Skinny Dipping in Healing Mud

I like to think of Calistoga, California as "the other Napa Valley." At the northern end of Napa Valley wine country and famous for its restorative mud baths and hot springs, "Mud City" has preserved its Gold Rush era lack of pretense when it comes to fashion and health. You might say there is no fashion here, or as little as possible, and that's why I previewed Calistoga in the new online magazine Fashiontribes.com -- for which I am the travel writer. It seemed that Getting Muddy in Calistoga was ironically counterintuitive with the hot fashion and hip trends featured in Fancy Flirts pages. And yet, what's more fashionable than taking care of ourselves? Among the spas and lodging is the tony new age Calistoga Ranch resort is on the outskirts of town, developed by the owners of the Valley's popular Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford. There are lots of wineries, too. But the mud baths and hot springs with the best insider buzz is the funky Dr. Wilkinson's Hot Springs Resort, which -- beware -- still looks like a 1950s era motel.