by Brook Wilkinson

You'll find my Iconic Itinerary of Napa Valley, California, in Conde Nast Traveler's April issue. I've laid out five days of touring that include the county's best wineries, restaurants, and hotels. What you won't find in the article are expressly "green" options for your wine country vacation (though it was a relatively green trip for me, since I live just a short drive away in San Francisco).

Where to go if you want to see the sustainable side of Napa Valley? One must-see is Ubuntu, a new restaurant in the town of Napa. Here you'll find organic vegetarian cuisine, with ingredients sourced largely from the restaurant's own biodynamic garden. One dish you absolutely must order is the signature cauliflower in a cast-iron pot -- so savory you'll wonder where they hid the meat. If you're feeling cramped from the car ride, drop in on a yoga class at the upstairs studio.

Ubuntu does have a wide selection of biodynamic labels on its wine list, but I didn't visit any such wineries during my trip. Can any of you recommend some biodynamic and/or organic wineries in Napa Valley?

Ryan and me on the Angel Island Ferry's sunset cruise, September 29, 2007.

by Brook Wilkinson

One of the best features of my new hometown of San Francisco is the bay. I can't help but grin every time I walk to the corner of my block and catch a glimpse of that royal-blue water, some days dotted with sailboats and whitecaps, others topped with a ceiling of low-hanging clouds. I'd been avoiding taking a bay cruise because they seemed so touristy. But when the online newsletter Weekend Sherpa promised that the Angel Island Ferry's sunset cruises were a secret known only by locals, I thought I'd give it a try. And once again, they steered me right.

From May to October, the ferry that usually runs between Tiburon (in Marin County, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco) and Angel Island State Park moonlights as a sunset cruiser, departing from Tiburon at 6:30 on Friday and Saturday evenings, cruising around the bay, and returning at 8:00. Passengers are allowed to bring food and drinks on board, so my boyfriend and I packed a picnic of bread and cheese, plus a bottle of wine I'd brought home from Argentina. We'd made friends with the group in front of us before we'd even gotten onto the ferry, and soon after we headed out strangers starting passing around cookies -- next time I'll know to pack for a few dozen, not just two!

The crowd was mostly local, with several families celebrating the Moon Festival with their adopted Chinese kids. The water was calm enough that the captain even took us under the bridge, a rare and lucky occurrence.

Between us all, we probably had enough rations to stay out for weeks.

I'd highly recommend the Angel Island Ferry cruise for all Bay Area visitors (yes, they welcome out-of-towners too), and here's how to do it right:

by Brook Wilkinson

Now that Beata's got you searching TV Guide for travel inspiration, how about trying the local cineplex? In our September issue, Conde Nast Traveler's movie critic, Sarah Kerr, awarded the Travies (not to be confused with Upgrade: Travel Better's Travvies, for which the Perrin Post was a finalist!) to her favorite travel films of the past year. Now it's your turn to choose yours. Mel Gibson's Mayan Mexico in Apocalypto? Brad Pitt looking only slightly more beautiful than the landscapes in Babel? Or how about Owen Wilson at a happier time with former love Kate Hudson in Hawaii on the set of You, Me and Dupree?

Vote for your favorite travel movies of the past year online. One lucky entrant will win a two-night stay (for two) at the Hotel Oceana in Santa Monica -- where you might just catch a glimpse of your favorite screen stars. The results of the poll will be published in Conde Nast Traveler 's December issue.

Me (on left) and pals Kelly and Melissa Turner aboard the Sierra Cloud catamaran on Lake Tahoe.

by Brook Wilkinson

I'm now an official San Franciscan: I spent the weekend at Lake Tahoe. Though my favorite part of the trip was the 72-mile bike ride I did around the lake early on Sunday morning, you're all probably much more interested in replicating the two hours I spent sipping chardonnay on the water. So here are the details:

Action Watersports runs sailing cruises from the beach in front of the Hyatt in Incline Village, on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe. If you show up early and say you're taking a cruise, you can enjoy the Hyatt's private sandy beach. Don't bother picking up a drink at the bar on the dock, though, because the wine and beer flow freely once you start cruising. The crew also passes out hors d'oeuvres and are happy to chat about the area:

Charlie, who works winters as a social studies teacher at a nearby school, taught me that Incline Village got its name during the era when it provided lumber for the Nevada mines. Good thing I'm not one of his students, though, because I can't remember the details.

