Valentine’s Day isn’t really known as a big travel holiday, but what’s a more romantic Valentine’s Day gift than a luxurious getaway for the two of you?  The Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills is offering up an unforgettable Valentine’s Day experience this year called Everlasting Valentine’s Day.

Couples will stay in newly-renovated luxury guest rooms, dine on a romantic breakfast for two, and sip custom Valentine’s Day cocktails like the Chocolate Covered Orange Martini or the Chocolate Covered Raspberry Martini.  Here’s the everlasting part:  the two of you will meet with Opus Oils Jitterbug Perfume Parlour perfume specialist Kedra Hart in a private suite to create your own custom-blended fragrance.   Hart will work with you to select your favorite aromas and blends, and while creating your signature scent, you will learn about the history of scent in conjunction with love rituals throughout the ages.  At the end of the experience, you’ll get to take home a 2oz Eau de Parfum spray and a travel size roll on.  Your personalized perfume formula will remain on file so that you can order refills in the future.

This sounds like a truly romantic experience for any couple, but an especially great idea for couples planning a wedding.  You can create your own wedding day perfume, or give your signature fragrance as a bridesmaid gift or wedding favor.

The Everlasting Valentine’s Day Package is available Friday, February 12, Saturday, February 13, and Sunday, February 14, starting at $535 per night.

If you want to sweeten your romantic getaway even more, sign up for the Lover’s Duet Couples Massage at the spa.  Choose either a 60-minute or 90-minute aromatherapy massage for two in a private suite, complete with rose petals and romantic music.  Couples will be given champagne elixirs infused with dark chocolate and passion fruit and special keepsake items of custom blended massage oil and bath salts.  If you’d like to bring the spa experience home, ask about the 30-minute private massage instructional session for you and your sweetie.

A romantic getaway like this will go down in history as one of your greatest Valentine’s Days of all times.  Treat each other to something spectacular this year.

When I was a kid, I went to basketball camp every summer, where I got to work one on one with some of the best players and coaches in women’s basketball at the time.  These were my celebrities and I loved getting that brief time with them at my camp each year.  I also got incredible instruction that helped me become a much better athlete.  How often do adults get opportunities like this?  I don’t think Dawn Staley is interested in helping me with my jump shots anymore, but let’s say I wanted to hone some other skill, like cooking — there’s a camp for that, and just reading about it made my mouth water.

Truffled Egg

La Toque restaurant at The Westin Verasa, Napa is one of just 12 restaurants in the world to feature a truffle menu, and for three days this January, executive chef and owner Ken Frank will open his kitchen and share his techniques with students at his Second Annual Truffle Camp.  Who says kids have all the fun — this sounds way better than basketball camp!

Truffle Camp kicks off on Sunday, January 17 with a welcome reception with Chef Frank, followed by a regional French dinner in BANK Café and Bar.  On Monday morning, students will meet at 9am in the La Toque kitchen for a three-hour hands on cooking class with Chef Frank, preparing a truffle-themed feast to eat for lunch.  In the afternoon, the group will take a field trip to Long Meadow Ranch to tour the farm and taste its products.

Chef Ken Frank

Tuesday brings a second cooking class with Chef Frank, where students will again prepare a truffle-themed lunch.  In the afternoon, you’ll meet La Toque Wine Director Scott Tracy for a private tour and barrel tasting of an exclusive winery not open to the public.  Tracy will teach the group about pairing wines with truffle cuisine.  That evening, you’ll dine on an extravagant All Truffle Dinner at La Toque, featuring Scott Tracy’s wine selections.

Truffle Camp’s last hurrah is a truffle omelet breakfast on Wednesday morning.  Is your mouth watering yet?

When you leave, you’ll be sent home with a truffle goodie bag so you can practice your new culinary skills at home.  (The only thing I ever brought home from basketball camp was sore muscles.)

The Second Annual Truffle Camp runs January 17-19, 2010, at The Westin Verasa, Napa.  The cost is $1800 per student based on single occupancy or $3000 per couple based on double occupancy.  All the meals, wine, accommodations, activities listed above, and gratuities are included in this price.  This year’s Truffle Camp is limited to 12 students, so book now if you want to go.  You can make reservations at www.WestinNapa.com.  This would be a wonderful gift for someone who loves to cook fine foods.

