womantraveler

Do Your Part for Hurricane Relief

There are no sufficient words for Hurricane Katrina's horrible devastation in New Orleans, Biloxi, and the rest of the Gulf Coast. Please do your part now by sending a generous donation today to the American Red Cross Hurricane 2005 Relief fund. Special thanks to everyone who is pitching in, including airlines, like United, which is awarding Mileage Plus members frequent flyer awards for their contributions through October 31.

The Fab Five Hotels in South Beach

South Beach Magazine in Miami Beach has declared the fab five top boutique hotels in its annual ratings by readers and staff. Focus on upscale, access to beach, and trendy decor. As the South Beach season begins after Thanksgiving when the hurricane threat is down, it's good to plan and book now (everyone else is) as the hot spots get taken very quickly.

Luxury Cruise -- That's My Ship!

As we embark on the wonderful cruise season, here's a helpful list of the luxury cruise lines, which is, dears, the only way to travel. And, trust me, there are bargains to be found to allow us hoi polloi to travel in such high style. Check out Silversea cruises carefully right now. And stay tuned, because I've done it.

We Spa With Chocolate Rubs

Day spas in Madrid are part of Spain's new emphasis on luxury tourism, and we really like the sound of the frothy chocolate spa treatment that's promoted to make us feel delightfully mood-elevated. Can it be the pampering of caffeine???

Laguna Beach Shopping and Hot Spots

The girlfriends took a weekend journey to Laguna Beach, with the art festivals (described in previous posts) as the focal points. But what about great shopping and dining, which are always cornerstones of a girlfriends weekend?

South Coast Plaza in Orange County is one of the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious high-style malls in the world. It has the best Nordstrom in Southern California, plus an exquisite Max Mara, and one of luxury jeweler David Yurman's few boutiques.

We stayed across the walking bridge at the Westin South Coast Plaza, which usually has attractive weekend specials and stands next door to the Orange County Performing Arts Center, where on previous trips we've trekked for a New York City ballet or other major performances.

One of the finer dining experiences in the area is at Troquet at South Coast Plaza -- a gracious white tablecloth French restaurant with inventive food and lovely service. The menu offers a range of selections, but I've always enjoyed always excellent seafood and the impressive wine list.

Down in Laguna Beach, 30 minutes closer to the ocean, we are crazy for two destinations -- Zazu, which offers a more interesting selection of Michael Stars tees and tops than the designer's own LA home stores in Manhattan Beach and Santa Monica, and Zinc Cafe and Market, a popular spot for locals for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and take-out -- and charming outdoor patio. The LA Times raves about La Sirena Grill, a postage-stamp location declared to be the best fast-casual takeout Mexican food in the area. In the elegant fringe of understated luxury along the coast is Studio at Montage Resort & Spa, where every table has a view of the ocean and bluffs. It's a beautiful location to linger and view the Pacific, though the French-Mediterranean cuisine and service are said to be occasionally inconsistent.

Inside the Artists Studios

At first glance, Laguna Canyon Artists in Laguna Beach does not fit the mental image of an artists colony. Up a driveway off Laguna Canyon Drive, the entrance initially suggests a mini-storage garage enclave -- until we get inside and see the vibrancy of artists at work in their studios. It's the Southern California version of Alexandria, Virginia's famous Torpedo Factory, where artists reclaimed a World War II industrial property for their work and easy access to art fans. The Canyon artists are much less commercial, and their studios are typically visited by appointment or special events, but nonetheless they are fully approachable and offer an unusual glimpse into artists and the passions that drive them. 

Take Sue Thompson, who has converted her years working as a food server in the restaurant biz into visual impressions of the atmosphere that embraces chefs, wine, waiters, and bartenders --the fabric of the people more than the food inside the world of bars and eateries. "I painted what I knew," said Thompson, who took her first art class in 1997. "You've got to be open to where life will lead you -- you're not always driving the bus."

Or Kathy Jones, whose career as a university administrator took a sharp right turn in the late 1990s when she began painting in earnest while a vice president at Georgetown University and returned to California in 1999 and a successful new career as a painter specializing in oils whose rich colors harness light and mood from unexpected angles. "One of the barriers is the critic who sits on your shoulder," said Jones, who responded to her muse with a discipline that prevented her from "making the 10,000 excuses not to do it." That meant the thoughtful inspiration of books like Art & Fear and renting her own studio space in the artists colony.

Be Artsy in Laguna Beach

Laguna Beach in Southern California has been an artists colony for more than a century, and its major summer arts festivals -- including the Festival of the Arts and the Sawdust Art Festival -- wrap up in two weeks. That doesn't keep womentravelers from visiting artists and their studios, such as the Laguna Canyon Artists, during the rest of the year by appointment and at special showings. This article will tell you how best to navigate the exciting summer arts scene, while in future articles we talk with some of the artists and describe the best shopping, great food, and other experiences in and around Laguna Beach in Southern California's Orange County.

In one easy day, you can park and walk to the two premier outdoor festivals, each presenting different artistic personalities, along Laguna Canyon Road. For more than 70 years, the juried Festival of the Arts, which ends September 1, has presided as the grande dame of art exhibitions in Southern California, including its renowned Pageant of the Masters -- 90 minutes of "living art" recreations in an outdoor amphitheater, with this year's theme "On the Road" and art inspirations from along legendary Route 66. More than 140 artists -- painters, sculptors, jewelers, photographers, fiber artists, and even scrimshaw -- create an awesome and welcoming scene of outstanding work on six acres of artspace. Across the road, the funky Sawdust Festival has created a village of 200 artists and quality craftspeople, classes for kids, fiddle and pop music, in a spirited scene on a bed of sawdust paths. Memorably, I bought my first decorative toe rings there (a Southern California tradition).

While art is the web that links local life and tourism, the Laguna Beach community is spiritually closely knit along a dramatic landscape, where canyon fires and mudslides have impeded dreams of many citizens who, artists or not, relish the topographic splendor. With steep cliffs that plunge into the sea and dozens of coves and canyons, the relative isolation of Laguna Beach offers a special haven for artists. Painting is said to have begun in Laguna Beach in the 1870s, and ever since, the web of art has linked the local community and its tourists.

Cruise Season Bargains Start Now

Each year at this time I start surfing the web for special cruise deals that come in the fall with repositioning cruises (moving ships from their summer to winter locations) and special fares to entice us into early holiday planning. There are so many it's hard to keep up, and it's smart to act quickly. Here are some helpful resources for finding spur-of-the-moment bargains.

• Up to 50% "Silver Savings" on elegant Silversea cruises (my favorite), including "Fall Leaves" cruises along the East Coast to Canada
• Smarter Travel.com's special cruise section
• Cruise Critic.com's newsletters
• A host of new specials on Carnival Cruise lines
• Tips on finding a bargain cruise.

Mapping the Imagination

I recently discovered this intriguing map book that charts the imagination of the inventor as it transcends actual landscapes and treats them with artistic vision. It maps to my approach that maps are full of backstory -- and much more than lines on paper connecting geographical places.

Blue Crabs on the Chesapeake Bay

This is blue crab high season on the Chesapeake Bay, and as one who's spent many delightful summers hammering piles of crabs accompanied by pitchers of beer and fresh corn on the cob, I heartily recommend this experience. New York Times' restaurant critic Mimi Sheraton scopes out the best restaurants for blue crab adventures in Virginia Beach, Virginia. If you want to dig more deeply into the relationship of the watermen who harvest these tender and increasingly endangered crabs and the critters' lifecycles, William Warner's Beautiful Swimmers is a lyrical and engaging summer read into the culture and ecology of Bay crabbing.