They're also pretty easy on the eyes:

Steve Fossett speaks at the Mojave Airport Civilian Aerospace Test Center in Mojave, Calif. before his test flight in the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer, Oct. 21, 2004.
Photo:  The Associated Press/Rob Layman

by Stephan Wilkinson

TV reporters know only two things about airplanes: They all contain something mysterious called a black box and their pilots are supposed to file flight plans. So at the Nevada search-and-rescue team's press conference yesterday after the adventurer Steve Fossett failed to return from a flight over the desert north of Reno, one reporter indeed asked if Fossett's Bellanca Decathlon, a fabric-covered two-seater with a cruise speed about equal to that of a well-driven Honda Accord, had "a black box."

Uh, no. Doesn't have a toilet either. Or a drinks cart or seatback tray tables. After all, a Bellanca Decathlon, to untrained eyes, looks like a Piper Cub.

Worse, however, was that everybody from CNN's Wolf Blitzer on down raised their eyebrows and pointed out that Fossett "hadn't filed a flight plan." Ohmigod! What a daredevil! Isn't that illegal???

Hey, guess what. In 3,000 hours of flying everything from Bellanca Decathlons to business jets, I never filed a VFR flight plan either. Neither did any pilot I knew.

Let me explain . . .

"The Grand Canyon covered in snow is the sight of a lifetime," says one local, and you can see it on the way to Las Vegas.
Photo: National Park Service

by Stephan Wilkinson

Question from Lise2mn, who reads our posts on msnbc.com:

"I'm thinking of driving from Phoenix to Las Vegas on New Year's Day.  Is it a nice drive, and are the roads and highways in good condition to drive at that time of year?"

I've driven many of those roads but never during the heart of winter, so I fired up my Google Earth program and took a look at the route from stratosphere-high.  Moving the cursor directly over the highway, once the topographic satellite image is on the computer screen, gives an exact altitude readout for the cursor's position.  The most direct route (U.S. 93, the Joshua Forest Parkway) topped out at about 4,400 feet, and the other reasonable options were far lower.  So assuming there isn't a monumental blizzard that the entire West would be aware of -- and even the mountainous parts of Arizona are generally relatively dry in the winter -- snow shouldn't be a problem on those routes.

Now it gets interesting...

Kitschy Las Vegas kicks up its celeb factor. Can you dig it?

by Beata Loyfman

Could Las Vegas possibly get any hotter? But of course! Besides the shows, slots, slits, and...well, you know, the city of glitz will play host to several star-studded events this fall and winter. Here are three favorites, plus how to make the most of your Vegas vacation:

1. TMZ reports that on September 9, Palms Hotel and Casino will host the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards (or as the cool kids call them, the VMAs). The show will take over the entire resort, with performances from lobby to roof. So after a round of Texas Hold 'Em in the casino, where you might be up against celeb poker pro, Macy Gray, you'd be wise to book a room at the Red Rock Resort, an affordable Hot List oasis ten miles off the strip. Check out its Room With a View.

More reasons to hightail it to Vegas, after the jump.

What you might find on the 18th green at Pebble Beach during the annual Concours d'Elegance weekend: a 1931 Daimler drophead coupe.  What's it worth?  If you have to ask...
Photo: Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

by Stephan Wilkinson

For serious automobile enthusiasts, the biggest travel weekend of the year isn't Indy 500 time or Speed Weeks in Daytona, it's "Monterey Weekend": three mid-August days (August 17-19 this year) on the Monterey Peninsula of California where for over 50 years the most fabulous contemporary, classic, vintage, historic and antique collectible automobiles from all over the world have gathered.

Some of them are parked on the Pebble Beach Lodge golf course to be judged for best-of-show awards.  Others race in serious competition on the nearby Laguna Seca racetrack.  The investment-grade four-wheel blue chips answer to the auctioneer's hammer.  And thousands of casual, owner-driven classics from all over the country simply preen along the Peninsula roads. 

There also are classic-car auctions, automotive-art shows, California-cuisine spectaculars, automotive symposia and an Italian-cars-only gathering.  (We're not talkin' Fix-It-Again-Tony Fiats, the Concorso Italiano features only six-figure Ferraris, Maseratis, Lamborghinis and the like.)

You won't see Nascar buffoons with beer coolers, but you will see milady in her bonnet and summer silks, for this is an upscale weekend.  Read on to learn why.

