Weekend Getaways

Oregon’s Desert: Fossil Hunting

Travel Time:

Under 6 hours from Seattle

Distance:

355 miles from Seattle

Type:

Affordable, Road Trip, Family

The vast expanses of the John Day Fossil Beds are best accessed from the towns of Fossil and Condon. The continually studied soil is home to one of the densest concentrations of fossils of animals and plants that date as far back 40 million years. Learn about them at the education center, hike through the park, or stargaze alongside an astronomer.

Prisma Bildagentur AG / Alamy

The Ultimate Beauty Lover's Guide to Paris

How can you not feel beautiful standing next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris? (Photo: ThinkStock)

For most people, Paris evokes images of the Eiffel Tower, croissants in a Left Bank café, Notre Dame and a walk along the Seine. For me, Paris is all about indulging in facials, sniffing scented candles, and worrying about stuffing too many 3-ounce bottles of newly-purchased face cream into a one-quart transparent zip-top bag.

Read More:  Everything You Need to Know About a Trip to Paris

Paris is, indeed, a beauty lovers’ paradise, and—although you certainly can spend a couple hundred euros on a massage—all that beautifying doesn’t have to be exorbitantly expensive.  Even if your knowledge of the French language begins and ends with “bonjour,” it’s easy to come home looking gorgeous, with a cosmetic bag filled with fabulous finds.  Here are some tips on how to have a literally beautiful time in Paris:

The completely divine Embryolisse Lait Crème Concentre (Photo: Courtesy of Embryolisse Laboratories)

Think Frugally:  Some of France’s most beloved beauty products are also the cheapest. Case in point: intense moisturizers like Embryolisse Lait Crème Concentre andAvibon, the favorites of supermodels, makeup artists and beauty editors. The easiest place to find this type of product is either in a local pharmacy or Monoprix, France’s equivalent to Target.  (The branch on the Champs-Elysees has a particularly good selection, and is open late.)    Allow plenty of time to shop—since some brands offer a huge range of products—and don’t ignore labels that are available back home, like La Roche-Posay, since their French assortment is often wider (and cheaper) than what’s sold in America. 

 APOM Pour Femme (Photo: Maison Francis Kurkdjian)

Think Small: One of the best souvenirs from Paris is a so-called niche fragrance: perfume from a small producer. Take, for example, the sophisticated creations of perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, which are sold in the U.S. at stores like Neiman Marcus.  At his quintessentially French boutique near the Tuileries Garden on the Rue D’Alger, there are exclusive items (like neat paper pinwheels infused with scent) and an atmosphere that’s wonderfully un-intimidating but unquestionably chic.  Atelier Cologne and Serge Lutens have similarly welcoming and stylish boutiques in Paris.  (At all these stores, the shopping experience is nearly as pleasurable as what you buy.)  If honing in on just one brand seems too daunting, two sleek stores—Liquides in the Marais and Nose near the Places des Victoires—offer fragrances from well-curated selection of niche brands.

Read More: Where to be ‘Scene’ in Paris — the Cool Kid’s Guide

 

The wonderful and original Diptyque boutique in Paris. (Photo: Google)

Think of the Greats: Paris’s iconic beauty boutiques are iconic for a reason: there’s a sense of quality, luxury, and history you feel immediately as you walk in the door. Thegrande dame of these is Guerlain’s ornate (and, yes, gorgeous) building on the Champs-Elysees, which originally opened a century ago. The interior was recently rather majestically renovated, but the history here (from the fragrance house that made perfume for Napoleon, amongst many others) is still tangible. (There are also rooms upstairs for treatments like facials using Guerlain’s products.)  It’s got a different feel, and opened many years later, but the original Diptyque boutique on boulevard Saint-Germain is still open and thriving, and the ideal, cozy setting for its famed scented candles, perfumes, and unguents.  Similarly atmospheric: the first Parisian stores fromAnnick Goutal and L’Artisan Parfumeur are both worth a visit.

Read More: How Not to Look Like an Idiot in Paris

L’Institut Kerastase on Saint Honore (Photo: Facebook)

Think French: Even if you don’t speak the language, don’t be intimidated about booking a treatment like a blowout, which simply feels chicer in Paris than anywhere else.  These don’t have to be pricey—the Dessange chain of salons, for example, has locations throughout Paris that are reasonable—and truly make you feel like a Parisian.  To really channel your inner Catherine Deneuve, Maison de Beaute Carita on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore is a worthy splurge, as are quite a few of the city’s hotel spas (where English is typically spoken and standards are very high.)  Also of note for beautyaholics: L’Institute Kerastase, the first self-owned salon from the luxury hair care brand, newly opened on rue Saint Honore.

