Howl at the Moon

Image – Blake Marvin

The Half Moon Bay Golf Links are home to a stately, luxurious Ritz hotel overlooking the roaring Pacific Ocean, and two courses—most notably the newly retooled, links-style Ocean Course, which winds along the stunning coastal bluffs 40 miles south of San Fran. The best part? It’s public, so anyone can play it.
www.halfmoonbaygolf.com

MEXICAN DREAM

You’ll find 22 acres of lush plants, waving palms and pure luxury at the brand new St. Regis Punta de Mita, built on the tip of a secluded peninsula. It’s just 20 miles from the Puerto Vallarta airport, five miles from the funky surfing town of Sayulita, and—after some tennis on one of its grass courts and a rubdown at the Remede Spa—as close to bliss as you can get.
www.starwoodhotels.com/stregis

CHEERS!

Raise a glass to Earth Day with VeeV Açai Spirits. Their Treetini program kicks off on April 22 at venues including Abe & Arthur’s in New York, Eve in Chicago, Shanghai 1930 in San Francisco, Blue Velvet in Los Angeles and Bar Louie in Las Vegas. Each location will create its own cocktails with VeeV, and the proceeds will go to planting trees—10,000 this month. That’s an idea we can drink to.
www.treetini.com

STORY TIME

The days of the family piling into the station wagon for vacation may seem long gone—it’s so easy now to hop on a plane—but we think the stories those old trips resulted in are timeless. NPR agrees. The NPR Road Trips: Family Vacation audiobook, which is being released this month, will inspire nostalgia and, possibly, some serious wanderlust.
www.highbridgeaudio.com

SHOWTIME AT THE APOLLO

You can’t go back in time to see Ella Fitzgerald’s debut during amateur night at New York City’s Apollo Theater, nor can you catch a nine-year-old Michael Jackson performing with the Jackson Five. But you can relive the magic at the new Smithsonian exhibit “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment,” opening April 23.
www.si.edu

THE NOSE KNOWS

If there’s a better place to learn about perfume than a flower garden, we can’t think of one.

This month, horticultural center Longwood Gardens in Kennet Square, Pennsylvania, rolls out “Making Scents: The Art and Passion of Fragrance,” to the delight of olfactory aficionados everywhere.
www.longwoodgardens.org

HITTING ALL THE RIGHT NOTES

From the fiddle to Auto-Tune, there are numerous ways to make music. The Musical Instrument Museum, opening in Phoenix this month, will showcase all of them. Make a night of it and catch a show in the museum’s concert hall—it’s instrumental to getting the full experience.
www.themim.org

CALENDAR

11-25 SINGAPORE

Sit down for dinner with Michelin-starred chefs from around the globe at the World Gourmet Summit. www.worldgourmetsummit.com

16-18 ST. GEORGE, SOUTH CAROLINA

You’ll need determination and, um, grit to make it through the 25th annual World Grits Festival. www.worldgritsfestival.com

16-21 ROME

You haven’t stumbled into a toga party—it’s a celebration of the city’s founding in 753 B.C., which is, quite frankly, a lot more fun. www.gsr-roma.com

17 KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE

Earth Day turns 40 this year, and this event walks the walk by being completely waste-free. www.knox-earthfest.org

22-25 LOS ANGELES

Mel Brooks will finally get a Hollywood star, while oldies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey unspool at the TCM Classic Film Festival. www.tcm.com

23-MAY 2 NEW ORLEANS

Give your iPod a vacation and take in some live jazz, blues, R&B, zydeco, gospel and rock at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. www.nojazzfest.com

6-9 NEW YORK

Still can’t afford an original Warhol? Not to worry. Find a tasteful alternative at the Affordable Art Fair. www.aafnyc.com

Hemispheres Magazine