Grand finale: "Trio of Miniature Housemade Gelato Cones" at John Ash in Santa Rosa, CA., July 5, 2007.

by Wendy Perrin

The results of the WHERE'S WENDY? contest have been tallied, and it should surprise nobody that the  grand prize -- a free three-night stay in a deluxe room at the J.W. Marriott Cancun Resort & Spa -- goes to Tracker1312.  Anyone who's been following our game from the start -- and, if you haven't, you can click here to replay it in its entirety --  knows that Tracker's ability to divine where on earth I am at any moment is superhuman.  Some WHERE'S WENDY? players even wondered if Tracker was hiding in my suitcase. Personally, I was most bowled over when she guessed which cruise-ship cabin I was in!  Tracker, please shoot me your address and I'll mail you your prize certificate.

The title of Runner-up goes to LoriB, who won 3 rounds and showed great sportsmanship throughout. LoriB, you get lunch or dinner with me at the restaurant of your choice. Honorable mention goes to the two players from New Zealand, Kiwiwriter and TheGlobalTraveller, who hung in there till the end, despite sleep and travel schedules that made any thought of winning virtually impossible.

Good job, everybody, and happy travels until our next contest!

The dining room at John Ash & Co., where I always dine when I'm in Sonoma County, CA.

by Wendy Perrin

Congrats to LoriB, who aced half of the final round of the WHERE'S WENDY? contest by guessing I was at John Ash, a culinary mainstay of Santa Rosa, CA.  But nobody has managed to guess what I was drinking. In other words, I finally stumped the WHERE'S WENDY? crew  --  about time, huh? -- and I did it by choosing a cocktail that is no longer on the menu!  Pictured at left is the mystery drink, should anyone care to take another stab at it.  At right: Another treat not on the regular menu: peach, plum, and apricot crisp with vanilla gelato. And, below, one of my favorite things on the menu:

The Ahi Tuna Tartare Tower, comprised of wasabi potato salad and guacamole topped with tuna and tobiko caviar, and served with wonton chips. Yum!

The view on the 4th of July from Tank Hill, a pocket-sized park in San Francisco.

by Brook Wilkinson

This year marked my first 4th of July in San Francisco, and I have to admit that I'm a bit of a fireworks junkie. (My little hometown of Cornwall, New York always put on a really impressive display.) The catch is that I hate crowds, and I'd heard that that's exactly what you'd find down by San Francisco's waterfront, where the fireworks are shot off. So I went in search of a less well-known viewing area -- and found a spot that's absolutely perfect 365 days of the year.

At Safari West near Santa Rosa, California, giraffes come right up to you . . .

. . . and may try to give you kisses.

by Wendy Perrin

Kudos to Kiwiwriter, who won yesterday's WHERE'S WENDY? round by guessing I was at Safari West, a wildlife park in Sonoma County where the kids had a blast:

Here's a close-up of the plane I landed next to yesterday, July 3, 2007.

by Wendy Perrin

Okay, folks, I'm finding this WHERE'S WENDY? contest a little frustrating:  You guys are too clever! Try as I might, I never manage to stump you.  TheGlobalTraveller and Tracker1312 both figured out where I was yesterday: The Sonoma County Airport in Windsor, California. In case you're wondering what airborne vehicle I landed in:

My husband gave me a balloon ride for my birthday. Two balloons went up at once (which helps one's photos enormously).

Look who joined in the fun:

by Wendy Perrin

I shot this picture as we were landing here this morning, July 3, 2007.

There are only 3 rounds left to the WHERE'S WENDY? contest, so it's time for me to get really tough. 

Where am I?  Please name the place, city, and state.

Doug, 3, and Charlie, 5, all geared up for a local parade, July 1, 2007.

by Wendy Perrin

I'm still in a state of astonishment that Tracker1312 managed to figure out, in fewer than 40 minutes, where I was in the last WHERE'S WENDY? round.  After a week-long business trip spent first on a ship in the Mediterranean and then driving through Spain, I'm now reunited with my husband and kids.

In the boys' wagon were 50 pounds of Tootsie Rolls (each wrapped in American-flag wrapping, naturally), which Tim helped the boys throw to the kids watching yesterday's early-July-4th parade.

Where am I?  A couple more clues:

by Wendy Perrin

I spent today among more vineyards and rolling hills.

Lunch was prosciutto and mozzarella on focaccia, with a glass of Chardonnay.

