Vacation rentals: How to make your summer vacation rental feel like home - chicagotribune.com

Vacation rentals: How to make your summer vacation rental feel like home - chicagotribune.com

On Location: A Tiny Victorian Cottage

Home & Garden, NY Times

Published: June 23, 2010
A cottage in the Catskills that she renovated herself fulfills a dream for a woman who was once homeless. See photos

You know how I love a retreat!  Small is the new big.

Photos by Trevor Tondro for the New York Times

KNAU:The Latest Info on the Fires in Northern Arizona

KNAU: Infared Cameras Used to Map the Schultz Fire (2010-06-22)

Where Are The Red Hot Rate Specials?

The healthy vacation rental homes in Florida are either empty from the oil spill on the west coast or booked from the overflow to the east coast. Discounts don't solve either challenge.

Rental restrictions on vacation homes and holiday rentals in Sedona, AZ means the only deals you're likely to find require a 30 day stay. If you can afford to take a month off, you probably don't need a rate special!

My current favorite site for good prices on vacation rentals is FlipKey.com With airline prices rising, I'd grab the lowest rate. In these times, it may be more important to look for a home that isn't in foreclosure than it is to get a rate special.

The Chemical Cocktail: Causing Obesity in the US?

According an increasing number of researchers, including UC Irvine biologist Bruce Blumberg who coined the term "obesogens," identifiable industrial pollutants are contributing to the obesity epidemic. How much so is still unknown, but preliminary research is disturbing. Read more: http://healthychild.org/blog/comments/the_chemical_cocktail_making_americans_overweight/#ixzz0r3RNB3g7

Summer Red Hot Rate Specials: Vacation Rentals for Deepak and Gulf Coast Vacationers

Affordable Resort Condo for Deepak Chopra Sedona Meditation Event Aug 21-28, 2010. Hyatt Pinon Pointe only $1000. 2/2 sleeps six, 1,200 SF.  Full kitchen, all amenities of the resort, mini kitchen. Studio can be locked off for privacy. Call 928-203-9197

Don't let the oil spills ruin your vacation. Check out St. Augustine, Florida May 15-30 only $499 a week. Mention you saw the Red Hot Rate Special and save $200.  Call 410-562-2281.

Road Trip To Your Beach Vacation Rental? Skip BP at the Pumps

I was out driving/just a taking it slow
Looked at my tank/it was reading low
Pulled in an Exxon station out on Highway One
Held up without a gun

"Is BP the Goldman Sachs of Big Oil?" asks physicist, Joseph Romm. "Let's see: How about a spotty safety record, insistence on voluntary 'trust me' self-regulation, a drilling plan that ignored key risks, and failure to use best shut-off technology to save a few bucks?"  Read more at Climate Progress.

Arizona's Strategy for Attracting Tourism: Increase Hotel Taxes, Allow Concealed Weapons, and Racial Profiling

If increasing taxes on travelers and bad publicity from sweat lodge deaths or yogis fighting with rednecks isn't enough to hurt the hospitality industry in Arizona,  the safety of vacationing in the Yosemite Sam-like state is again called into question with the passage of Senate Bill 1070.

Unless the law is proven to be unconstitutional, police will have the right to stop you based on the color of your skin as you go into the Phoenix Convention Center or enter a Sedona spa.

Not even the Phoenix mayor, Phil Gordon can support the bill.  He writes today in the Washington Post, "Not In My State: Anti-Immigration Law Doesn't Reflect the Beliefs of People in My State."  And if that's not fantastic enough, consider these top stories before vacationing in Arizona.

1.  Sweat lodge deaths at Angel Valley Retreat Center, Sedona, AZ and subsequent arrest of new age guru, James Ray.

2.  The fight over a statue between Catholics and yogis at a retreat center Rolling Stone calls a cult.  Watch a video on the Verde Independent of "Mother Earth" being removed from her home in the Mago Peace Garden.

3. No permit needed in Arizona to carry a concealed weapon.  Maybe your tour guide will have a pistol on him in case an illegal Canadian shows up to carry your bags, clean your room, or park your car.

Show What You Know about Climate Change & Help Haitians

What do you know about climate change and what can you do about it?
To find out, test your knowledge about climate change by taking the Clinton Foundation's climate quiz today.

Plus, when you take THE Climate Quiz, $2 will be donated toward the purchase of solar flashlights for Haitians living in camps, providing them with energy-efficient light and helping to enhance security.


Take the climate quiz -- and take initiative for the people of Haiti.

If 100,000 people to take this quiz, 20,000 solar, energy-efficient flashlights will be sent to Haitians displaced from their homes by the devastating January earthquake.

Just by taking this quiz, you can take a small but important step towards fighting climate change and improving people's lives.

Will you take the quiz today?

March Vacation Rental Deals

As home prices hit bottom, it is a good time to find a vacation home at a reasonable price. This eco conscious retreat in Idaho is available for rent until August 2010 and is also for sale.
Contact owner CONNIE CHESNEL constancia at cox.net or  208-721-2774.

Latest State of the Birds Reveals Impacts of Climate Change on Birds

Photo by Fran Palmeri

Friday, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar released the 2010 State of the Birds Report, showing that climate change will have an increasing impact on birds and their habitat. Read more at Audubon...

Florida Pubic Enemy: Police Say Woman Crashes Car While Shaving Her Privates - ABC News

Distracted Driver: Police Say Woman Crashes Car While Shaving Her Privates - ABC News
I'm not making this up!

