Forbes Picks Posh Deep Creek

From Forbes magazine comes a list of new "hot spots" for second homes being bought by affluent buyers, even in this down market. Author Lauren Sherman features One Bal Harbour in Bal Harbour, Florida, where prices for condos started at $1-million.... Deep Creek, Maryland, a four-season resort in the western part of the state that includes lakes and Wisp ski resort... South Lake Tahoe, California, where Vail Resorts is building the Chateau at Heavenly Village, a new condo hotel... and Roxbury, Connecticut, a celebrity-studded community with multi-million dollar properties. Click here for article.

Shell,Tipi,Yurt: Yours to Rent

I'm bored with hotel rooms, condos and the like. Next time I head toward Litchfield, Connecticut I want to stay in the geodesic dome featured by HomeAway.com, a major vacation rental site, in its gathering of "Top Ten Most Unique Vacation Rentals." Number One on the list: A curvy shell house in Isla Mujeres, Mexico on the beach, complete with a pool, that HomeAway says would be where the Little Mermaid would vacation on land. At $1,500 to $2,000 a week, it looks ideal for a honeymoon. Others: a tipi near Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, just over the Montana line...yurt in Santa Barbara, California...and two kinds of tree houses in Costa Rica and California.