One of my best friends just returned from a whitewater rafting trip on the American River.

Well, she called it "rafting."
Her version of this adventure sport involved a case of cheap beer and a lazy float down the Lower American River—a stretch of water that's occasionally mild enough to snooze on. When I heard that she'd spent more time cracking cans of PBR than actually paddling, I couldn't help but laugh a little. My own experience on that same river had left me with some of the largest bruises of my life. And I loved every second of it.

Whenever I imagine myself on vacation (which, given my line of work, is every single day), I'm most often relaxing on a beach or sitting in front of a fire. In all cases, I’m sipping a glass of wine. So when I found out about The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay’s new Fire & Wine Butler Service, I was transported from my desk in New York City overlooking the Hudson to a cliff in Northern California overlooking the Pacific.

Traditionally, I haven’t been the most mainstream traveler. I hang back from the crowds, hunt out hole-in-the-wall diversions, and generally do what I can to skip the tourist hot-spots. Which means that after three years of living in San Francisco, the closest I've gotten to a tour group is shouldering through one on my way to work. So I’ve come up with a new travel mission: to tour San Francisco so thoroughly that I can point to Coit Tower in my sleep. And the natural starting point of such an expedition is Alcatraz Island, America's sixth most popular tourist attraction.

We here in San Francisco always groan a little when visitors rent a car. After all, Fog City is one of the few destinations in the U.S. where it's not necessary to have a car to see the sights. Why pay all that money just to leave the rental in the hotel's parking garage?

Often in the U.S. when we think about "car-free destinations," we think of big cities like New York City, Boston, and San Francisco. But what should you do if you want to go car-free and get away from the hubbub of urban life? I now have an answer for you: visit Santa Barbara.

While L.A. residents fight the smog and sit in traffic, many do not seem to know that just 24 easy miles away lies the island resort of Catalina. In contrast to the giant city that lies across the Pacific to the east, Catalina Island has always been something of an anachronism, where golf carts outnumber cars, the clocks move on “island time,” and a herd of buffalo still roams.

When people hear that I'm the manager of Travelocity's Green Hotel Directory, they often ask, What makes a green hotel green? Well, I'm glad you asked. There's a fair amount of skepticism about green certification programs and confusion about what it means to be eco-friendly. For instance, it takes a lot more than not washing the linens every day for a hotel to make it into our Directory.

That's why I thought it'd be interesting to profile one of our green hotel partners for a case study. The Portola Hotel & Spa in Monterey, California is making incredible strides on their path to going green and these measures add up to a big impact.

Travelocity’s 2010 Memorial Day Hotel Report shows summer travelers are planning on hitting the beaches in abundance this holiday, and it’s no wonder. Snowfall and cold weather set records in New York, Baltimore, Washington, D.C.  and even Miami – major feeder cities for many of the top beach destinations.  The good news is that from big-city stretches of sand to the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, the unofficial start of summer brings with it great hotel deals for travelers.

With the exception of South Florida, every one of the top ten beach destinations is showing a year-over-year decrease in Average Daily Rates (ADR) for Memorial Day, meaning travelers are actually getting a better deal this Memorial Day weekend than last -- no small thing, considering last year was the "year of the travel deal."

The last of winter’s rains are washing through the streets, but a sudden profusion of skirts and sandals says that San Francisco is ready for spring. I'm with the masses--Mother Nature needs to pick up the pace and get summery! But without the aid of a weather-controlling device, I've really only got two choices: wait out the chill, or drive south to SoCal.

It took me some time away from home to really appreciate Southern California. In fact, this has been the first year spring has really signaled an inner craving for a day on the beach. I've found myself flipping through swimwear catalogues, pricing tickets to the coast, and wondering how well those spray tans work--the whole pre-summer ritual. And every time I begin planning my escape, I start with Laguna Beach.

Today is Groundhog Day, which always seems the unofficial point at which most people take a look at Old Man Winter, shake their fists, and say, okay man, enough is enough. It’s clear to me, however, that none of those people have been to Mammoth Mountain, set in the Sierra Nevada, where the fun of winter is very much alive, embraced, and holding sway.