Truffle Camp is only three days, but Napa Valley has a lot to offer — you may want to extend your reservations to enjoy Napa’s other attractions.  The Westin Verasa, Napa is just two blocks west of Downtown Napa and very convenient to all of the Valley’s hottest attractions, like the wine train, wineries and the Oxbow Public Market.

Starting today, you can enter the lottery to get free tickets to the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in Washington, DC.

The United States Marine Corps Band and several world famous performers will provide entertainment at the event, which takes place on the Ellipse just south of the White House in our nation’s capital.  President Obama will deliver a message of peace as the National Christmas Tree and 56 smaller trees, representing each of the 50 states, five territories, and the District of Columbia, are illuminated for the first time this year.

The ticket lottery will distribute 2800 seated tickets and 7000 standing room tickets.  You can enter the lottery now through 11:59pm EST by visiting www.thenationaltree.org or calling (877) 444-6777.  Ticket winners will be notified by email or by phone and tickets will be mailed by November 15.  The National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony takes place on Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 5:00 p.m.

It’s been sixteen years since Cracker had a monster hit with the album Kerosene Hat, but this band is still making great music and putting on an incredible live show.

I saw Cracker live for the first time last night at Portland’s Aladdin Theater, and I’m already counting the days until I can see these guys again.  What an incredible show!

When they first took the stage, I thought lead singer David Lowery looked a lot like my college accounting professor.  Nerd rock can be cool, but this proved to be a hard-hitting straight up rock show.  I was on my feet dancing and rocking out for the entire set.

Cracker’s biggest hits were in the early 90′s with songs like “Get Off This,” “Low,” “Eurotrash Girl,” and “Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now),” but they’re still recording new music and enjoying commercial success on modern rock radio stations.  Their setlist is a great combination of new material and the songs that made them famous from their earlier albums.

The Aladdin is a small-ish theater — small enough that the show feels intimate, but large enough that there’s a lot of energy in the crowd, and this band can work a crowd.  It was obvious that the guys on stage were having a blast all night long, and everyone in the audience was up dancing throughout.

I would travel great distances to see Cracker again, and I give this show my most enthusiastic recommendations.  Here’s their tour schedule.  Go see this band.

I’ve been hearing great things about MerleFest ever since I transitioned from an angsty, hard rock teenager to mellow hippie in my early college years.  This year, I finally had the opportunity to check it out for myself, and from now on, MerleFest is written on my calendar in pen.

Doc Watson started this 4-day bluegrass festival in Wilkesboro, North Carolina in 1988 as a 2-day tribute to his son, the late Merle Watson.  The hope was to raise money for a  memorial garden at the local community college.  Now, Wilkes Community College is the home of one of the largest bluegrass music festivals in America, with nearly 40,000 attendees this year.

A seasoned veteran of the festival scene, I expected to have a good time at MerleFest.  I did not expect to be overwhelmed and blown away.  There are sixteen performance stages at MerleFest, which means that there are four times as many choices for entertainment at any given moment than at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, which was to date my largest festival.  There is no down time at MerleFest.  You are always missing something a lot.  Luckily, most performers make several appearances over the course of the long weekend.  I was able to catch my favorite act, the Farewell Drifters, six times this weekend.

The Farewell Drifters get things started at the beautiful Creekside Stage

One of my favorite  things about the festival was the Cabin Stage, a small stage next to the Watson Stage (the main stage), where performers would play 30-minute sets between the main acts on the Watson Stage, so there was never a break in the entertainment while waiting for bands to tear down and set up between sets.  I think this is a brilliant idea.

The Watson Stage and Cabin Stage off to the right

We were lucky to have almost perfect weather this year — warm and sunny during the day, cool and clear at night (with the exception of a brief rainstorm on Friday evening).  I can be a wimp about the sun, though, so I was pleasantly surprised to learn that several MerleFest events take place indoors, and even the port-a-john trailers were air conditioned!  We camped for the weekend at the Riverside Campground, which was comfy and convenient, with shuttles running to and from the festival site every few minutes.