 

Sephora on Champs-Elysées (Photo: Cathrine Johansson/Flickr)

If you still feel limited by the language, there’s always one of the many Parisian branches of Sephora, where you can easily make your own selections from a myriad of products and silently pay, surrounded by locals, whenever you’re ready.

ealTravel: This Couple Met and Fell In Love in Paris

Yahoo Travel profiles readers who came back from a trip with the best souvenir ever — true love. Got your own story? Tweet at us with the hashtag #YahooTravelLove.

Who: Ann Dugourd (designer and co-founder Ooh! La, La! Couture, a girls’ clothing company) and Frederic Dugourd (president and founder, iMarket4U, marketing consulting services)

Where We Fell in Love: Paris

American woman found the love of her life in Paris (Photo: Thinkstock)

Relationship Status: We will celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary this year, our 21st anniversary since we met, and we have two beautiful children, Chloe and Dylan.

Why were you there?

Ann: It was 1993, and I had just graduated from Cornell University and decided to backpack around Europe with friends for several weeks. At the end of the trip, we stayed in Paris to study French at the Sorbonne. Although we had just arrived in Paris, we had been away from the U.S. for over a month. We decided to go to celebrate July 4th at Le Violon Dingue, at an American fraternity basement-style bar located behind the Pantheon in the Latin Quarter at 46 Rue Montagne Sainte Genevieve.

A night of bar hopping in Paris led to love for an American student (Photo: Thinkstock)

Related: Love on the Road: Paris

Were you looking for love?  

Fred: I was out of a serious relationship for months and started to give up finding the right person. Who would have known…?

When you first met, what did you think about each other?

Fred: It was a random chain of events. My friends and I used to hang out at the French bar up the street. Up until that day, we had never set foot in this “American bar, Le Violon Dingue.” We thought it was full of English-speaking guys and not a great place to meet girls. However, it being July 4th we decided on something new: to check it out. After a few beers, my friend Francois was chatting up the girls. Since his charm was not getting him anywhere, Francois introduced me to Annie. Despite our language barrier, we spent hours conversing about our lives with my very basic English, acting things out, and sketching out drawings.

Ann: Fred was out with a couple of friends, but he stayed at the back of the bar in the beginning of the night. His friend Francois came over to talk to us girls, but we were just laughing that he was coming on too strong. After a little while though, Fred made his way to where we were. His English was terrible and so was my beginner French. Our first conversation consisted of a lot of “Mes cheveux sont blond! (My hair is blond!)”, “Je suis Americaine! (I am American!)”, “J’ai vingt et un ans! (I am 21 years old!).” Somehow, though, we kept communicating until 2 a.m., when he kissed me goodnight by his motorcycle. He drove off, and I wondered if I would ever see him again. 

Related: The Anniversary Trip That Gave My Wife the Surprise of a Lifetime

What next?

Fred: After that night I keep coming back to Le Violon Dingue to find Annie. I went to the Sorbonne foyer looking for her. We kept seeing each other for the next few weeks until her departure back to New York. We would drive my motorcycle to dates at restaurants, bars, and cafes on rue Mouffetard, the Marais, St. Germain, the Eiffel Tower. We also drove up to Normandy/Deauville and Honfleur for a weekend, before I drove her back to the airport for what we thought was going to be a final goodbye.

Fred and Ann’s relationship flourished during dates here on Rue Mouffetard (Photo: Fabrice Clerc/Flickr)

Related: The Ultimate Beauty Lover’s Guide to Paris

What happened after that trip? 

Fred: Two weeks after Annie returned to the U.S., I decided to cancel vacation plans with my buddies to Corsica. Instead, I bought a round-trip ticket to New York, where I spent the rest of my vacation with a person I knew was worth the extra-long distance relationship.

Lots of flights and phone calls kept Fred and Ann together during their long-distance phase (Photo: Thinkstock)

Ann: We felt if we wanted to make it work, we could make it work. Fred came to visit me in New York two weeks after I finished my studies. We called each other regularly and each worked on our French and English respectively. I took classes at the Alliance Francaise and Fred took an English class at Columbia University. We traveled back and forth over the year until Fred received a work visa to live in New York. He proposed to me on the spot in front of Le Violon Dingue where we first kissed, and on June 23rd, 1996 we were married. 

Related: How to Do Paris With Kids

The Dugourd family on a recent trip to Paris.

