BoomerGirl Diary

If there’s an occasion that screams for a vacation with the girls, it’s the Big 5-0. Reaching the mid-century mark intact (after all we’ve been through) is a huge milestone, big enough to warrant several days away from home with the women you love most. And if your friends are celebrating their 50ths as well, so much the better!

But where to go? And where to stay?

BoomerGirl posed these questions to Marybeth Bond, author of “50 Best Girlfriends Getaways in North America” who gave us her 5 top destinations for the best birthday blowouts ever.

Las Vegas, baby!

Marybeth says, “It’s really easy to go to Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s just FUN! It’s wonderful weather. You don’t have to gamble or drink to have a great time. The Venetian is a great hotel because they have big rooms, queen-sized beds on one level and (on another level) you have a couch that pulls out into a second double bed. And the bathroom is big enough for four or five women to get ready at the same time with enough mirrors, etc. You can sit by the pool and read girl magazines. You can go for great dining or go to a buffet, and the evening entertainment is fabulous. You can dance with the girls. You can go from hotel to hotel just for the music.”

Cheers for California wine country

“Healdsburg in Sonoma area in California is not as crowded as Napa. It’s not as well known,” Marybeth suggests.

“Healdsburg is a charming little town with no parking meters and no red lights. A great place to stay there is the Grape Leaf Inn. They have cottages that overlook the vineyard and a speakeasy where they have a wine tasting every night for an hour. (They have) fabulous food. It’s oozing with Victorian charm. You can ride bikes around Healdsburg and, in the book, I tell you how to get the best free map of all the vineyards to visit.”

Hot times in Cajun country

A trip to Louisiana’s Cajun country is perfect for ladies who like red beans and rice, po’-boys, jambalaya, chicken and sausage gumbo and dancing to live music. “Go for the dancing, wonderful hospitality and great food. You can visit the various plantations. It’s just a beautiful area.”

(Menopausal women beware, though. Marybeth doesn’t recommend visiting in the summer. “It can get a little hot in the summer.”)

For lodging, consider former sugar plantation Bois des Chenes Inn or stay in one of the plantation cottages on the grounds of the antebellum mansion at Oak Alley Plantation where scenes from “Interview with the Vampire” were filmed.

Canadian Rocky Mountain high

“For active women, here’s something new and different,” the author promises. “Fly to Calgary and do some heli-hiking. (Canadian Mountain Holidays) lift you up to one of their beautiful lodges that are above the tree line. The one I stayed in had a pool and a hot tub and a masseuse at the end of the day. You’re lifted by helicopter to these pristine areas and you can hike down or hike around on glaciers.”

Marybeth says you can still get more for your dollar in Canada. If you have any money left, consider taking a mountaineering course … or get an extra massage.

A Southern charmer

For lovers of architecture, gardening, museums, shopping and delicious food, Bond advises to head to what she calls "the country’s best kept Colonial city.”

“A beautiful and really female-friendly town is Charleston, South Carolina. The architecture is beautiful, the food is wonderful. You can go on house tours and learn a lot about history. It’s wonderful to go for their house tour and garden tour in March each year.” Kings Courtyard Inn, in the center of the historic district, features elegantly appointed rooms with canopied beds. What better setting for a pillow fight?

Do you have your own favorite destination for a girlfriends’ getaway? Tell us where YOU’ve been in the Comments section below.