Cruise planner Leslie Fambrini and me having lunch at Osteria da Quattro in the Four Seasons Silicon Valley.

by Brook Wilkinson

When I heard that the Four Seasons had built a hotel overlooking Highway 101 here in the Bay Area, I was intrigued. Not your typical Four Seasons location, to be sure. So I took cruise expert Leslie Fambrini of Personalized Travel Consultants, a veteran of Conde Nast Traveler's annual list of the world's top travel agents, to lunch at the Four Seasons Silicon Valley last week. Yes, the hotel is smack up against the freeway. But -- surprisingly -- no, you can't hear a thing from inside.

Before lunch, Leslie and I took a tour of the hotel, which opened in January 2006. It's built in an area called Whiskey Gulch, once a run-down neighborhood of liquor stores and the like in East Palo Alto. It's a convenient enough location for business travelers taking meetings in Silicon Valley, but it's a long walk for leisure travelers wanting to see Palo Alto or the Stanford campus, 2 miles west on University Avenue.

If you end up at the Four Seasons Silicon Valley despite its strange location, be careful about which room you take. The rooms are almost all the same size, so the rates correspond to the view. The Four Seasons has done a fine job of insulating the freeway-side rooms from any noise -- it's almost eerie to look down from a room and be able to see but not hear the traffic just a few dozen feet away. Here's a view from the 3rd floor:

The City of Angels...and Demons.
Photo: David Peevers, Lonely Planet Images

By Beata Loyfman

Well, I'm back from my whirlwind Los Angeles weekend, and here's what I learned:

1. The Travelodge is a dandy and cheap base for a last minute L.A. jaunt (if you don't mind the clammy smell).

2. A car is essential in order to experience the best of L.A. gridlock.

3. Skip all the impossibly trendy restaurants where food is a distant second to the celebrity guests (who don't eat anyway).

4. Instead, check out these fun, affordable restaurants where your meal won't be interrupted by Lindsey Lohan's drunken escapades or Britney Spears' vomit:

One of my favorite discoveries is the cowboy-themed Saddle Ranch Chop House. Not only is it in a plum location on the Sunset Strip, it also has a mechanical bull primed and ready for riding.

The interior courtyard and pool of the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
Photo: Avalon Hotel

By Beata Loyfman

As you read this, I'm in sunny Los Angeles, the playground of many Celebrity Travel Intelligence victims subjects. Had I planned ahead and followed Wendy's advice on how to beat Priceline at its own game, I'd be sitting pretty in four-star digs at half the price. Unfortunately, I didn't get my act together in time, and after frantic last-minute Expedia searching, I find myself at the ultra-glamorous, star-studded...Santa Monica Travelodge. It's all champagne wishes and caviar dreams here!

Luckily, you don't have to slum it the next time you're in L.A. Turns out, this expensive city does have some great, affordable hotels without the word "lodge" in the title. Back in January, Katoakita, an L.A. local, suggested the mid-century Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills. And with good reason. With the 21-Day Advance Purchase special, one of its stylish doubles will run you $219/night. Though you won't encounter Avalon fans Lucille Ball or Mae West in the lobby, you'll definitely feel like a star lounging by the amoeba-shaped pool (don't forget your big hat and wide-rim sunglasses).

The new Chamberlain in West Hollywood is Avalon's sister property and has a similarly cool vibe -- along with the same reasonable price tag. The cabanas by the pool hark back to the era of Golden Hollywood when Bogart was king and bathing suits left something to the imagination. It's no surprise, therefore, that the Chamberlain was selected by Conde Nast Traveler as one of only three 2006 Hot List hotels in Los Angeles.   

We've saved the best for last. Check out why the Figueroa Hotel rocks our world, after the jump.

By Brook Wilkinson

Hats off to CoralsO, who used her web research skills to track my location to the United Nations Plaza in San Francisco. Since she also won the opening round, we'll have to go out for a blowout lunch next time our paths cross! Thanks also to all of you for joining me on my drive across the country -- I never would have thought that you'd figure out so easily that I was in places like Elk Horn, Iowa, Gothenburg, Nebraska, or Rawlins, Wyoming. And congrats to our main winner, Scory.

Now you're asking, what on earth was I doing driving across the country? Moving the most precious of my worldly belongings to my new home, the Bay Area. I am now a one-woman west coast bureau for Conde Nast Traveler. I'll be blogging and writing for the magazine from San Francisco (a city for which we've just published a business travel guide, in conjunction with our sister publication Portfolio) -- so welcome to the new, bicoastal edition of the Perrin Post!

