1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (90 page)

The Ashram, farther south toward L.A., bills itself as the “roughest, toughest, leanest, meanest” health retreat, a week-long transformative ordeal for a dozen people. Ashram alums include Oprah Winfrey and Shirley MacLaine who have suffered along with mere
mortals in days that include mandatory five-hour hikes through the Santa Monica mountains, along with yoga, meditation, and much-appreciated daily massages. Guests double up in six spartan bedrooms and share bathrooms. The payoff? Losing weight and gaining the feeling that you can do anything.

W
HERE
: Big Sur is 150 miles south of San Francisco.
E
SALEN
: Big Sur. Tel 831-667-3000;
www.esalen.org
.
Cost:
weekend workshops $655, includes meals.
T
ASSAJARA
Z
EN
M
OUNTAIN
C
ENTER
: Jamesburg. Tel 415-865-1899 (reservations) or 831-659-2229 (day-use reservations);
www.sfzc.org/tassajara
.
Cost:
cabins from $95 per person, double occupancy, includes meals; day-use passes $25.
When:
May–mid-Sept.
T
HE
A
SHRAM
: Calabasas. Tel 818-222-6900;
www.theashram.com
.
Cost:
$4,000 per person for 6 nights, all-inclusive.
B
EST TIMES
: spring and fall for weather.

A Tale of Two Spas

Escondido and Vista, California

Workaholics can disconnect from their BlackBerries and cell phones and reconnect with their minds and bodies at either of Southern California’s top spa destinations, among the best in the country. The better known
of the two is the venerable Golden Door, which set a spa gold standard with its week-long all-inclusive retreats. Established in 1958 as the first wellness destination to combine nascent American fitness concepts with European body treatments, it consistently ranks among the best anywhere and has long been a top choice for Hollywood A-listers and well-heeled denizens. Inspired by centuries-old ryokan-style Japanese inns, the oasis of rejuvenation is set on 344 decidedly Zen acres complete with Japanese meditative sand gardens, elevated wooden paths, and koi ponds. It serves a mere 40 guests, usually all women, but men take over the place during a few special weeks. Activities range from the physically healing, such as a hike at sunrise or a yoga class in an outdoor pavilion, to the guiltlessly indulgent: in-room massages, or a breakfast in bed of delicious organic cuisine. For all meals served here, many ingredients come from their own gardens and magically combine the best of health and flavor. Whatever your preferred path to a healthful new you, an unheard-of staff-to-guest ratio of four to one helps guarantee your every goal.

The Golden Door features an 11-circuit labyrinth for meditative walks.

More blatantly luxurious is the newer CalA-Vie. Its 200 acres accommodate only 24 guests and promise the same super-pampering staff-to-guest ratio as the Golden Door, not to mention spectacular views of California hills from every corner. Beautifully furnished guest cottages are adorned with 18th-century French country antiques and toile. In addition to enough spa treatments to melt the most wound-up minds and muscles, the property
promotes fitness through its new state-of-the-art fitness pavilion loaded with enough contraptions to work off a lifetime’s worth of holiday dining binges. Like the Golden Door, it has all-inclusive rates—even providing workout clothes—but Cal-A-Vie offers shorter packages for those who can’t disappear for a week at a time.

G
OLDEN
D
OOR
: 30 miles northeast of San Diego. Tel 800-424-0777 or 760-744-5777;
www.goldendoor.com
.
Cost:
$7,500 per person per week, all-inclusive.
C
AL
-A-V
IE
: 40 miles north of San Diego. Tel 866-772-4283 or 760-945-2055.
Cost:
from $3,195 for 3 nights, all-inclusive.
B
EST TIMES
: Sept–May for weather.

Healing Waters from the Earth’s Depths

California

Long before there were modern spas there were hot springs—mineral-rich waters heated by the earth’s interior and considered to have healing properties. Immersion in hot springs is one of the oldest health treatments
known to man, and Northern California is unusually rich in this natural resource. Native Americans enjoyed the hot springs here, and after them the Victorians, who built resorts around—and sometimes on top of—them.

The old-style hot springs experience can be found at Vichy Springs in Ukiah, a 150-year-old California State Historic Landmark named after the renowned spring in France. Famed for its naturally hot and carbonated “Champagne” baths, which flow into the original outdoor stone tubs, Vichy Springs has lured such legendary guests as Mark Twain and Jack London. Most of the rooms on the property are simple ranch style, but there are two rustic cottages that date from the Civil War era.

Treatments at the Osmosis Spa include an enzyme tea ritual in a meditation room overlooking Japanese gardens.