A well-established festival in its 22nd year, MerleFest drew some big names in bluegrass, country, and Americana music this year.  I saw Travis Tritt, Del McCoury, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt, just to drop a few names.  Other festival favorites were Dailey & Vincent, Sam Bush, and the Waybacks.  I was at most a moderate bluegrass fan before attending this festival, but the energy radiating from every stage all weekend was enough to fully convert me.  I’m already researching tour schedules for at least half a dozen performers that I can’t wait until next MerleFest to see again.

Speaking of converting…there was one drastic difference I noticed between this southern bluegrass festival and the north-of-the-Mason-Dixon-Line folk festivals I’ve attended in the past, and that was the religious presence.  There’s a lot of overlap between bluegrass and gospel, so of course there was a lot of Jesus in the music, but also in the audience.  I was surprised to find religious tracts left on all the tables in the dining area and other public gathering spaces.  I guess I’ve just always thought of the festival scene as the domain of the Left — but I actually saw a few NRA t-shirts at MerleFest.

Still, like almost every music event I’ve ever attended, the atmosphere was one of peace, hope, and goodwill.  And there were still plenty of hippies, too.  I’d recommend MerleFest to any music fan.  If you’ve been wanting to give bluegrass a chance, this is the place to do it.

Though she’s been particularly moody so far this April, Mother Nature has, at long last, stopped smacking us around.  As the Brady kids once sang, the sunshine’s calling.  Any excuse will do to get outdoors and soak up some rays.

Schools are starting to let out and travel season is upon us.  That means the festivals have begun.  I’ll be attending an east coast festival this weekend, which you’ll get to read about next week, but if you’re on the left coast and need something to do, check out the Stockton Asparagus Festival in Stockton, California.

Why asparagus?  Well, why not?  They’re celebrating it in Stockton because it’s the premier agricultural product of the area.  Whether you’re an asparagus farmer or not, you’re also welcome to celebrate simply because asparagus is flipping delicious!

Asparagus Eating Competition

The 3-day festival begins tomorrow, April 24th, and runs through Sunday the 26th.  Attractions include two performance stages with music and dancing, a celebrity kitchen, river cruises, a deep fried asparagus eating competition with cash prizes, Tyson the Skateboarding Bulldog (wtf? not sure what Tyson has to do with asparagus, but hey, cool, a skateboarding bulldog), a 5-mile Great Spear-It Run, the Hole-In-One Golf Contest, the Spear-Its of the Valley alcohol pavilion, featuring wine, beer, and the Asapra-Mary, a recipe contest, a craft fair with over 600 booths, and plenty of kid- and family-friendly activities.  It sounds like it could be a great time even if you don’t like asparagus (but you might want to keep that to yourself).

Perhaps the coolest thing about the Asparagus Festival is that it’s a charitable fest.  Proceeds are distributed based on volunteer hours.  Last year, $461,912 was shared among 100 charities.  If you want your charity to get a cut, check out the volunteer info here.  Tickets to the festival are just $12 for adults and $7 for children, students, and senior citizens.

A few months ago, a package arrived from my mother-in-law.  It was addressed to both me and my husband, but I was home and he wasn’t, so I opened it.  Apart from the few minutes that it took to upload to my computer, the Ribbon of Highway, Endless Skyway CD’s that she sent us have lived in my car stereo ever since.

Ribbon of Highway, Endless Skyway is a 2-disc live album from the Woody Guthrie tribute tour of the same name.  The tour has been on the road sporadically for the last five years or so (and I can’t believe I didn’t know about it before my husband’s mom clued me in!), featuring a rotating cast of folk music superstars.

I haven’t seen the tour yet.  I still don’t know how or why I was unaware of its existence, but I will catch a live show, that’s for certain.  In the meantime, I enjoy the CD’s very much, and I recommend them to anyone, especially anyone embarking on a new journey.  Woody Guthrie was a wanderer, like so many great artists of his time, and his music will inspire travelers of all kinds.  If you can’t hit the road yourself, pop these tunes into your stereo and you’ll feel like you’re out there with Woody, a few bucks in your pocket, your guitar over your back, and no particular destination in mind (the way traveling was meant to be done).

The Ribbon of Highway, Endless Skyway tour is hitting the road again soon, featuring Slaid Cleaves, Jimmy LaFave, Sarah Lee Guthrie, Johnny Irion and Joel Rafael.  Find tour information and song samples here.  Between songs, a narrator reads samples from Woody Guthrie’s journals, so it’s almost as if Woody himself is on stage, introducing his own music from fifty, sixty, and seventy years ago.  If you’ve never been a folk music fan, the Ribbon of Highway tour would be a great introduction to this wonderful world.

I couldn’t give anything a higher recommendation.  If you can get to this show, do it.  Maybe I’ll see you there.  And thanks, Cindy, for the CD’s!  We are still enjoying them very much.

This weekend, Chicago will be buzzing with the Coffee Fest, a retail trade show for specialty coffee, gourmet tea, and alternative beverages.  The three-day fest is a great way for coffee retailers to stay up-to-date in this quickly growing industry, and sample all the best coffees and related products for their shops.  Educational workshops run throughout the event to help entrepreneurs make the most of their businesses.  This trade show has become a can’t-miss for anyone in the biz.

That’s all fine and good, but what caught my attention about this festival (I don’t drink coffee or tea — what kind of blogger am I?!) is the Millrock Latte Art Competition.  Forty of the world’s finest baristas will compete in front of an audience of spectators and judges to create the most artistic designs.  Their pallette?  A cup of coffee.  Using only espresso and milk, these baristas will create designs that will blow your mind.

Check out what these incredibly talented baristas can do:

These are such masterpieces — how could you possibly ruin them by actually drinking the lattes?  If you’re in Chicago this weekend, check out the event for yourself.  Similar competitions are held all over the world, too.  For example, there’s the World Latte Art Championship in Germany this June and the World Barista Championship in Atlanta in April.

Can your Starbucks counter girl do this?

2008 was my first full year as a freelancer, and thus the first full year of real travel experiences for me.  It’s amazing how much you can see and do in twelve months, and I had a real blast the whole time.  Read on for some of my favorite things from 2008, and maybe you can check them out for yourself in 2009.

Best Hotel Experience: The Pompano Beach Club in Bermuda was hands-down the nicest place I’ve ever visited.  It doesn’t hurt that it’s in Bermuda, which would be a great vacation even if you stayed in a cardboard box, but this place knows how to treat its visitors.  Breakfast and dinner were included in my stay, and I enjoyed incredible five-course meals twice each day that I was on the island.  I never bothered with any of the local restaurants because the food at the resort was so perfect.  The facilities were lovely, the staff was great, and I loved every minute there.

Best Airline: Southwest.  Again, this category’s not even close.  Southwest’s amazing airfare deals made it possible for me to travel frequently between my home in Virginia and my soon-to-be-home in Oregon.  Not only do they have the best fares, Southwest has the best policies in the airline industry.  They have fewer fees than any other major American airlines, and the things they do charge for are cheaper than what the other carriers charge.  It’s also painless to change a reservation with Southwest, whereas other airlines make you sign over all your earthly possessions just to push your flight back a few days.

Best Vacation Spot: Bermuda was fantastic, of course, but I’m not calling it the best vacation spot because it was very expensive.  Worth it, certainly, but your travel budget will go a lot farther in other places.  My favorite vacation spot in 2008 was Ashland, Oregon, which I wrote about here.  I fell in love with all of Oregon in 2008, but Ashland was my favorite stop on the tour.  It’s a small town with a hip, intellectual population, and it’s driving distance to Crater Lake, a must-see destination.

