La Quinta Resort and Clubs desert floor setting in Palm Springs is both restful and exciting

La Quinta Resort and Club’s desert floor setting in Palm Springs is both restful and exciting

An hour or so later, after a luxurious, $20 straight razor shave and similarly-priced cigar in La Quinta’s Havana Club Lounge, I spotted world famous Australian golfer Greg Norman dining a few tables over in the resort’s lively Adobe Mexican Restaurant. A Mariachi band played near the fire while Norman, himself a winemaker, enjoyed a bottle of Caymus.

Clinton and his playing partner Norman were among the celebrities and golfers in town to compete in the old Bob Hope Desert Classic – now the Humana Challenge – on La Quinta’s scenic mountainside golf courses and the resort-owned, famed courses of PGA WEST, celebrities themselves in that many televised events, including the big money Skins Game, have been staged on them, and they are designed by the likes of star architects Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Pete Dye, Tom Weiskopf, and Norman himself. Lee Trevino’s hole-in-one on the PGA West Stadium Course’s 17^th hole – a rock encrusted island green – is unforgettable. (I only made par, but it felt like an equal accomplishment.)

Comfortable sitting areas with open fires abound in the resort

Comfortable sitting areas with open fires abound in the resort

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem was dined across the courtyard in Morgan’s in the Desert, La Quinta’s gourmet restaurant, where Jimmy Schmidt, the Detroit-based chef of Rattlesnake Club fame, who was a media darling before the Food Network, prepared perfect a perfect filet and popcorn-flavored ice cream for dessert.

I asked many of the event’s volunteer drivers for their celebrity chauffer experiences. “Kevin Costner was so mean to his personal assistant that I almost stopped the car and made him get out. She was riding along and he kept calling her a ‘stupid b—-,’” said one driver. “But Eddie Murphy made me laugh so hard I almost had to pull the car over.”

Supermodel Kathy Ireland showed off her legs by wearing a very short skirt while being driven on a shopping trip. “She insisted on sitting in the front seat. Man I was sweating!”

No sweat! You can cool your heels at a La Quinta Resort and Club and PGA WEST are a hot spot in the desert. Visit www.laquintaresort.com

Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at InviteYourself@aol.com or via www.TravelTattler.com

Former President Bill Clinton, to the right, enjoying the garden-like setting at La Quinta

Travel Tattler's Michael Patrick Shiels with Greg Norman

Sunrise from my guestroom.

A little of both, you ask? Without a tectonic compression of the Everglades and a shortening of the “Alligator Alley” highway which crosses them, the Boca Raton Resort and Club allows travelers to combine both the restful quiet of the west and the stylish sophistication of the east. This literally hidden 356-acre enclave on the Intracoastal Waterway is 20 miles from either Fort Lauderdale or Palm Beach airports and easily accessible from I-95, US 1, or A1A with a turn through a shaded gate. The resort and club only then reveals itself in an artistically breathtaking fashion. Towering palms surround a flower-ringed classical stone fountain in front of the Mediterranean-style main building, the entrance of which seems more like a royal welcome than a valet check-in.

The resort, designed in 1925, is clearly the flagship work of distinctive architect Addison Mizner, who intended the club to be the “Venice of the Atlantic,” and it is. The marina is a virtual boat show of glamorous, oceangoing watercraft and a whimsical ferry floats land lubbers to a half-mile, private beach where they can snorkel, sail, or simply sip, sun and “chaise” their cares away in a cabana.

With an array of other activities, including golf, tennis, croquet, swimming, and Spa Palazzo (a symphony of style!) all accessible by foot, one need never leave what feels like palace grounds featuring gardens, stone arches, marble floors and mosaic facades. For instance, breakfast is served in a former abbey so grand it resembles the main hall at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films. If only my stay were long enough to dine in each of the restaurants, because, like New York City (the resort even copied the Big Apple’s legendary Serendipity desert café), Boca Raton Resort has palate-tempting, varied options, including Tuscan cuisine in Lucca; Cielo’s coastal Mediterranean menu; Seagrille; and Mortimoto Sushi Bar with giant virtual fish tank.

While timeless in its’ atmosphere and ambiance, Boca Raton Resort and Club is a Waldorf Astoria Resort, meaning its stately lodging provokes a sense of luxury and presidential/world leader-quality comfort. I set my alarm to go off early in my tower guestroom each morning because I wanted to start my day by lingering in bed and watching the sun rise over the Atlantic beach from 23 stories up. Soothing and exciting, too, was the churning white wake of boats returning to the harbor below to avoid the midday rainstorm visible at sea. Vision, and history, are both evident at Boca Raton Resort and Club.

For more information, visit www.BocaResort.com

Boca Raton Resort and Club was designed to be the "Venice of the Atlantic." Its marina and architecture make it so. (Photo Credit: Harrison Shiels)

Breakfast at Hogwarts, anyone?

Michigan-based travel writer Michael Patrick Shiels may be emailed at InviteYourself@aol.com or via TravelTattler.com

We shake hands. We make eye contact. For those first moments in a new locale, my senses are heightened, just as they are when having a glass of wine with a potential new friend. I tread lightly through the streets as I would a conversation, excited, yet politely restrained. I catch a whiff of perfume at the same time I notice the jewelry. My head is turned all the while I know that there is so much more beneath the surface —so much I will never fully know.

I put on a jacket and tie my first evening in Paris before gliding out of le Warwick Hotel on Rue d’Berri. I felt the historic “City of Light” deserved my respect through proper attire on this, my opening night. Indeed, I felt as if I were in a Broadway show when, moments later, I stood in the middle of the Champs-Elysees, gazing up the avenue at the Arc de Triumph and down, through the clipped chestnut trees, glittering shops, and street-side brasseries toward the obelisk in front of the Place de la Concorde.

The Eiffel Tower, appearing delicate and bejeweled in lights, was also visible. No, one would not wish to be undressed for such an occasion!

Thus began my tradition of dressing up on the first night in a new world city: Istanbul, London, New York, Lisbon, Monte Carlo, Jerusalem, Tokyo, Beverly Hills, San Remo, Dubai, Auckland, Sydney, Toronto, Glasgow, New Orleans, Honolulu, Bangkok, Las Vegas, Seoul and Washington, D.C., … it was splendid to meet each of you!

My love affairs with many places have resulted in a mental scrapbook of priceless occurrences.

I discovered “white port” in the town center of tiny Sintra, Portugal — an insanely romantic, storybook setting in the hills below a gleaming, ornate palace tucked amid the pink rooftops. Lord Byron, in 1809, described Sintra, the summer home to the kings of Portugal, as the world’s most beautiful city. I was sure to tell her that she was, by toasting her with port, during my visits.

A representative of the Societe des Bains de Mer —essentially the Monaco tourism authority — once took me inside the stately Monte Carlo Casino a few hours before its late afternoon daily opening for a tour. A casino official brought out a rack of gaming chips so we could stage an authentic photo shoot for the magazine story I was writing, a la 007 James Bond in a white dinner jacket, at the Baccarat table.

“Was this really happening to me,” I wondered to myself. It was.

I loved sitting outside Mabel’s Lobster Claw, a simple restaurant frequented by former President George H.W. Bush, after a satiating lunch of a lobster roll and blueberry pie, in the northeastern seaboard village of Kennebunkport, Maine. My room at the nearby Cape Arundel Inn provided a picturesque view of Walker’s Point, where two first families have frolicked on Bush’s famed speedboat, “Fidelity.”

In Hua Hin, a beach town three-hours south of Bangkok that the monarch of Thailand calls home, I attended the King’s Cup Elephant Polo Matches, which the locals took very seriously. With two people onboard each pachyderm, a Mahout (sort of an “elephant whisperer) steered, motivated and calmed the gentle giants while the players, wielding 9-foot canes with mallets on the end, took whacks at the ball.

Monkeys screeched from the nearby trees or darted out to snatch banana peels from the reviewing stand rubbish bins. Hua Hin is a friendly town where you can get a beachfront massage or a bottle of whiskey, or both, if you like, for under $5 U.S.

It seemed that all of Glasgow had boarded trains and buses to come to the soccer stadium at Parkland Ground in order to see the Scottish National team take on Lithuania. Thousands of fans welled up with emotion while singing their anthem, “The Flower of Scotland,” and then, at half-time, they crooned along with the Scottish pop band “The Proclaimers” then they performed their hit “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” on the field below.

I have a “when in Rome” policy, so I had a meat pie and placed a bet on the game, both from the same window at the concession booth under the grandstand!

Was I really standing atop the landmark Sydney Harbor Bridge looking down at the white, billowing roof of the world famous Opera House only hours after taking a two-day, sleeper car train trip across the Australian Outback? A can-do, love for travel made it so.

I never expected to be in these places, or in these situations, but when it came time to leave, I did so with a bittersweet sense of melancholy. I would love to do it all over again. Of course, as in any romantic relationship, I only remanufacture the golden moments in my mind, but returning to places I have visited feels like going back in time.

If I stand in a certain, memorable, unchanged spot, I can have a nostalgic visit with the “self” I was long ago. It’s a spirit that will always linger and call me back, even if only for a moment, because, after all, there are other places in this big world with which to fall in love. Join me on the road and share your destination stories with everyone.

Travel writer Michael Patrick Shiels, a Downriver native, has been appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to serve on the Michigan Travel Commission. He may be contacted at InviteYourself.com or via TravelTattler.com

MPS in Cathedral Square in Old Havana

Havana is by no means a foodie destination, but I washed down the horse, (salty and served with beans, rice and plantains) with decent wine in an elegant atmosphere at a price tourists could easily afford but Cuban citizens could only dream of. I spoke with a young woman, a mother of one, who is employed in the communist system at a ration distribution center by day and works the streets by night. “There are two classes of people here. The government caters to the tourists, but doesn’t care about us,” she said. When I asked her if that bothered her, she answered, in Spanish, “How could it not?”

She mentioned that some of her friends would soon set sail in an escape attempt for the freedom of Florida by boat, so I inquired as to whether she planned to go, too? “No, no,” she said wide-eyed, making a biting motion with her fingernails. “Tiburon (trans: shark) chomp chomp!”

Despite the frequent “passing the hat” by musicians in every single restaurant, I never felt endangered or menaced as a tourist on the streets of Old Havana. My colleague Jason Pater, from Grand Rapids, speaks fluent Spanish and served as a capable translator, often abbreviating my adventure attempts with the line: “Mi amigo no sabe lo que esta hablando, su corazon es bueno, dejalo en Paz,” which he told me meant “My friend doesn’t know what he is saying. His heart is good. Leave him in peace.”

Cuban government penalties for disturbing visitors are severe, since tourism dollars account for 70-percent of the failing economy. Rather than displaying resentment, Cubans on the street seemed delighted to meet the rare “Americano” since, due to the U.S. trade embargo, “Yankees” without special permission are forbidden to visit Cuba or “trade with the enemy.” It is that half-century long embargo that Manuel Yepe Menendez, dictator Fidel Castro’s now retired protocol chief, blames, rather than their socialist system, for the island’s state of physical and economic disrepair. Menéndez, 75, was an original participant in the 1958 Cuban Revolution and served as a close ally to the Castro bothers and Che Guevara. He is one of the people authorized by the Cuban Government to meet with U.S. visitors.

Wreckage of the American U2 plane next to a replica of the Cuban missile which shot it down at Havana's Museum of the Revolution

“Is there anything at all about our American ideals or activities that you do admire or at least appreciate?” I asked Menendez during a long (guided) drive to a tobacco farm in the countryside. After pondering my question for a moment, he answered, “Your movies. We love your movies.”

But don’t try to find a copy of Entertainment Weekly, or any newspaper or magazine while walking the cobblestone streets, for that matter. In a land that reveres American correspondent Ernest Hemingway, (his home Finca La Vigia, overlooking Havana, is a museum, while his favorite bar, the daiquiri-inventing Floridita, boasts a life-sized statue of “Papa”) newsstands are filled with only government history books about Chez Guevara, Jose Marti, and Castro. The daily newspaper, Granma International, prints slanted propaganda stories. One local equated Granma to toilet paper – also a luxury in Cuba. Someone outside the bathroom door will sell you a few sheets of tissue on your way in, and public toilets do not have seats.

A plate for horse for dinner at El Patio, in Havana's Cathedral Square

It was also surreal to tour the Museum of the Revolution and quietly witness a ceremony during which a Cuban general presented an award to a citizen while the attendees, standing in perfect lines, shouted “Viva Fidel!” The museum featured, among other anti-U.S. exhibits, a replica of the missile the Castro regime used to shoot down an American U2 spy plane next to the burned wreckage of the aircraft. Still operating in Havana, though, are the American vintage cars: countless Buick, Oldsmobile, Chevy, Cadillac, Hudson, DeSoto, and even Edsel tail-fined beauties rolling through the streets, many touched up with house paint, and dating back to the 1920’s!

Before I boarded the flight back to Toronto, I sampled and sipped plenty of late night Mojitos, Cuba Libres, Pina Coladas and, as Fredo Corleone ordered in “Godfather II,” Banana Daquiris at The Nacional Hotel. A torpedo-sized Montecristo or Cohiba Cuban cigar, 35-dollars anywhere else and illegal in the U.S., is $5 in Havana…very affordable, for touristas, that is.

Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at InviteYourself@aol.com or via www.TravelTattler.com

Vintage American cars roll past Cuba's former Capital Dome in Havana

MPS with Cuban diplomat Manuel Yepe Menendez, dictator Fidel Castro’s now retired protocol chief

The commission helps Michigan’s travel industry grow.

“One of the key components to building a better and stronger Michigan is to continuously promote all the attractions our state has to offer, including our beautiful lakes and great landmarks,” Snyder said. “Michael Patrick Shiels is a great addition and uniquely positioned to be a great asset to the commission.”

Shiels is a travel writer and talk radio and TV host of “Michael Patrick Shiels in the Morning” on the Michigan Talk Network in Lansing. He is also the founder of TravelTattler.com. Shiels has been named the Michigan Association of Broadcasters’ “Network Radio Personality of the Year” four times. He is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers and previously served as a producer for Radio Hall of Fame inductees Dick Purtan and J.P. McCarthy.

Shiels will fill a vacancy left by the resignation of Jim Berryman and serve the remainder of a four-year term expiring Sept. 8, 2014. His appointment is subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.

Michael Patrick Shels with Gov. Rick Snyder

Disney Dream Ship

renewal…and a rush to the window to open the drapes and check out the view or climb onto the balcony. You are suddenly lord or lady of the manor, surveying your new, if temporary, domain.

I globetrot each year breathlessly checking into and visiting dozens of hotels, typically peeking at every single amenity, activity, nook and cranny. I find that there are hotels in places…and hotels which are places.

At the close of each year, I review my notes and nominate some of the properties I have experienced in order to select a “Michael Patrick Shiels Hotel of the Year Award” winner. What are my criteria for deciding? It’s not terribly scientific. It’s mainly whether I felt a tinge of pain in my tummy at the time of departure. Wondering whether I’d ever have the pleasure of returning? Knowing I just spent a few of what turned out to be some of the best days of my life in an efficient, quality place. Most of all, since time is valuable: was it memorable?

Past yearly awardees have included the Kahler International, in Rochester, MN; Grand Del Mar, near San Diego; Doonbeg Lodge and Golf Club, in County Clare, Ireland; and Captain Lord Mansion, in Kennebunkport, ME.

This year’s nominees included Vail Cascade Resort and Spa, with secluded, slope-side, lift access and fine dining in Vail, CO; Hyatt Lost Pines Resort’s western-style adventure in Austin, TX; Great House Inn in Cardiff, Wales, which has housed Prince Charles in cozy fashion; and the artistry, luxury and culinary craft of the Mediterranean village-style Pelican Hill Resort and Spa, in Newport Beach, CA.

This year’s winner is Disney Cruise Lines’ new Disney Dream.

The grand, fanciful lobby of the hotel of the year: The Disney Dream photo credit Harrison Shiels

The ship’s art deco, three-story atrium is as glamorous as any lobby in you’ll ever sweep into, immediately transporting you to the golden age of both hotels and ocean liners. You will swear you’re seeing in sepia-tone! Fourteen decks of fun (including a thrilling and fun top-deck “AquaDuck” water coaster) depart from Port Canaveral, FL on three, four and five night itineraries to Nassau and Castaway Cay – a pristine private Bahamian island. Massive, old Hollywood-style theaters provide, touching, Broadway quality shows, and Disney pirates dance on deck under an explosion of fireworks at sea.

Supervised teen-only and pre-teen or toddler clubs allow parents time away to enjoy adult-exclusive dining or sophisticated themed nightclubs, cocktail lounges, or romantic moments peering out at sea. Entertainment for all ages is constant, but so is sedate seclusion. Outside-facing staterooms have breezy, scenic balconies. For more information on how to set sail, visit www.disneycruise.disney.go.com

For a current list of special places to lodge, visit the “Recommended Hotels” section of www.TravelTattler.com

Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at InviteYourself@aol.com or via www.TravelTattler.com

Hit the trail at Hyatt's Wolfdancer Golf Club. Assistant professionals Diego Sais and Adam barron have even created a horseshoe pit on the driving range!

Everyone has heard that Austin, Texas is in love with music and musicians, most of all the state capital’s beloved resident funky folk hero Willie Nelson. But I didn’t know just how music-minded Austin was until I sat making notes for this story at Guero’s Taco Bar, in South Austin. After finishing a Lone Star longneck and awaiting a hand-shaken margarita with fresh-squeezed lime juice in the open air cantina, I put down my pen to scoop some queso dip onto a tortilla chip.

“How’d that song turn out?” a weathered man in a hat two stools down asked me in a drawl.

“Song?” I asked.

“Yeah. I saw you were writing, so I figured you must be writing a song.”

Guero’s is next to the famed Allen’s Boots, an authentic western-wear store where I found out Texas Governor Rick Perry, who is running for President, wears Lucchese brand – the Gucci of cowboy boots – which cost about $700 per-pair.

Across Congress Ave. I saw a series of shiny, chrome Airstream trailers converted to walk-up diners and decorated with neon signs, strings of lights, and colorful chalk board menus reading: fried chicken in a cone, foot-long corn dogs, pickles, cupcakes, and fried mac-n-cheese.

Those looking for a more upscale – yet still Texan – experience can head over yonder to Lambert’s Downtown Barbeque, on West Second Street, kitty corner from the theater where the Austin City Limits

Texas-style covered wagon rides, water slides, golf and spa at Lost Pines Resort. Photo Credit: Harrison Shiels

musical television show is performed. Nightly performances score Lambert’s modern, contemporary scene where gourmet dishes, such as crispy wild boar ribs, fried green tomatoes over jumbo lump crab salad, oak smoked natural beef brisket prepared with brown sugar and coffee rub, and quail stuffed with Mexican rice alongside with fried quail eggs are served with sides such as friend okra and green chili cheese grits.

There are hotels in places…and hotels that are places. Austin’s Hyatt Lost Pines Resort and Spa, 10 miles from the airport, is a destination in itself. Low-rise, ranch-style luxury lodging puts guests in the heart of Texas…with heart. I saw a little girl and her mother, who had obviously just arrived, noticing the western themed, outdoor swimming pool, waterslide, and lazy river alongside the real Colorado River. “Mom, it looks like I am really going to like this place!” the girl pronounced. She then went even more wide-eyed, as did I, when horses pulling hotel guests on a covered wagon ride galloped by! Two hulking steers, named “T-Bone” and “Rib Eye” also offer rides during special outdoor picnics.

“We describe the resort as a ‘luxurious wilderness escape,’” said Eric Claxton, director of golf at Lost Pines’ Wolfdancer Golf Club, an adventurous and natural Arthur Hills design, visible from the balconies and verandas of their guest rooms. As such, guests enjoy a “back porch on the plains” feel to their rooms. Zip-lining, river rafting, tennis, horseshoe toss, and scenic horseback riding at the Renegade Trailhead, are always available, and daily family activities, on the day I was there, included a tug of war and tractor hay rides.

Depending on your definition of post-activity reward, a spa or a saloon are equally appealing tonic for revitalization. Sheller’s Barrelhouse Bar features live music in a Texas-style setting. Spa Django was named for a Central Texas musician whose name translates to “I awaken.” The masculine, dark facility is a spa even a cowboy can admit to loving.

Pull up one of the many rocking chairs near blazing fire pits and put your boots up at Hyatt Lost Pines Resort. For more information, visit www.LostPines.Hyatt.com

Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at InviteYourself@aol.com or via www.TravelTattler.com

"Eclectic dining" on Austin's Congress Avenue

Last weekend’s “Carrier Classic” – a basketball game played under the glow of twilight on the deck of an aircraft carrier in San Diego Harbor, was a reminder that San Diego, in addition to touting itself as “America’s Finest City,” also has America’s most pleasant climate. Where else would Michigan State’s athletic director Mark Hollis even dare to dream up an outdoor basketball game against the top-ranked Tar Heels, on worldwide television, with President Barack Obama in attendance?

The teams and their fans, including Magic Johnson, headquartered near the Navy base at the historic landmark Hotel del Coronado, a timeless relic which is Southern California’s answer to Mackinac Island’s Grand Hotel. “The del” is managed by KSL Resorts, which also operates La Costa Resort and Spa, in Carlsbad, about 30-minutes up the coast along Interstate 5.

Unlike its’ bustling beachfront sister property, La Costa is a restful, fragrant enclave, encircled by mountains and hidden on 400 lush, garden acres. Its’ quiet, village setting allows guests to stroll from the main plaza through shops, restaurants, and along pathways between low-rise fresh, white, luxury villas with red, Spanish-style roofs. Why are they walking in such an unhurried manner? Probably because they’ve just peacefully emerged from what Spa Magazine has recognized as the best in Southern California.

La Costa's Reflexology Path leads to stress reduction and body bliss

If you’ve never taken advantage of resort spas (this includes you, too, gentlemen), La Costa will bring you to your senses. Infusing the abundant elements of nature, including locally-grown rosemary, lemon-thyme, strawberries and sunshine, La Costa’s spa experiences include a Bamboo Massage, Citrus Renewal, and Berry Firm Facial. Al fresco features include a waterfall shower, Jacuzzi and shaded or sun-splashed lounging areas. While children frolic on the waterslide over at the resort’s subtle, sequestered Splash Landing pool play area, adults wince, moan and purr as they walk on the smooth stones of the spa’s Reflexology Path, one of only a few in the United States. Pacific beach cobblestones, embedded in concrete in varying patterns, gently stimulate pressure points in the feet, stimulating blood flow and relieving stress. What a way to spend your time between sessions at a business conference! So precious is the experience that I saw guests walking the path in pouring rain. Linger, breathe, live. It’s sort of an extension of the home remedy that standing on a golf ball is a good hangover cure. La Costa cures a golf craving with 36 holes which have hosted significant PGA Tour and LPGA events for 40 years, allowing the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson to put up their feet after a days’ play on courses that saw celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Clint Eastwood, Bing Crosby and others kick up their heels with a round…after a round. Two-time Ryder Cup player Steve Pate, who won six times on the PGA Tour (including a victory at nearby Torrey Pines and a 1988 win at La Costa), worked with golf architects Damian Pascuzzo and Jeff Brauer to renovate what’s now called the Champions Course.

La Costa’s rare combination of convenient facilities in an appealing setting make it a dream wedding destination…and just dreamy in general.

Visit www.LaCosta.com for more details.

Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at InviteYourself@aol.com or via www.TravelTattler.com

The sight of wild horses along pristine beaches stop visitors in their tracks in the Outer Banks

It’s the Outer Banks, not outer space. Sure the charm of the slender slice of sand sticking in the sea off of North Carolina’s Atlantic shore is its’ remote location, but that doesn’t mean it takes a spaceship to get there. A 90-minute drive south from the Norfolk airport in Virginia puts you in Kitty Hawk, NC, where the Wright Brothers historic first flight lasted 13 seconds. The National Monument there is well worth the visit. For an eight-dollar fee you can visit a flight museum, climb to a scenic peak, see replica aircraft, and stand on the very spot from which Orville and Wilbur’s experiment, minus any flight attendants, first class seats, or an in-flight entertainment system, soared. If you’re so inspired, you can even try it yourself. Kitty Hawk Kites, operating from Jockey’s Ridge State Park dunes just to the south, can send you on a 20-second, low-flying guided hang glide experience at 15-feet altitude after a one-hour lesson for about $100 (www.KittyHawkKites.com).

Neighboring Kill Devils Hills was recently seen on national television welcoming another airborne visitor – Hurricane Irene. While windblown news reporters were breathlessly talking about the wind while standing in the sloshing surf, the NBC Today Show’s weatherman Al Roker sought high ground between takes in the swell Sanderling Resort and Spa (www.TheSanderling.com). The Sanderling’s guestrooms and stylish, four-bedroom rental homes are both seaside and sound-side because the piece of land on which they exist, just outside Duck, NC, is so narrow that both the ocean and the massive Currituck Sound are steps away. Spa treatments can be performed alongside the lapping waves or in treatment rooms with windows overlooking the water. Uniquely suited for weddings, Sanderling swooners can get married on the Atlantic beach and then have a sunset reception on the sound. Then…right upstairs to let the honeymoon begin in luxury!

The sound is a playground for fishermen, boaters, kayakers, and even golfers, too, since both Currituck Club and Nag’s Head Golf Links play alongside it. Kilmarlic Golf Club, over the Wright Brothers Bridge on the mainland side of the sound, has hosted the North Carolina Open. (www.PlayOBXGolf.com)

Rental homes along the beach and at The Sanderling at stylish and convenient.

Low-density rentals and an absence of high-rise hotels keep the 60-mile strand of beach and shore stretching across Currituck and Dare Counties natural and scenic. The most convenient way to be in the heart of nature is by taking a two-hour “Wild Horse Tour” adventure via Beach Jeeps of Corolla (SeeCorollaWildHorses.com). Highway 12 actually turns into a surfside, unpaved road, which allows you to follow the lead vehicle and drive a rented jeep in a convoy to Carova, a beach rental home community at the Virginia accessible only by sand streets. The homes, overlooking the shipwreck-strewn “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” share 7,500 pristine acres of dunes with not only memories of Blackbeard the pirate, but also 140 roaming wild Spanish mustangs, descendants of the horses brought from Europe centuries ago. You may rent a home or drive your own vehicle independently for a day at the beach provided it is four-wheel, not just front-wheel drive (www.ComeToOurBeach.com).

Casual dining in unique and colorful eateries such as Barefoot Bernies, Sugar Creek Seafood, and Currituck Barbeque Company offer a relief from the routine of chain restaurants, which are virtually and blissfully non-existent in the Outer Banks.

For more information, visit www.OuterBanks.org or www.VisitCurrituck.com

Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at InviteYourself@aol.com or via www.TravelTattler.com

s. But now that the party is over, has the hangover worn off? In other words, was the expensive, all consuming effort worth it?

Celtic Manor Resort's hotel sits high above the grounds and bustles with convention and wedding business

Celtic Manor has been operating its 120-million-dollar hotel since 1999, but spent 20-million dollars to custom design the “Twenty Ten” golf course for the Ryder Cup. As part of the winning Ryder Cup bid, Celtic Manor agreed to host and sponsor the European Tour’s Wales Open, and its’ 2.8 million dollar yearly purse, through 2014.

“Thanks to the publicity, we no longer have to explain to people where Wales is,” said Jane Harris, who works in media relations for the Visit Wales organization. We talked whilst I sampled a bit of Welsh Rarebit and Cardiff-brewed Brain’s Beer at the historic Great House Inn in Laleston. Wales occupies a small westerly, seaside portion of the same British Isle as England and Scotland. Celtic Manor Resort is 150 miles from London’s Heathrow Airport and 45-minutes by car from Cardiff Airport.

Is there any credence to the mysterious voice in the movie “Field of Dreams” which whispers: “If you build it, they will come,” but Celtic Manor’s overall golf bookings went up only three percent following the Ryder Cup. “The Ryder Cup did not bring more American visitors to Celtic Manor,” admits Russell Phillips, vice-president of development at the resort.

Did the dreadful weather, which almost washed out the event, scare Yanks from coming? Did the fact that the USA lost the contest contribute to American apathy?

“Perhaps all of the above,” Phillips said. “But despite our investment in promotional efforts to lure Americans, our business model does not depend on golfers from the USA. In fact, golf accounts for only 25-percent of Celtic Manor’s bookings. The hotel’s conference capabilities and size makes us unusual in the United Kingdom.”

In addition to massive ballrooms and exhibit floor space, Celtic Manor operates its three golf courses out of two expensive clubhouses scattered apart from the hotel. Officials admit if they’d been able to acquire the land needed all at one time, they would have designed and built the resort completely differently. Their next expansion will likely be an indoor water park as they turn their attention to family activities. They’ve already added a rope climbing course and stylish Adventure Golf putting course. Celtic Manor resisted the temptation to cash in on the Ryder Cup by raising the green fees. “Golf rates didn’t change before, during or after the Ryder Cup,” Phillips insists.

Celtic Manor does not plan to renew its agreement with the Wales Open after 2014, saying privately they believe smaller, more targeted, made-for-TV events will be more cost effective. Following their push to leverage the Ryder Cup, Visit Wales, according to Harris, has ended the golf promotion division and folded the sport into the general body of the organization. Golf no longer stands alone as a promotional focus, though the event’s glow remains evident. Plenty of images of professional golfers in action and Ryder Cup memorabilia adorn the walls throughout Celtic Manor, and the local cabbie in my car fondly recalls driving winning captain Colin Montgomerie, and the Ryder Cup, to the airport. “It was exciting. And I’m not even a golfer!” he says.

Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at InviteYourself@aol.com or via www.TravelTattler.com