Lake Placid, New York

Snow Days Bring Comfortable Offerings at Lake Placid Lodge

The snow has started to fall up North and is slowly piling up around Lake Placid Lodge, blanketing the grounds with a pristine dusting of white. The gleaming white paths on the ski slopes gracefully careen down the mountains, weaving gingerly through the rugged terrain. Wintertime can be isolating in the city, but in real country – the Adirondacks – there is an elegant purity of the season.

Tucked into the Adirondacks, Lake Placid Lodge offers guests unparalleled luxury in one of the 19 cabins, each featuring a luxurious feather bed, piled high with down pillows, a deep soaking bathtub, and an impressive wood-burning stone fireplace. Crackling wood fire, toasting marshmallows and making s’mores, or constructing that perfect snowman- corncob pipe and all.

• Accommodations in a Lake View Cabin [19 cabins]

• Full American Breakfast, Lunch, Afternoon Tea [daily]

• Four- Course Dinner

• Evening Bonfire [Made to order s’mores]

Complimentary On-site Activities including cross country skiing, snow shoeing, hiking trails Daily Ski Passes to Whiteface Mountain or Mt. Van Hovenberg.

Lake Placid Lodge relishes the months of January and February as a time to bask in the serene natural beauty, taking pause for oneself without the hustle and bustle of city distractions.

For reservations at Lake Placid Lodge this winter, visit
www.lakeplacidlodge.com

Dana Point, California

Winter Whale Watching

Appearing Daily, Nov. through April

DANA POINT HARBOR, CA – January 2009 - Each winter, thousands of California Gray Whales leave the cold Arctic Seas and follow the coastline to the warm, calm waters of Southern California and Baja. This 5,000-mile migration brings much of the pod past Dana Point, where pods of Giant Grays can be easily seen and photographed. Many believe Dana Point is a reference “landmark” for the whales and is famous as a gathering area; they trace one of nature’s longest migratory paths.

The Gray Whale has become symbolic of the vast, mysterious and fragile marine resources of the Pacific Coast. The Gray Whale is the most accessible for human observation. During their southern migration, they tend to hug the shore. This allows for visitors to approach the whales in a peaceful manner, letting us make more intimate contact with them. Today’s whale watchers hunt with cameras and binoculars, not harpoons.

Due to the unique shape of Dana Point Harbor, it is ideally located for easy and quick access to board a boat and be in the open ocean in 5 minutes. Whale watching has, in fact, become a traditional winter activity in California. Dana Point Harbor is the official “Whale Watching Capital of the West”.

Visit our website www.danapointharbor.com

Scottsdale, Arizona

Scottsdale Area's First Ritz-Carlton Breaking Ground

The Ritz-Carlton, Paradise Valley will break ground in the bedroom community of Scottsdale in January 2009. The resort will stretch across 105 acres at the base of iconic Camelback Mountain and boast 225 rooms, 100 villas, 46 estate homes and 15 one-acre estate home sites that will be serviced and branded by The Ritz-Carlton.

Home owners will have preferred access to resort services and amenities as well as exclusive owner privileges such as private-chef service, daily housekeeping and in-home spa treatments, among others. Guests will have the luxury of enjoying high-end retail offerings at The Palmeraie, which will be adjoined to the resort and boast 112 high-end retailers including Hermès, 12 celebrity-chef driven restaurants and a proposed Edition hotel, the new boutique hotel brand by Ian Schrager and Marriott International that will be among the first to debut worldwide.

With the single-family residences, custom homes on one-acre estates, and the adjacent Palmeraie district, The Ritz-Carlton, Paradise Valley will be the first of its kind in the world. The entire community, which is a 123-acre, $2 billion development, is being developed by Scottsdale-based Five Star Development. The resort is scheduled for completion in fall or winter 2010. For more information,

visit www.rcpvluxury.com

Santa Clara, New Mexico

Santa Clara Pueblo Reopens

Puye Cliffs National Historic Landmark

The Pueblo of Santa Clara is pleased to announce that the Puye Cliffs Dwellings National Historic Landmark is now open for group tours following an eight-year closure. The expansive archaeological site opens to individual visitors in May of 2009.

This ancestral home of Santa Clara Pueblo supported 1,500 people from 1100 to 1580 A.D. An original Fred Harvey House built on site in the early 1900s to accommodate guests exploring the American Southwest will once again accommodate guests with a museum and cultural center. It is the only Harvey House on a Native American reservation.

Tour admission is $25 per person in a group of 10 or more. The tour lasts approximately 2 and 1/2 hours. Pottery making, dancing, and other culturally educational demonstrations may be arranged as well for additional fees.

www.puyecliffs.com