Crater Lake

Best Concert:  I see a lot of great music every year — it’s one of the main reasons I travel — but this year’s top show had to be Great Big Sea at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, Oregon.  I love my GBS albums, but their shows just bring the experience to a whole new level of euphoria.  They have so much energy, and their fans are so enthusiastic, it’s impossible to have a bad time at one of their shows.  I saw them twice in ’08, and one of my most serious New Years resolutions for 2009 is to see these guys as much as possible.  The Aladdin was a new venue for me, and I loved it.  It’s a comfy medium-sized theater without a bad seat in the house.  Trust me, I was in the back in a corner and still had a great view and a great time.

Best Gear: You know how you often don’t realize you need something until you get it, and then you wonder how you ever lived without it?  That’s how I feel about my Keen shoes.  (Read my review here.)  I’ve taken these things in rivers, oceans, up mountains, to the gym — even to a wedding, believe it or not — and they’re still good as new.  Better, in fact, because now they’re broken in.  Keens aren’t cheap, and it took me a while to talk myself into the investment, but I’m so glad I did.  These things are practically indestructable.  I want more pairs, but I don’t need them!

Best Book: It wasn’t new in 2008, but I read it in 2008 — Dry, by Augusten Burroughs.  This is a captivating memoir about getting sober.  The content is often disturbing, but always interesting and usually hilarious.  It’s a book you won’t get bored with, and it’s about the perfect length to read on a cross-country flight.  Maybe a shorter flight.  I’m a slow reader.

What were some of your favorite things in 2008?  Tell me where to go and what to do (and write about!) in 2009!

Happy New Year!

President-elect Barack Obama has something of a rock star following.  He draws huge crowds everywhere he goes, and tickets to his events are harder to get than front row seats for Hannah Montana (at least I understand Obama’s appeal).  Millions will soon descend on our nation’s capital to witness Obama’s inauguration.  Of course, only a lucky few will actually get tickets to the event, but celebrations will consume most of the city.  Obama will be officially sworn in on January 20, 2009, but there will be an entire week of Inauguration events.

If you think you want to attend, but don’t have reservations yet, you’d better hope you can find someone in DC with a guest bedroom (thanks Kerry & Jill!), because you’re not getting a hotel this late in the game.  In fact, hotels here in Charlottesville, a solid 120 miles south of Washington, are packed, too.  If you can make this trip without a car, all the better, because traffic is going to be a nightmare.

Festivities will begin on Saturday, January 17, as the Obama and Biden families travel by train to Washington, DC.  Events are planned along the way in Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore.  On Sunday the 18th, there will be an official welcoming ceremony on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.  This afternoon event will be free and open to the public.

Monday the 19th is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  Obama and Biden will spend the day honoring King at events in and around DC.  Find a schedule of MLK events in Washington here.  There will be a free youth concert at the Verizon Center on Monday night.  The event is free, but tickets are required.

Tuesday is the big day!  The main event, of course, is the Inauguration Ceremony, when Barack Obama will take his oath and become the next American President.  The Swearing-In Ceremony takes place on the steps of the US Capitol, rain or shine.  January in DC is usually cold and often wet, so dress appropriately for this outdoor event.  The ceremony actually begins at noon, but gates will open at 9, and for those without tickets who will be gathering beyond the gates, I suspect people will begin arriving very early.  There is no official dress code — make warmth your first priority.

Following the Swearing-In Ceremony, there will be an Inaugural Parade.  Tickets are not required, but the public will not be allowed to line up along the parade route before 7am.  The parade will begin at 2:30 and will proceed along Pennsylvania Ave.  Bleachers will be set up from 3rd St to 17th St.

The Presidential Inaugural Committee has planned ten official balls for the night of the Inauguration.  Tickets are required for these formal events, but there will be dozens of unofficial balls and galas throughout the city over the week of the Inauguration.  About.com has a long list of these events here.

This will not be a good week for agoraphobes in DC — record crowds are expected to turn out in support of our new President.  If you live in DC and you don’t want to be a part of this, you could make a mint by getting out of town and renting your place out to Inauguration visitors.  You can post a free ad on Craigslist to see if anyone is interested.  There are other apartment-exchange websites out there, but I can’t endorse any of them because I’ve only ever used Craigslist myself.

If you’re going to be one of the millions in DC in a few weeks, have fun!  Maybe I’ll see you there!