Florida Renewable Energy Experiment

The otters and wild pigs near my old stomping grounds of Delray Beach, FL have become an experiment for a local utility. Florida Power and Light is grafting gas with solar on 500 acres north of West Palm Beach, Fl. Read more at the NY Times.

How to Save Money on Your Sedona Vacation

Spring fling, honeymoon, and summer vacation season is upon us. If you're heading for Sedona, check out a few ways to keep those rapidly inflating dollars in your wallet.

- Save on Rental Cars. Flying into Phoenix? Rent a car offsite instead of at the airport and save up to $390 a week on airport fees. You can cut out the additional taxes and fees for renting at the airport. Look for an offsite rental car location offering airport shuttle pickup or take a cab.

Traveling solo? Take a shuttle to Sedona and hoof it for a few days. When you're ready to go see Jerome, "the mile high town," or hike West Fork, go rent a car at Enterprise. You can walk to it from the vacation rental, Casita Colibri. Or have Airport Rental Car bring a wreck to your door--no extra charge. Just don't tell them I called their inexpensive cars wrecks.

- Save on Food. Frugal Sedona locals save by stocking up on groceries in Phoenix. Prices go up along with the altitude in Sedona. Health food stores can be expensive and rely on tourists paying a premium for food in the mountains. Two options cost-saving ideas for groceries:

1. After you leave the airport, stop at Costco, Sam's Club, or Trader Joe’s to stock up on food for your trip.

2. Shop the Sedona Safeway--it carries the least expensive organic food in town. Not as inexpensive as Phoenix organic, but still less than the boutiques. But if locally owned stores are your thing, you will want to go to the health food stores. Arizona companies own them, not national corporate chains.

- Eat out for lunch instead of dinner. Some restaurants offer the dinner entrées at lunchtime for a third of the price. Smaller portions in some cases, but not all. Avoid Uptown and stick with places that offer value.

- Bring a bottle for water and travel coffee mug and save on $2 and $5 hits as you're out exploring. You’ll also avoid adding more plastic to the landfills. Trick is, you have to remember to take it with you. Mine is usually still on the kitchen counter when I remember to use it.

- Avoid Tourist Traps. Jeep tours, vortex tours and other canned experiences can be pricey, crowded and commercial. Most of the same information is available elsewhere for free. Like right on this blog. Check out self-guided tours online, in the coffee shops and at the library. Seriously, try asking locals in the coffee shops about vortexes--most will tell you the spots to see for free. Many were former tour guides and other characters just enjoy sharing their love of the Red Rocks.

If going off-road is your thing or you don’t have a car you will want to take a tour. But there’s not much you can see on the mainstream, jeep tours that you can’t see on your own with a good guide book. Most hotels and vacation rentals have libraries with guide books and other information about local history and nature. The Sedona Library has an extensive collection of books about the local area and even a few good DVDs.

- Have to have tours and treatments? Well, it is your vacation so who says splurging on reiki or spa treatments has to go? It may not have to cost you big bucks. Ask the practitioner to barter or do a swap. Consider a home swap or trade from your online SwapTree inventory.

Related posts: 51 Free Or Eco Cheap Things To Do Around Sedona
Sedona Hiking Information

Healthy Home, Healthy Vacation: What's Your Eco IQ?

Take this eco-quiz and see how well you're caring for yourself and your loved ones, including Mother Earth. From Dana Mayer's column, The Green Scene in Four Corners Magazine. PDF file available online, beautiful hard copy available for free at select locations in Sedona and Scottsdale, AZ.

Win a Dream Vacation

Or just have a good laugh at Chevy Chase naked on family vacation--again. This time the nudity and nuttiness is brought to you by the vacation rental site, HomeAway.com. The mini film aired during the Superbowl to promote the HomeAway contest about horrible hotel experiences.

You can enter by sharing a story about a horrible hotel experience, either in text or video. Then pick the vacation rental where you'd rather stay--maybe Riverview, St. Augustine?

Or you can just vote for your favorite story March 2-9.

The Top Reason to Book Your Vacation Rental Now

Boy, it was a good thing that guy had his wiper blades up--I'm sure it made a big difference.

Photo by Ani Mayer, DC Blizzard Feb 2010

Sweet Eco Dreams

An Inn Is an Oasis From Environmental Affronts
By SARA RIMER
Published: February 5, 2010
The Topia Inn in the Berkshires is a laboratory of sustainability with an artsy vibe.
http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/travel/escapes/05greeninn.html

Florida Vacation Rental Rate Special

St. Augustine, FL January 20-30 $799 includes taxes and cleaning. See www.ecosmartvacationrentals or email Dana.

Copenhagan or Cop Out?

My eco-fatigue increases when I read the recent contradictory news about environmental consciousness, climate change, and global warming. But with the solstice, the light is returning along with my awareness of embodied wisdom all around me--from this Great Horned Owl near my Arizona home, to appreciative guests sending gifts and encouragement.

For 30,000 years humans have marked this time of year in connection with the earth. I celebrate this year by remembering that transformation does not happen because we will it or work for it, it is deeper than an idea or memorized words. Transformation is deep learning, not memorizing. It is enacted leading, not talking.

"It comes gratuitously when we clear the passageways between our minds and hearts, when we trust and act upon our bodies' messages, and when we master the art of transcending duality, which simply means that instead of resisting what appears to be "other" we embrace it, bring it into ourselves, and see what transpires when the poles unite." --Jan Phillips, The Art of Original Thinking.

Happy Holidays!

Photo by Dana G. Mayer.