The exterior of the Wilshire Crest Inn in Los Angeles (Orange St. and Crescent Heights) is as aesthetically appealing as this hotel gets. Its interior is so cheaply and drearily furnished that to post a photo of the room I slept in
would be just too embarrassing. Photo taken Jan. 27, 2007

By Wendy Perrin

As a big fan of TripAdvisor, many's the time I've read its hotel reviews, written by fellow unbiased travelers, and felt they were on target. But what to do when the critiques of a hotel you're considering are diametrically opposed?

On my two-night jaunt to L.A. last week, I stayed at L'Ermitage the first night. On the second night, I wanted to find a good cheap hotel in Beverly Hills. (People are always asking me for cheap hotels in expensive cities. I have great ones to recommend in Paris, Vienna, and any number of other pricey places, so I thought I should have one up my sleeve for Beverly Hills too.)

The typical scene outside L.A.'s Toast Bakery Cafe, on Third St. & Harper

By Wendy Perrin

The last thing I did in L.A. before heading to the airport this morning for my flight home was to eat a scrumptious breakfast at Beverly Hills hot spot Toast.  Angelenos reading this will be shocked when I say that there was NO LINE.

It seems the way to get an instant table at Toast is to show up at the decidedly unhip hour of 8 a.m. on a Saturday.

 
The Magritte and Contemporary Art exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Photo: LACMA (L.A. County Museum of Art)

By Wendy Perrin

On my flight to L.A. yesterday, I happened to share an empty middle seat in coach with Milton Esterow, the editor and publisher of ARTnews. He was on his way to L.A. to give a lecture at the Los Angeles Art Show on "How to Look at Art Without Feeling Inferior." The topic of his speech was on my mind today as I tried to make sense of the cryptic curatorial explications at LACMA's exhibition on Rene Magritte, the Belgian surrealist painter. The show's highlight, in my opinion, was the guards dressed in bowler hats, dark business suits, and red ties to look like the famous bowler-hat men of Magritte's paintings. Never before have I seen museum guards costumed to match the theme of an art exhibition!

After LACMA, I took the advice posted on this blog yesterday by L.A.-based reader Crashbpm:

"The best new restaurant here is Mozza, which Mario Batali opened with
Nancy Silverton. Great for a late lunch (it opened in December and is PACKED at night)."

 
Hot new pizzeria Mozza at Melrose and Highland, Los Angeles, Jan. 26, 2007

Crashbpm, you'll be happy to know I ate lunch there today at 2:30. First I swung by the offices of Variety and asked Dana Harris, who writes The Knife -- the restaurant blog for Variety's movie-mogul readership -- what to order. She insisted we try the bruschetta with chicken livers, pancetta, and capers; the littleneck clam pizza; the prosciutto and arugula pizza; and, for dessert, the butterscotch budino (pudding). She was right on target, as were you in recommending the restaurant. Many thanks for the excellent tip!

 
Dessert at Mozza: butterscotch budino (left) and caramel coppetta, Jan. 26, 2007

My $448-per-night room at Raffles' L'Ermitage, Beverly Hills, Jan. 25, 2007

By Wendy Perrin

If, like me and the rest of Conde Nast Traveler's staff, you're always on the look-out for free WiFi, and you liked yesterday's tip about snagging free hot spots in airports by parking yourself outside an airline's club lounge, this might interest you too: JetBlue's terminal at J.F.K. provides FREE WIRELESS, not to mention a DAY SPA . . . . 

My kids outside the Warm Puppy Cafe at the Charles M. Schulz Museum complex, Santa Rosa, California, July 2006

By Wendy Perrin

When we were in Sonoma County last summer, the kids were enchanted by the 76 one-of-a-kind Woodstock statues, each 5 feet tall and 700 pounds, standing on street corners all over Santa Rosa.  Tomorrow these Woodstocks, each given a different personality by local artists, will be auctioned off at Santa Rosa's Charles M. Schulz Museum (you know: the guy who created Snoopy and the "Peanuts" comic strip). So I thought I'd use Sunday's Woodstock Festival (which includes food, entertainment, and arts and crafts from 11:00 to 3:30) as an excuse to post more photos of the kids.

Charlie, 4, and Doug, 2, in Santa Rosa, CA., July 2006.

The Museum complex includes the Warm Puppy Cafe (where kids' meals are served in cardboard dog dishes), an indoor ice arena,  and a gift shop filled with Snoopy paraphernalia. The highlight of the Museum is a 17-by-22-foot mural composed of 3,588 Peanuts comic strips:

The kids checked out a few of the comic strips up close.

They also attended one of the Museum's cartooning workshops with Museum docent and family friend Geets Vincent.