Chicago vs. New York City

Each week, Yahoo Travel pits rival destinations against each other to determine once and for all which one is the best. Up this week are two US rivals: Chicago and New York City.

The Case for Chicago

by Bill Fink

Chicago has long been called the “Second City,” with a smaller population than insufferably packed New York City. But Chicago is first where it matters: quality of life for residents and visitors alike. This may come as a shock to New Yorkers, but it is possible to live in a big city and still be friendly. Chicago welcomes tourists with free city guides. In New York, they’ll knock you down if you hold hands or stop to take a picture.

Chicago is a city of firsts: It built the first skyscraper in the world, precursor to its stunning lakefront skyline; it raised the first Ferris wheel, the inspiration for the current ride on Navy Pier; it chewed the first Juicy Fruit gum, bringing us the city’s iconic Wrigley Building (and Wrigley Field!). Chicago has world-class art, architecture, dining, shopping, music, sports, really everything that New York has, but without the excessive cost and attitude. 

Related: Cheat Sheet: Chicago

The descendant of the world’s first Ferris wheel: Navy Pier Ferris Wheel (Photo: Thinkstock)

New York City’s myopic, self-absorbed viewpoint is best seen in the famous New Yorker magazine cover created to compensate for its citizens’ miserable quality of life. Bad news for New Yorkers: Unless you’re a billionaire hedge-fund manager, you’re living in an unaffordable, closet-size apartment, scurrying to work on packed streets like rats in a maze. Bad news for visitors: New York is full of New Yorkers. New York City is basically the A-Rod of cities: overpriced, overhyped, in love with itself, hostile to others, eventually to be proved a sham. Chicago is your logical first choice.  

Population: About 2.7 million in the city of Chicago, 9.5 million in the greater metro area

Exploring South Philadelphia

(Photo: Getty Images)

Put away the brewery tour boots and expectations of tank ogling. Philly is a city where beer drinking happens in world-class bars, some of which are intimately connected to the vast international world of beer. The city has long appreciated Belgian beer styles and boasts its own rich history of lager brewing (Victory, anyone?). These days, it seems like every town is putting on a beer week, but the Philly Beer Weekstarting May 30, 2014, is one of the pioneers and does it right. The defining 10 days are packed with more than 1,000 events, from beer dinners to tap takeovers.

Best Brews, Breweries, and Bars

Worship at the altar of fine Belgian brews at Monk’s Cafe, an unparalleled beer bar when it comes to draft imports. For the patriotic, domestic beers come from places like Russian River and Allagash, plus there’s a mind-blowing bottle list to pair with mussels and frites. Marc Vetri’s Alla Spina, which means “from the tap” in Italian, has a deep tap list with an Italian focus, plus beer cocktails and, for dessert, beer floats. Try the exclusive Alla Spina Novello blonde ale by Victory Brewing. Continuing the global theme, the German-styled Brauhaus Schmit carries rare German beers, which dominate the 30 taps.

The sleek new Tria Taproom has no official national allegiance, which produces an alluring mix of Belgian, German, and American beers on tap. Peruse the list and order using one of the taproom’s iPads.

Hotels with the World’s Best Views

(Photo: courtesy St. Regis Bora Bora)

Author E.M. Forster knew the value of a room with a view; he used the phrase to name one of his most beloved novels. Here are some hotels with views so special that you’ll have a hard time dragging yourself out the door.

St. Regis Bora Bora

People tend to use the shorthand “Tahiti” when referring to French Polynesia, a vast scattering of islands that covers a nearly a million square miles of the South Pacific. Some of French Polynesia’s island chains barely break the surface of the water, but the Society Islands are mountainous, with stunning Bora Bora containing the famed double peaks of Mt. Otemanu and Mt. Pahia. Mainland Bora Bora is ringed with islands, called motu, and one of the most luxurious motu resorts—positioned for maximum vistas of the lagoon and the pair of mountains—is the St. Regis Bora Bora. Overwater villas, some with their own (decadently redundant) overwater pools, boast enchanting Otemanu views.

(Photo: courtesy Shangri-La Paris)

Shangri-La, Paris

My best Eiffel Tower-from-the-room experience occurred at the venerable Hôtel Plaza Athénée, when I stayed in an art deco suite with a view of Paris’ tallest landmark from the glass-tiled bathtub. But with the Plaza closed for a major expansion until May 2014, view seekers should make note of the Shangri-La. Although the Plaza was where Carrie ran into “Mr. Big” during the final episode of “Sex and the City,” but the Shangri-La is no slouch is the fame department: It was the former home of Napoleon Bonaparte’s grandnephew, and its interiors are the vision of Pierre-Yves Rochon, the king of luxury hotel design. You can enjoy BVLGARI White Tea toiletries while taking in the Eiffel Tower view from one of the Shangri-La’s soaking tubs.

