by Lisa Trottier, Sunset travel editor

I’m not the turkey-baking type, so for me Thanksgiving means one thing: four full days to get out of town. Last year, I soaked up the sunny skies and 70-degree weather in Monterey, California, at the just-opened Clement Monterey.

Choosing the Clement broke several of my own personal rules. First of all, it’s on Cannery Row, a tourist haven of souvenir shops and candy stores. Plus, it’s part of an international hotel chain—the Intercontinental.

But, what can I say? I loved my stay at the Clement. Mostly for its back deck right over the crashing waves of Monterey Bay. From the fire pit, where cocktails are served under the moonlight, we could see seals peep out of the water. Plus, the hotel is literally next door to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, eliminating any parking or traffic hassles for the town’s biggest attraction.

Best of all, every day my husband and I loaded our kids into their bike seats and cruised along a path that crosses right in front of the hotel, skirting the edge of the bay all the way to the Pacific Ocean. After that, we’d dig in to the fish and chips at locals’ favorite Sea Harvest. And I have to say, we didn't miss the turkey one bit.  

Book it: From $199, (831) 375-4500

Plan your trip: Read Sunset’s advice on where to hike around Monterey and a great bike ride in nearby Pacific Grove.

By Rachel Levin, Sunset senior editor

I was happy to see an ode to Sunset’s favorite little Apple Farm in the Times magazine last Sunday, as part of its series on Slow Food. With a scattering of cozy-quiet cabins, acres of heirloom apple orchards, hands-on cooking classes, and a roadside stand that operates on the honor system, the Apple Farm, in Northern California's Mendocino County, was the haycation before haycations were cool.

You can read about our favorite farm weekends in our November issue, now on newsstands. (Yes, our article includes the Apple Farm, too.)

Book it: Cottages are $175/night midweek; $250 on weekends, including breakfast. Cooking classes are booked for the rest of the season, but start up again in February. Call now to reserve.

Plan your trip to the Anderson Valley

by Lisa Trottier, Sunset travel editor

I have a soft spot for Costanoa. I can’t help it. When it opened a decade ago, a cluster of stylish tent bungalows, cabins, and lodge rooms along an otherwise undeveloped stretch of coast south of Half Moon Bay, it was so completely unlike anything else in that tech-happy era.

There were no phones, no TVs. Trails led into the grassy hills and across Highway 1 to a pair of deserted beaches. Tents with robes, comforters, and pictures on the “wall” had you hoofing it across a field for middle-of-the-night bathroom runs. But when you got there, you’d find heated floors, a sauna, a crackling fireplace with a pair of adirondacks. This was glamping before the term had even been coined.

I liked the place so much I got married there nine years ago—spoke my vows on a grassy bluff where we could hear the elephant seals calling, then hiked down to Costanoa’s lodge for a barbecue and s’mores in the slanting November sun. So, when the place changed hands once, then again, I was worried.

More than I needed to be, it turns out. I stayed in a tent bungalow here with my kids this past summer, and while the place isn’t maintained to the exacting standards of its early days, it’s still a great way to spend a weekend outside in a glorious spot. We hiked to the beach, ate pancakes under the sun, and trekked to the nearby Pigeon Point Lighthouse.

The only thing I will say is that summers along that stretch can be foggy and windy, and it often was the July weekend we were there. Today, though, the forecast is 75 degrees and calm. Perfect. Plus, off-peak rates started yesterday, and tonight is a full moon. So what, you say? Costanoa celebrates full-moon nights with a 50 discount. If I had nothing pressing going on, I’d be on my way right now.

Book it: costanoa.com, 877/262-7848

Plan your trip: Get Sunset's tips on what to do in nearby Pescadero and, north of that, Half Moon Bay.

by Lisa Trottier, Sunset travel editor

It's news to no one that people...just...LOVE...San Francisco. For the 17th year in a row, Conde Nast's readers have just voted it the country's best city to visit. Yet, when I see visitors clustering where so many of the city's hotels are—between Union Square and the Tenderloin—I cringe a little. Of all the city's corners, this may be the least lovely.

So, when you visit San Francisco (and by all means do), I say get away from downtown and stay out in the city's neighborhoods. That's what I do. There are lots of small inns around, but my favorite is the Hotel Drisco.

 
This is not only because it's perched above the bay on the tippy top of the city in an absurdly scenic, fantastically pricey neighborhood bordered by Pacific Heights, Presidio Heights, and Cow Hollow. I love how from the street it nearly passes as an apartment building. There's no vast lobby to cross, no maze of hallways. It makes me feel at home. And the shops and restaurants along Fillmore and Union streets are a short (if sometimes steep) stroll away. I've spent more than one happy weekend here without once touching my car.