Just north of California’s wine country, Harbin Hot Springs is the birthplace of “Watsu” (short for water shiatsu), a massage that takes place in warm waist-deep water with a therapist who takes your body through a series of passive stretches that would be hard to achieve on dry land. Soak in the natural spring pools at this nonprofit retreat and workshop center, take yoga classes, or join other birthday-suited bathers as they dry off on the sunny wooden deck.

Before Napa Valley was known for its wines (see p. 833), the town of Calistoga was famous for its mud baths. Submerge yourself in a tub of dense, volcanic ash mingled with natural hot-springs water and peat moss—an experience that is either loved (spa junkies) or hated (claustrophobes beware). With modest bungalow accommodations on a property
dotted with palm and olive trees, Indian Springs is just one of the many Calistoga destinations offering mud baths. At the ultra-luxurious Calistoga Ranch, a sleek, romantic hideaway with 46 cedar-shingle guest lodges, find rejuvenation in the Bathhouse, where buttermilk baths, mud baths, and massages supplement a good long soak in hot springs outdoors.

In western Sonoma County’s hamlet of Freestone, a day spa called Osmosis offers a hard-to-find Japanese enzyme dry bath. In the Japanese garden with rock-lined paths and a koi-filled pond, a kimono-clad bath attendant will bury you in a dry “bath” of cedar chips, which seems to grow warmer during the 20-minute session. Afterward enjoy a blanket wrap during which you listen to “metamusic” designed to “align the hemispheres” of your brain. It may be Japanese-inspired, but this is California.

V
ICHY
H
OT
S
PRINGS
R
ESORT
: Ukiah. Tel 707-462-9515;
www.vichysprings.com
.
Cost:
from $165; day use of tubs and grounds from $25.
H
ARBIN
H
OT
S
PRINGS
: Middletown. Tel 707-987-2477;
www.harbin.org
.
Cost:
from $120 (off-peak), from $180 (peak); day use from $25.
I
NDIAN
S
PRINGS
: Calistoga. Tel 707-942-4913;
www.indianspringscalistoga.com
.
Cost:
from $175 (off-peak), from $215 (peak); mud baths $75.
C
ALISTOGA
R
ANCH
: Calistoga. Tel 707-254-2800,
www.calistogaranch.com
.
Cost:
lodges from $575 (off-peak), from $675 (peak); private bath $70.
O
SMOSIS
: Freestone. Tel 707-823-8231;
www.osmosis.com
.
Cost:
enzyme bath for 2 with blanket wrap, $150 (off-peak), $170 (peak).
B
EST TIMES
: spring and fall for weather.

The California Riviera

California

Just 15 miles north of central San Diego, the area loosely known as the California Riviera lures vacationers with its 17 miles of gorgeous sandy coves sheltered by dramatic cliffs. Such a stunning natural endowment is
offset by the ritzy-but-casual small town of La Jolla (“the jewel”), packed with fancy shops, restaurants, and enough resorts and accommodations to satisfy everyone from the sun worshiper to the golfer to the honeymooner.

Because La Jolla Cove is part of the La Jolla Underwater Park Ecological Reserve, no harm may be done to any plant or animal within it.

It doesn’t hurt that it’s always beach season here, with a temperate clime that’s eternally conducive to outdoor play. A stroll down the town’s main strip reveals its dual personality, where shops ask Rodeo Drive prices from a clientele clad in casual beach attire. Life centers around the coastal treasures such as La Jolla Cove, the most photographed niche of town that’s also its most popular swimming area (and also boasting a growing number of sea lions). This most coveted view is enjoyed by the Mediterranean-style La Valencia Hotel
and its bluff-top position, where guests once included Hollywood film stars of the 1930s and ’40s. The nearby University of California San Diego takes full advantage of the seaside setting as the site of the renowned Scripps Institute of Oceanography and the Birch Aquarium. Surfing is big here, and there are even all-girl surf lessons at the Surf Diva Surf School, where a two-day clinic can turn a landlubber lady into a modern-day Gidget.

Golfers around the world know La Jolla as the home of the celebrated Torrey Pines golf course, host of the PGA’s Buick Invitational each January and the 2008 U.S. Open. Past champions such as Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods have considered these links heaven, with views of the ocean from many holes. The Lodge at Torrey Pines, a Craftsman wonder overlooking the course, is a natural choice whether you’re a golfer or not (the extensive spa easily distracts golf widows). It is the ultimate base from which to explore the Torrey Pines reserve: 2,000 acres of unspoiled coastline laced with miles of hiking trails, at the hotel’s border.

Theater buffs can build a stay around the acclaimed La Jolla Playhouse—actually a compound of three separate stages—founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Mel Ferrer. Under the guidance of artistic director Des McAnuff since 1983, the Playhouse has earned an international reputation for launching productions that go on to become acclaimed Broadway hits, and won a Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater.