The Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa, California is a little like the wine they produce and sell. You don’t know how good it is until you try it! The 2008 Trinitas Zinfandel they graciously give each guest was outstanding, as was our stay at this very special resort.

While the fashion crowd went from studio-to-studio, we went from hotel-to-hotel, moving from one to the next to accommodate each hotel’s prior reservations. Our “hotel hopping” proved to be more fun than trouble, and the beautiful weather and close proximity made our moves easy. It was also economical and healthy; saving on cabs and walking all around the city helped us burn off the accumulated calories of too many desserts at New York’s finest restaurants, bakeries, and coffee houses.

Prominently located on Lake Conroe, approximately 60 miles north of Houston and 140 miles from Austin, La Torretta dwarfs all other hostelries in the area. Entering from the highway is a long driveway, taking you past the golf course, specialty villas, the spa, water park, conference center and Chez Roux to the hotel’s modern entryway.

We had heard about the Saddle Peak Lodge for years, but in more than two decades of living in Los Angeles, we’d never been there. So on our way back from Santa Barbara one recent weekend, it felt like the perfect time to stop and enjoy what promised to be a truly unusual dining experience at this beautiful, rustic dining haven, nestled in the hills above Malibu.