For one weekend, that is. Yup, the Lone Star State is axing sales tax Aug. 17-19, 2007 to encourage locals and visitors to get their shop on. That means a savings of about $8 for every $100 spent, though the promotion only applies to items under $100. Perfect weekend to the Galleria Dallas or Grapevine Mills for back to school items.

The Four Seasons Austin Hotel opened its new spa last week. The treatment menu includes all the usual suspects (facials, nail care, massage, body wraps, etc.), but also includes signature treatments that use regional ingredients. The Lavender Lemongrass Journey combines Texas Hill Country lavender with sea salt exfoliation, a hydration wrap and full body massage. The Yellow Rose of Texas body wrap pairs fresh rose petals with rose essential oil in a body wrap designed to soften and calm the skin.

After a visit to the spa, the hammock pictured above is waiting under a shady tree on the hotel grounds.

Dog Friendly has released its 2007 list of the Top Dog Friendly Vacation Destinations in the U.S. and Canada. Here, directly from the source (click the link above for more detailed destination information):

1. Boston - Take a boat or whale watching cruise. Walk the Freedom Trail, visit Salem and explore history at Minute Man Park. Your leashed dog is also welcome on the subway.

2. Vancouver - Walk the Capilano Suspension Bridge and park. Take a walking tour of Historic Gastown. Take the ferry and visit nearby Victoria and beautiful Butchart Gardens.

3. New York - Stay in luxury at many fine hotels. Walk the Brooklyn Bridge. Take a walking tour of lower Manhattan. Ride the carriages. Watch a morning show. Shop in many famous stores.

4. San Francisco - Luxurious hotels, outdoor dining, the Golden Gate Bridge, Baker Beach and many off-leash areas. Ride the cable car to the Fisherman’s Wharf area and stroll with your dog.

5. Austin - Visit Zilker Botanical Gardens, catch a horse and carriage ride, dine in outdoor cafes. See the bats leave the Congress St Bridge at dusk. Use the city’s many parks.

6. Portland - Enjoy over 20 off-leash areas, an amusement park and the famous Rose Gardens. Dine at the Lucky Lab. Visit the Saturday Outdoor Market and hike in the Colombia River Gorge.

7. Northern Virginia - Dine or enjoy happy hour in dog-friendly Alexandria. Take the Canine Cruise on the Potomac. Visit outdoor monuments in Washington and Virginia.

8. Orlando - Stay at resorts such as the Portofino Bay and Sheraton World. Take a boat cruise, shop Winter Park, and dine at Sam Snead’s where Jeb Bush signed the doggy dining law.

9. San Diego - Off-leash dog beaches. Stay at Loews Coronado Resort. Shop at dog-friendly Otay Ranch Shopping Center complete with a dog park. Dine outdoors. Visit nearby Julian.

10. Dallas/Fort Worth - Ride a carriage, visit Pioneer Plaza, take a walking tour. Visit Fort Woof dog park and the Stockyard in Fort Worth. Dine on Texas BBQ at outdoor restaurants.

Maybe not a big deal to those of you on the East Coast, but on the West, Southwest Airlines‘ arrival at San Francisco International Airport is music to my ears. The airline, which already flies out of the Oakland Airport, will begin flights from San Francisco in August. To celebrate its arrival, the airline has launched a fare sale:

San Francisco-San Diego … $39 one way

San Francisco-Las Vegas … $59 one way

San Francisco-Chicago … $99 one way

Southwest San Francisco fare deals (use this link to book) are good for travel between August 26 and October 31, 2007.

In the coming weeks, the Houston Museum of Natural Science will become home to over 1,000 cockroaches. Nope, museum officials aren’t experiencing a hygiene problem. They’re actually paying Texas residents 25 cents per cockroach for an upcoming insect exhibit. Moneymakers take note: all cockroaches must be alive and healthy to warrant the payout.