Plan your trip: Click here for my favorite walks, shops, and restaurants in the Hotel Drisco's neighborhood. And get many more ideas for a trip to San Francisco here.

Book it: from $169, www.jdvhotels.com/hotels/drisco. Get a third night free by booking here and typing in "joie"

What about you? Do you have a favorite city sleep? We'd love to hear what it is.

It happens to me every fall. Right about now. Something about the changing leaves, the crisp sunny days, that late-afternoon light... I suddenly have the urge to make like a J. Crew catalog cover and wear wool and wander country roads, lounge by the fire and drink red wine...  

The thing is, so does everyone else. And Napa knows this. And exploits this, by raising what are already ridiculous room rates to astronomical levels. I mean, who can blame them? When people, yes, even In These Times, are willing to pay $600, $800, $1,000 a night. 

Well, high season-shmigh season. It's time to get clever, folks. Forget about how amazing it would be to stay in Napa right now. Instead, plan ahead. Give yourself something to look forward to: Winter in Napa! Green. Cozy. Uncrowded. Sure, a little cold, but—get this—affordable. 

One of my favorite places to stay is near Yountville, two miles from the Michelin-star mecca: The Cottages at Napa Valley. (Which, at $455 a night peak-season is almost a bargain in these parts.) 

But come winter, rates plummet at these private, Provencal-style cottages: Eight cute-as-a-button (but not irritatingly so) colorful cabins scattered around a grassy lawn, complete with Adirondack chairs and indoor and outdoor fireplaces, French-press coffee and supercomfy beds, baskets of flaky croissants from Bouchon delivered to your front porch in the mornings and complimentary wine hour in the courtyard in the evenings.

And December 1st through February 28th, you can stay three nights for the price you'd pay for one this very weekend. So bust out your wool, winter in Napa isn't so bad.

Book it: Winter special, three nights for $495; or two nights for $495, including dinner for two at Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc restaurant, a private owner-led tasting tour at O'Brien Estate, and s'mores fixins for roasting marshmallows outside your cottage; www.napacottages.com. 

Plan your trip to Napa

Got a--gasp!--affordable lodging recommendation in Napa? Tell us! Please!

by Lisa Trottier, Sunset travel editor

Strange, but true: Ski season starts today at Mammoth Mountain, which was slammed with 30 inches of snow this week. To celebrate the absurdly early opening day, this resort five hours east of Los Angeles is offering a room at the slopeside Mammoth Mountain Inn plus two lift tickets for $99 per person.

But if you don’t mind being a couple of miles from the lift, my favorite place to stay in Mammoth is the Tamarack Lodge (pictured), a collection of 32 cabins and 11 lodge rooms scattered across a piney hillside under a craggy bluff at Twin Lakes.

Tamarack has that middle-of-nowhere feeling where the glow from each cabin comes not from a television (there are none) but from a fireplace. The “traditional” (read: unimproved) cabins are charming, if slightly smoky. The pricier, polished new ones are as comfortable and stylish as anything you'd find at a slick resort but without any of the corporate sheen or surrounding sprawl. Whatever cabin you choose, this place is throwback all the way.

Book it: From $139; from $269 for a newer cabin; 800/626-6684 or 760/934-2442. tamaracklodge.com

Talk to us: What’s your favorite ski hideaway?

by Lisa Trottier, Sunset senior travel editor

When the superposh Aman Resorts opened their first U.S. hotel in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 11 years ago, it was clear they knew something about the habits of the American jet-setter. This week, they open their second U.S. project. But this one’s a bit more of a head-scratcher.

Amangiri, they’re calling it, a collection of 32 suites fit for a CEO who’s taken the golden parachute. And they’ve put it on a 600-acre swath of Utah desert 25 minutes outside Page, Arizona. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Page, but I have. And it ain’t no Jackson.

No one loves the desert of Southern Utah like Sunset does—it’s tops in our book. But having camped in this country many times, I can’t help but chuckle when I picture the guests of a $600/night hotel (that’s the discounted opening rate, by the way) mingling with the beer-chugging houseboaters on Lake Powell or pulling into a strip mall in Page to hook up with a tour of Antelope Canyon.

There’s no arguing with the views. I mean…wow. But will this arid corner of the world, so remote and desolate that polygamists like to hide out in it, really become a playground for the world’s superrich? If so, the Aman visionaries are smarter than I am. They’re certainly gutsier.

Curious? Check out more photos on Amangiri’s website.

