Autumn in Arizona

McCormick Ranch Lifestyle, Fall 2012

‘Every desert October, when you begin missing the aromas of fall and the leaves’ crackling, don’t go home to New England, Montana or Oregon . . . Instead, stay home in Arizona, itself a harvest of colors and textures.’ Here are three locations in Arizona where you can enjoy the season’s symphony: In Greer, in the White Mountains, Molly Butler Lodge & Cabins, visited by Teddy Roosevelt, John Wayne and Zane Grey; just north of downtown Sedona, the Creekside Inn features Oak Creek running through its three wooded acres; and, 35 miles south of Tucson, the Tubac Golf Resort & Spa occupies the historic 1789 Otero Ranch. You’ll fall for this getaway story.

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Sisters in the Gaslamp Quarter

Arizona Foothills, August 2012

Two standout sister hotels in and just bordering the Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego’s hip dining, entertainment and shopping district, offer superb, although different, experiences for California getaways. Owned and managed by San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, the 183-room Hotel Palomar is at the northern gateway to the Quarter, while the 235-room Solamar, managed by Kimpton, is a few blocks south toward the beaches. If Hotel Palomar is urban elegant and artistic, Solamar is urban slick and coastal chic and cool, adding proximity to the hotels and restaurants, rooftop bars, cafes, boutique shops, galleries, and live-music and sports venues in the East Village, San Diego’s emerging arts and entertainment district. Check in and check it all out.

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The Siren Song of Isola Li Galli

Private Islands, Winter 2011-12

The sirenic call of Isola Li Galli is supreme personal reconstruction — not the rocky destruction offered Jason and Ulysses, returning from ancient Troy. An archipelago of five islands, just off Italy’s Amalfi Coast and southwest of Positano, Isola Li Galli was believed to be the home of the Sirens, mythological women whose haunting music enticed sailors to their deaths on the cliffs. Beauty, serenity and wonder are the life-affirming calls today: Rudolf Nureyev heard them as have Andrea Bocelli and other very-deep-pocketed guests. Be allured and sail in to this ultimate vacation getaway.

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Haunted Arizona

Gateway Magazine, September-October 2010

There’s really not just one season, and many reasons, to visit these boutique Arizona hotels, some ghosted. In Greer, the Molly Butler Lodge attracted Teddy Roosevelt, so it shouldn’t be rough riding for you. In Jerome, the Jerome Grand Hotel was built to serve the once copper-boom town, and in Prescott, the Hotel Vendome billeted silent movie star, Tom Mix. North in Williams is the Red Garter Inn, erected to attract the bordello/saloon trade more than a century ago, when what is now the Grand Canyon Railway debuted. And, at the South Rim, the El Tovar grandly celebrates its century plus, just yards from the superlative natural wonder.

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Durango: Land for All Reasons

Arizona Foothills, May-June 2008

“At the Glacier Club community north of Durango, Colo., we sit on the second-floor porch of our cliffside cabin. Above us, midsummer stars ignite, and the lights of luxury residences peek from 7,800-foot-high ridgelines. Tomorrow morning, a half-mile or so down in the valley below, we will hear the whistle – and see the steam plumes – of the day’s first train as it climbs to Silverton, the once booming mining town. . . . ” And that’s just the first stop of this trip: Tickets, please.

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