Cockroach Call at Houston Museum

Mobil Travel Guide has announced its picks for the best North American spas of 2007. Only two establishments won Mobil’s coveted five-star rating: Spa Montage at Montage Resort in Laguna Beach, CA and The Spa at Mandarin Oriental New York. But there were plenty of four-star winners:

Mobil Four-Star Award Winners

Willow Stream, The Spa at The Fairmont, Banff Springs, Banff, AB

The Sanctuary Spa at Sanctuary, Camelback Mountain, Paradise Valley, AZ

Alvadora Spa at Royal Palms, Royal Palms Resort & Casitas, Phoenix, AZ

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort, Scottsdale at Troon North, Scottsdale, AZ

The Centre for Well-Being at The Phoenician, Scottsdale, AZ

Willow Stream, The Spa at The Fairmont, Scottsdale Princess, Scottsdale, AZ

The Spa at Omni Tucson National, Tucson, AZ

Ancient Cedars Spa, Wickaninnish Inn, Tofino, BC

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort, Whistler, BC

The Peninsula Spa, Beverly Hills, The Peninsula Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills, CA

The Beverly Hills Hotel Spa by La Prairie, Beverly Hills, CA

The Spa at Beverly Wilshire, Beverly Hills, CA

Post Ranch Spa, Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur, CA

The Bathhouse, Calistoga Ranch, Calistoga, CA

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort Aviara, Carlsbad, CA

The Spa at Bernardus Lodge, Carmel Valley, CA

Spa Gaucin, St Regis Monarch Beach, Dana Point, CA

The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Laguna Niguel, Dana Point, CA

The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Half Moon Bay, Half Moon Bay, CA

The Spa at Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, CA

The Spa at Torrey Pines, Lodge at Torrey Pines, La Jolla, CA

The Spa at The Carneros Inn, Napa, CA

The Spa at the Island Hotel, Newport Beach, CA

Spa du Sureau, Chateau du Sureau, Oakhurst, CA

Spa Ojai, Ojai Valley Inn and Spa, Ojai, CA

The Spa at Pebble Beach, Pebble Beach Resorts, Pebble Beach, CA

Spa du Soleil, Auberge du Soleil, Rutherford, CA

Remede Spa, St. Regis San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

The Spa at CordeValle, The Lodge at CordeValle, San Martin, CA

Bacara Spa, Bacara Resort and Spa, Santa Barbara, CA

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA

The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Bachelor Gulch, Avon, CO

The Spa at the Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, CO

The Spa at the Brown Palace, Denver, CO

The Mayflower Spa, The Mayflower Inn, Washington, CT

The Spa at Mandarin Oriental Washington DC

Willow Stream, The Spa at The Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort, Aventura, FL

Spa Palazzo at The Boca Raton Resort & Club, Boca Raton, FL

The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Key Biscayne, Key Biscayne, FL

Canyon Ranch SpaClub at Gaylord Palms Resort, Kissimmee, FL

SpaTerre at Little Palm Island, Little Torch Key, FL

The Spa at Mandarin Oriental Miami

The Spa at The Setai, Miami Beach, FL

The Ritz Carlton Spa, Naples, Naples, FL

The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Orlando, Grande Lakes, Orlando, FL

The Spa at The Breakers, Palm Beach, FL

The Ritz-Carlton Members Spa Club, Ritz-Carlton Sarasota, Sarasota, FL

The Ritz Carlton Spa, South Beach, South Beach, FL

The Ritz-Carlton Lodge Spa, Reynolds Plantation, Greensboro, GA

Spa at Sea Island, The Cloister, Sea Island, GA

Spa Halekulani, Halekulani, Honolulu, HI

Spa Suites at The Kahala Hotel and Resort, Honolulu, HI

Hualalai Sports Club and Spa, Four Seasons, Resort Hualalai, Ka’upulehu-Kona, HI

The Spa at Manele Bay, Four Seasons Resort Lanai, Lanai, HI

Spa Grande at The Grand Wailea Resort, Wailea, Maui, HI

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, Wailea, Maui, HI

The Peninsula Spa, Peninsula Chicago, Chicago, IL

The Spa at Four Seasons Hotel Chicago, Chicago, IL

The White Barn Inn Spa, White Barn Inn, Kennebunkport, ME

The Spa at Pinehurst, The Carolina at Pinehurst, Pinehurst, NC

The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Lake Las Vegas, Henderson, NV

