This past weekend my three sisters and I met in Santa Barbara for our annual girls trip. I’d heard so many good things about this place and was glad to finally visit it in person. Santa Barbara is an idyllic coastal village, about an hour and a half north of Los Angeles.  It’s a postcard-perfect town, surrounded by mist covered mountains and beaches.  Most buildings have stucco and red tiled roofs with profuse landscaping, including bougainvillea.  It’s the kind of place best discovered on foot.

To encourage visitors to leave their cars at home, Santa Barbara has come up with a clever way to preserve its clean air with its “Car Free” promotion.  During 2007, several hotels, restaurants and transportation services are offering discounts to visitors looking into car free options.  The town has plenty of public and private transportation services and encourages alternatives to driving a car. One of the bargains is a 25 cent electric bus that runs in the shopping district along State Street.

The shopping district has a wonderful selection of stores, movie theaters and restaurants.  We spent many hours shopping, eating and going to the movies on State Street.  We also toured the Mission Santa Barbara, saw the panoramic views from the Courthouse tower and visited neighboring Montecito – all recommended activities. 

For lodging, the four of us stayed in a suite at the Franciscan Inn – a cute place with an ideal location - a block from the beach and two blocks from State Street.  The Inn serves a light breakfast each morning and fresh baked cookies every afternoon.  It also has a large video library with free check-out privileges. Just by mentioning the Car Free promotion we got 20% off our room rate.  Be sure to book early – rooms are reserved well in advance.

There are also lots of outdoor activities to enjoy in Santa Barbara. Walking along the beach we saw surfers heading out to the waves, people playing beach volleyball and kayakers paddling near Stearns Wharf. 

If you want to see the perfect neighborhood market go to Lazy Acres – kind of like a scaled down version of Whole Foods Market and a great place to pick up a bouquet of flowers for the room or a cake to celebrate an event (we celebrated two birthdays).

Stay tuned for Part II…

I come from a pretty large family (7 kids) so when we all get together for Thanksgiving with our spouses and children - it’s quite a gathering.  Most of the guys are golfers so they typically spend the mornings on the golf course.  If everything goes according to plan, one of the days is set aside for the girls to leave the kids behind and go shopping.  We usually spend the time free from distractions by catching up while we browse through stores, stopping to enjoy a coffee or having lunch at a café.

Here are a few of my favorite places to shop with the girls:

-  Union Square in San Francisco:  with the new Westfield Shopping Centre and its 400 stores added to the square, this is a wonderful place to spend a leisurely day of shopping.

-  Fifth Avenue in New York City:  Besides excellent shopping, the window displays are usually spectacular between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

-  Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles: I was shopping here two weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised to see how friendly the staff was in each store.

-  Pike Place Market (outdoor) and Pacific Place (indoor) in Seattle, depending on the amount of rainfall. At Pike Place Market you’ll discover an amazing selection of fresh fish, flowers, fresh produce, art, and clothing. 

-  Old Town (outdoor) or Scottsdale Fashion Square (indoor) in Scottsdale: you’ll find all the top retailers in the Scottsdale Fashion Square. Old Town by foot is a great way to experience some local flavor.

-  Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto – If you haven’t been to Max’s Opera Café, make it a must stop on your next trip to the peninsula.  This outdoor center is also known for its beautiful garden displays.

-  El Paseo in Palm Springs (CA) – This is one of the times of the year when you can actually enjoy a stroll down the Paseo, so take advantage of the cool temperatures and see all the shops you skipped before.

I just spent a few days in Los Angeles with my sister and thought I’d share the highlights of our girl trip.  We spent most of our time in the West Hollywood area – a great neighborhood with lots of restaurants, shops, and beautiful homes within walking distance. Speaking of walking…I think I wore out a pair of shoes, but it was a nice change from driving everywhere. 

Here are some of the places we went in West Hollywood that you may want to try:

- Urth Caffé on Melrose Ave (see past article).   This is one of my favorite places anywhere -  My lunch (chicken curry sandwich and banana cream pie) was delicious (everything is delicious here) and a great place for people watching. 

 - Shopping on Wilshire - very up scale clothes and furniture shops in a nice neighborhood setting.  Don’t be surprised to see Rodeo Drive like prices.  It’s fun to shop even if you can’t afford to buy a $350 white cotton blouse or a $1000 cashmere sweater.

- Tour architect Schindler’s home on Kings Road - This small 1922 home is surprisingly current in its design.

 - Dessert at Sweet Lady Jane on Melrose Ave.  This bakery/café has wonderful cakes that look as good as they taste.  We enjoyed a slice of seven layer cake and a berry filled English trifle with French press coffee.  While we were there, a steady stream of custom cakes were being picked up for private events.