(Photo: Drew Limsky)

Mandarin Oriental, New York City

When I first came to New York, Columbus Circle was an oddity: The household-name landmark rests fabulously on the southwest entrance of Central Park, and yet it was plainly in disrepair. The buildings that flanked it were roundly dismissed, even mocked. When plans for the Time Warner Center were announced, and people contemplated a shopping center—a mall!—in Manhattan, locals were dubious. But the glittering edifice has glamorized the location, and the Mandarin Oriental, which occupies the upper floors of the north tower, has been a big part of that renewal. Its exclusive sky lobby, Asiate restaurant and richly textured rooms seem to float above Central Park, offering some of the city’s best views of the park’s trees and trails.

(Photo: courtesy Hotel Palazzo Manfredi)

Hotel Palazzo Manfredi, Rome

One of the most thrilling things about the Eternal City is how accessible the ruins are. You walk down a street, and suddenly you come upon one of the world’s most iconic sights. This is especially true of the nearly 2,000-year-old Colosseum, which rises from a low-slung neighborhood and is encircled by a greenbelt. Just a few blocks away, the Palazzo Manfredi, an elegant boutique hotel, offers great Colosseum views both from its rooms and from Aroma, the hotel’s magical rooftop restaurant. Between the hotel and the Colosseum on Via Labicana are the ruins of gladiators’ barracks—and the city’s so-called Gay Street, lined with bistros and bars.

(Photo: Drew Limsky)

Jade Mountain, St. Lucia

I’ve been to St. Lucia several times, and to me, there’s no point to going unless you hole up in the area of the Pitons, the twin “volcanic plugs” that attest to the island’s geologically violent beginnings. Several resorts lay claim to fantastic locations that overlook either Gros Piton or Petit Piton, but only Anse Chastanet and its more luxe sister property, Jade Mountain, offer awe-inspiring views of both Pitons side by side. The guest rooms of the two resorts have done away with one wall to maximize the panoramas, and Jade Mountain’s rooms have enviable private infinity pools that (when you stand in the right place) reflect the peaks, doubling the double vision.

(Photo: courtesy Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel)

Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel

One of the more surprising things about pulchritudinous Southern California is how few resorts capture the area’s coastal majesty. But the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, which is actually located in Dana Point due south of Laguna Beach, makes the most of its commanding view atop a 150-foot cliff. The altitude allows for serpentine walkways, grand terraces and subtropical gardens descending from the building to the beach, an especially popular break for Orange County’s surfers. There are even terraced lawns ringed with Adirondack chairs for quiet contemplation of the rolling Pacific waves. New fireplace guest rooms boast sweeping views of the coves below, and when I stayed on the top floor, I had an endless all-water vista framed by palm trees.

(Photo: Navin Rajagopalan / Flickr)

Gritti Palace, Venice

A setting on the Grand Canal would be coveted by any Venice hotelier, but the Gritti Palace, which reopened last May after a $55 million renovation, bests all competitors. I was present during the early stages of the renovation, and I got to watch craftsmen shape and paint the guestrooms’ ornate new moldings so the hotel could once again live up to its lineage as Doge Andrea Gritti’s 16th-century residence. Now the interiors equal the hotel’s peerless view of the gorgeously domed Basilica Santa Maria della Salute, in Dorsoduro across the Grand Canal. Of course the Presidential Suite commands the front and center of the palace, but note that the corner rooms overlook two canals—so it’s gondolas galore

What to Do and Where to Eat Near the Colosseum in Rome

(Photo: Bert Kaufmann / Flickr)

We asked true travel pros what to do near the Colosseum in Rome:

“Order the salmon tagliolini at the Hotel Forum (25-30 Via Tor de’ Conti.).” —@hithapalepu

“Have an aperitif in the top-floor restaurant at Hotel Palazzo Manfredi at sunset, looking over the ruins of ancient passageways.” —Katherine Pisana, via Facebook

“The Basilica of San Clemente (Via di San Giovanni in Laterano) is more than a church—it’s a fascinating voyage below ground and back in time.” —@walksofitaly

“Home goods store Logical Space Design (27 Via dei Santi Quattro) is filled with must-buy pieces.” —@brett_hughes

“Pay two euros to the silent order of nuns at Monastero dei Santi Quattro Coronati (20 Via dei Santi Quattro) to see 13th-century frescoes in the Chapel of St. Sylvester.” —@understandrome