Canyon Ranch SpaClub at The Venetian Resort Hotel, Las Vegas, NV

Spa Bellagio at Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV

The Spa at Four Seasons, Hotel Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV

The Spa at Wynn Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV

The Spa at Emerson Place, Mount Tremper, NY

The Spa at Four Seasons Hotel New York, New York, NY

The Peninsula Spa, New York, The Peninsula New York, New York, NY

Stillwater Spa, Park Hyatt Toronto, Toronto, ON

Woodlands Spa at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, Farmington, PA

Spa at the Sanctuary at Kiawah Island, Kiawah, SC

The Spa and Salon at Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas, Irving, TX

Trellis, The Spa at The Houstonian, Houston, TX

The Watermark Spa, Watermark Hotel & Spa, San Antonio, TX

The Spa at Stein Eriksen Lodge, Park City, UT

The Greenbrier Spa, White Sulpher Springs, WV

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort Jackson Hole, Teton Village, WY

Clearly, finding a top-rated spa is easier when you’re in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Florida or somewhere involving snow.

Mobil Travel Guide’s Best of the Best Spas 2007

For many of today’s frequent travelers, the no-tech vacation is something of a conundrum (Wait, no television? Then how am I supposed to watch The Inferno III?). In fact, the last time most of us were anywhere near being “off the grid” involved an unsolicited power outage followed by disbelief, then sheer panic. Don’t try to deny it.

But as much as we love (and we mean love love, not like love) technology, destinations without plasma televisions, resort-wide wireless Internet access, in-room telephones and the latest gaming consoles give us something that’s often impossible to pin down on the grid: ourselves.

Don’t worry. We’re not talking about destinations where you’ll end up twisted into a yoga pretzel drinking green tea before a mandatory colonic treatment in the “spa.” We’re talking about 10 places you can visit where the sound of the surf is louder than the television in the next room, where news of Anna Nicole’s paternity test doesn’t cause a mad rush to the business center’s Internet kiosks and, finally, where wake-up calls are more likely to come from birds outside than bedside phones.

Check out our list of 10 No-Tech Escapes here.

Just in time for Mother’s Day, the posh Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa (pictured) is offering a Mom & Me Twogether package for moms and their kids. Good May1-31, the package includes overnight accommodations for two at this 738-room Phoenix hotel, a $50 resort credit for use towards food or activities and a choice of activities, including a mani-pedi session for two, brunch for two, afternoon tea for two, yoga for two, hiking, biking or an afternoon in a private poolside cabana. Rates start at $279/night.

I really like how this package includes a range of activities that could appeal to moms and kids of all ages (as well as to both boys and girls). After all, Mother’s Day is a special holiday no matter how old you are.

Men’s Health magazine recently voted Arlington, TX as one of the top spots to meet men. In response, the Arlington Convention and Visitors Bureau has put together a Where the Men Are vacation package to entice the ladies to consider the destination for future “girlfriend getaways” (not sure the folks in Arlington interpreted the Men’s Health survey correctly, seeing as San Francisco was ranked as the number one destination for meeting men, but no matter).

The Where the Men Are package offers accommodations starting at $168/night (based on rates for a weekend in May 2007) and include discounts to guy-friendly attractions like Six Flags, Lone Star Park and the Legends of the Game Baseball Museum. Spa and shopping discounts and special offers balance out the testosterone with pampering and retail therapy.

Just think of it as a man-cation of another sort.

It seems humans aren’t the only guests at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort. On a recent visit, one TravelPoster caught these little guests trying to capitalize on the property’s luxurious surroundings. Human guests might head for the putting green or two swimming pools, but these fellas clearly have simpler tastes. Just some fresh grass and a little shade is all it takes to win them over.