 - Visit the Farmer’s Market on a Sunday morning – flowers, wonderful fruits, vegetables and rustic bread - just around the corner from Urth Caffe and a fun place to visit on a cool Sunday morning. 

- Stroll around the neighborhood to see homes with beautifully landscaped courtyards and gated entries.

Just a note to you single girls - you’ll find many attractive males in West Hollywood. However a large portion of them are interested in other guys, not girls.

We did venture outside West Hollywood to Hollywood Blvd and on impulse took a guided tour of Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Bel Air and Rodeo Drive.  The tour was really interesting (i.e. – we saw Bruce Willis’ house which is a few feet from Demi Moore’s house) and pointed out several celebrity homes and homes used in well-known movies like Gone with the Wind and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan. 

After the tour we shopped on Rodeo Drive, which was closed to motorized traffic for an evening event.  As we wandered from store to store, we saw an army of event planners – most dressed in black — prepare a stage on Rodeo Drive, set-up catering and arranged outdoor displays of shoes for the “Walk of Style” in honor of shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo. Unfortunately, we had to leave just as the celebs were arriving, but we did catch a glimpse of Tim Robbins.

On our last day, we toured the Getty Villa which is located off the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.  Although much smaller than the Getty Center, the Villa is modeled after a famous Roman villa and has some wonderful gardens and mosaics.   If you plan to go, be sure to get tickets online (free) in advance.  They offer several free tours each day – we got a lot out of the Architecture and Gardens tour.

Tour Info: All Star Showbiz Tours van across the street from Grauman’s Chinese Theater

San Francisco is one of my favorite cities.  And it’s easy to see why.  It has a spectacular setting, moderate weather, cable cars, great shopping, interesting people and fabulous restaurants.  It’s a great place for a girls-only get together. 

To help you plan your next trip to the Bay Area, here’s my top ten list of favorite things to do in and around San Francisco:

1. Walking around the Marina District and seeing Chestnut Street, Marina Green and the Palace of the Fine Arts
2. Shopping at Union Square
3. Spending a Sunday in Golden Gate Park and watching the remote control boats and visiting the Conservatory
4. Driving down Lombard Street, the world’s crookedest street
5. Taking an informal walking tour in the Pacific Heights neighborhood (near the Presidio), where you can stroll by beautiful Victorian mansions
6. Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge to the Marin Headlands overlook for a panoramic view of San Francisco Bay, the bridge and the city
7. Spending an afternoon in Mill Valley, a misty storybook-like village just across the bridge
8. Having lunch at Sam’s in Tiburon, one of the few restaurants right on the Bay
9. Shopping at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto (borders Stanford University)
10. Exploring the mansion and gardens at Filoli

Here’s a quick recap of what appeared in June:

• Where the Girls Are
• Chocolate Martinis
• Westin Kierland Resort & Spa (Scottsdale)
• Girl (Trip) Interrupted
• Mackinac Island, Michigan
• Spa Recap
• Vinotherapy
• Deals: Travel & Leisure’s Spa Week
• Stowe, Vermont
• Sharing photos? Try Flickr.
• Flip-Flop Style
• Nantucket
• Booking a Flight?
• Green Valley Resort & Spa (St. George, Utah)
• Beach Reads
• Carmel, California
• Things to do around Carmel
• Women may Benefit from Moderate Drinking
• Want to be on the Today Show?

I may be biased because my husband grew up in Stowe and we lived there in the early 90’s but it’s one of my favorite places in all of New England. Although Stowe is mainly known as a winter skiing destination, it’s also a fantastic place to visit in the summer.  The village of Stowe is located near Mount Mansfield and has a classic white steepled church and plenty of charm.  This quaint village is perfect for exploring by foot and browsing through local shops, galleries, cafes and pubs. 

For places to stay, Stowe offers a selection of inns and authentic ski lodges. One thing you won’t find is a chain hotel. (more…)

Here’s a quick recap of recent Girlaway articles:

• Sharing photos? Try Flickr.
• Flip-Flop Style
• Nantucket
• Booking a Flight?
• Getaway Now: Green Valley Resort & Spa (St. George, Utah)
• Beach Reads
• Carmel, California
• Things to do around Carmel
• Women may Benefit from Moderate Drinking
• Want to be on the Today Show?
• May Highlights

Summer is in full swing, and for me that means flip-flops are the footwear of choice.  It used to be they were worn only to the pool or beach, but nowadays they’re worn at almost every occasion – even by wedding brides (see ‘I Do’ style below).  Invented in New Zealand and modeled after the Japanese wooden sandal, flip-flop sandals now come in an amazing array of colors and styles.  For some unique sandals, one place you may want to check out is Flip-Flop Style. This shopping site has a great collection of flip-flops including styles from Reef, Mystique, ToeGoz and Girl Two Doors Down. (more…)