prize winner and guest will receive roundtrip airfare from anywhere in the United States to Honolulu International Airport (HNL)

- Hotel accommodations for the nights of July 3, 4 & 5

- Two (2) concert tickets to Little Big Town’s performance on July 4th

- Two (2) Harley-Davidson® Leather Jackets

This contest runs from May 27 - June 18, 2008. The winner will be notified by email on June 19 and has 24 hours to respond.

Aloha LBT! Contest link  

Let us know if you win!

The first time I went to a destination spa was for a milestone birthday - I joined my three sisters at Lake Austin Spa for a long weekend and enjoyed every minute with the beautiful surroundings, excellent food, fun activities and relaxing spa treatments.  Staying at a destination spa is a definite splurge, but worth experiencing at least one time. 

Here is Travel + Leisure’s list of Best Destination Spas in the World for 2007. 

Be sure to check the spa websites and SpaFinder.com for the current Getaway Spa Deals before booking.

1. Mii amo at Enchantment Resort  (Sedona, Arizona) 
2. Alder Thermae Spa Resort  (Siena, Tuscany)
3. Les Sources de Caudalie  (Bordeaux-Martillac, France)
4. Miraval, Life in Balance  (Tuscan, Arizona) 
5. Canyon Ranch  (Tucson, Arizona)
6. Chiva-Som Health Resort  (Hua Hin, Thailand)
7. Plateau at Grand Hyatt  (Hong Kong)
8. Green Valley Spa & Resort  (St. George, Utah)
9. Lake Austin Spa Resort  (Austin, Texas)
10. Rancho La Puerta  (Tecate, Mexico)
11. Canyon Ranch  (Lenox, Massachusetts)
12. Mayflower Inn & Spa  (Washington, Connecticut)
13. Lodge at Woodloch  (Hawley, Pennsylvania)  
14. Maya Tulum Wellness Retreat & Spa  (Pueblo Tulum, Mexico) 
15. Golden Door  (Escondido, California)

Ever wish your travel outfit could look as good when you disembark from the plane as when you boarded?  Well, here are some wrinkle resistant travel dresses which are versatile, comfortable and most importantly look good on!  You can wear the same outfit on the plane, at the beach and even out to dinner.   To dress up, just add jewelry or a scarf.

For one option, check out SkirtSports’ Footloose Dress.  This sporty dress has a built-in shelf bra, V-neck and flattering empire waistband.  SkirtSports was founded by Nicole DeBoom, who has won several triathlons across the country.  Wanting to look good even during her work outs, Nicole created a whole line a sporty tanks, skirts and swim suits that are both functional and stylish.

Another great travel outfit option is Patagonia’s Morning Glory dress.  This dress is made of jersey knit that feels great on and doesn’t wrinkle.  With a flattering cut and halter-style neck, this dress can be easily adjusted to different bust sizes.

For a couple of other options check out The Territory Ahead site.  Their Sojourner Dress and the Vintage Moderne Dress are also resistant to wrinkles.  The Vintage Moderne dress is made of Tencel – a fairly new natural fiber which feels and drapes like silk but is actually made of wood pulp cellulose.   Glad they’re putting that wood pulp to good use!

Links:  SkirtSports  |  Patagonia   |  The Territory Ahead

Girl getaways have become so popular that now there’s even a television show about them! All-Girl Getaways premieres on the Fine Living channel Thursday, April 24 at 9pm EST. The show will follow a different group of women each week (friends, co-workers, family members) as they plan their ultimate getaway vacation. 

In case you’re wondering if you get the Fine Living channel, go to FineLiving.com and enter your zip code to look-up your local channel, if available.

Via  Fine Living Channel