Back in Paia, Hawaii eating just-caught ono

By Rachel Levin, Sunset senior editor

I was on Maui a few weeks ago. We were supposed to be in Punta Mita, Mexico, but then the swine flu hit and with three six-month-old babies in our group we, uh, decided not to risk it. So an oceanfront condo in sprawling Kapalua Bay it was! At a rock-bottom rate to boot. Not too shabby for a last-minute Plan B. (Ah, the brightside of a bad economy!)

Anyway, my favorite thing we did all week (beside sip freshly-muddled grapefruit mojitos at the Ritz-Carlton’s J.T. Fleming Beach) was a daytrip to the little surfer-hippie town of Paia.

Here, the Top Five things I love about Paia:

1.    The locals beach. About a mile or so from town, where the scene is quirky, the coconuts fall, and the waves are fierce—and where I was absolutely mesmerized watching these skinny 10-year-old boys absolutely kill it on the boogie board. I mean, we’re talking headstands. (What did I grow up doing after school? Wandering the mall. Depressing.)

2.    The grocery store. Mana Foods. It’s right there on the main drag, with its creaky wooden floors, commitment to all-organic-local everything, and the smiley, supertanned, slooowly-moving locals who were wearing more faded, fringed, acid-washed jean shorts than I’ve seen since said mall.

3.    The pizza To be honest, we didn’t actually eat here (we had other dinner plans, see Reason #4 below), but I just love pizza— and I love that this town has an American Flatbread Pizza. Vermont; Los Alamos, California; Paia. Who knew?


4.    Mama’s Fish House. Yeah, yeah, I know. This is not the locals hangout and wildly popular among toursits—not to mention wildly expensive—, but I don’t care. I  loved my meal (ono “caught by Alan Cadiz trolling off the cliffs near Molokai); I loved the on-the-ball service (only with-it waiters we met all week—yes, even poolside at the Ritz); I loved the Hawaii kitsch (I mean traditional Hawaiian décor); and I loved, loved, loved the way the restaurant’s open-air windows framed the picturesque, pristine beach just steps away for an after-dinner stroll.

Skip dessert at Mama's and hit Ono Gelato Company back in town, for seasonal scoops of kula strawberry or pineapple, made with local fruit—of course.

5.    The new Paia Inn. No pool, no pampering. Just five rooms and access to a little private beach. Still, next trip, I want to stay here.

By Trina Enriquez, Sunset copy editor

The Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle is hosting its last $5 Fridays event of the '08–'09 season this Friday, May 22, from 6 to 7 p.m. A dance preview orchestrated by PNB artistic director Peter Boal and put on in one of the Phelps Center's practice studios, the series features excerpts from the current program, except that dancers perform in practice gear and Boal precedes and follows up each excerpt with comments, then a Q&A. Very intimate, pretty informal, and über-cool for anyone who’s interested in the ballet but maybe a little intimidated by their lack of experience with or technical knowledge of it.

Artistic director Peter Boal and young audience members watch
PNB principal dancers Louise Nadeau and Jeffrey Stanton
at the PNB's $5 Friday Swan Lake studio rehearsal.
© Angela Sterling; photo courtesy of the Pacific Northwest Ballet.

This particular Friday's event is Director's Choice, featuring parts of Dances at a Gathering (with music by Chopin and choreography by Jerome Robbins) and After the Rain (a pas de deux choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon and set to Arvo Pärt's music). It’s a fun way to gain some insight on what goes into creating the slick, tricked-out performances onstage.

Order tix online or by phone (206/441-2424) to secure a spot in the general seating; otherwise you may nab tickets at the box office (301 Mercer St., Seattle). If you miss this $5 Friday, tune in later to the PNB's $5 Friday info page for more on the '09–'10 season.

Make a night (or a weekend) of it

Head for La Dolce Vita, about a mile away from the Phelps Center, after the show ends at 7 p.m. The cozy restaurant opens at 5 p.m., which would make it a tight squeeze for a pre-show bite, but it takes reservations until 10:30. One glance at the dinner menu will have your mouth watering: salsiccia e vongole (housemade sausage and fresh Manila clams in a tomato–white wine sauce) and tagliatelle alla Dolce Vita (fresh pasta with English peas, locally foraged spring mushrooms, pine nuts, and blue cheese), for starters. 

Photo courtesy of La Dolce Vita Ristorante Italiano.

For sleeps, look no further than the Alexis Hotel, featured in Sunset's March '09 issue. Sure, it's a little pricier than what you just spent at the ballet—but it is, as we billed it, "a downtown getaway that lets you curl up with a good book and get out exploring the city." Retrace the story and savor a weekend of culture and learning and eats and words.

Order the mushroom frittata or hot Dungeness crab on brioche
for brunch at the Alexis Hotel's Library Bistro & Bookstore Bar, and have books
within arm's reach while you wait. Photo by John Clark.