As a rule, you won't see me quote from press releases, but this one from Cate La Farge Summers at Alice Marshall Public Relations in NYC was just too good and too on-target.

She makes a point that some of the best deals around are at high-end resorts you normally would not consider. Such as...

Santa Fe, New Mexico
Deal: “Muy Sabrosa” package at the Inn on the Alameda adds not only value but culinary spice to a stay in this kooky, lovely city.
Breakdown: Package rates begin at $376 for a two-night stay and include a two-and-a-half hour cooking demo and lunch at the Santa Fe School of Cooking, a $40 gift certificate to Mucho Gusto (a cozy Mexican café next to the Inn), plus breakfast and afternoon port and cheese daily.
Why Should I Leave My Air-Conditioned House?: To get lost in the flowers at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.  Plus, Santa Fe averages 325 days a year of blue skies and sun, and is one of only nine cities in the world to be designated a “Creative City” by UNESCO.
Fine Print: Package is available for Sunday- Tuesday and Wednesday- Friday stays during specific dates through the year.
Book: www.innonthealameda.com for more details, 888-984-2121 to book.

Tip: A lot of the Santa Fe is up and down but this area of downtown is pretty much travel on the level.

See what I mean about to the point?

Here's another that is ultra flat and fab.

Turks & Caicos
Deal: Parrot Cay’s ‘4 for 3’ and ‘7 for 5’ offers have just been extended through December 20, 2009.  Summer rates go down, so you can stay longer for even less.
Breakdown: Nightly rates begin at $575 this summer (rather than $775 in the winter), which means two can stay four nights and pay $1,725.  That rate includes daily breakfast, return airport transfers, and complimentary Pilates and yoga.
Why Should I Leave My Air-Conditioned House?: Because this resort is like rehab for the soul.  The private island spans 1,000 acres, with white sand beaches and turquoise water in every direction.  You can bone-fish, consult with the Ayurvedic doctor, or float in the pool all day.
Fine Print: You have to play it cool when swimming next to Bruce Willis and his newly-betrothed.
Book: parrotcay.como.bz or 649-946-7788

Tip: Scruffy looking man with scruffy looking dog on the beach? Probably Rolling Stoner Keith Richards. Unless you're slipping in with a private plane, Parrot Cay can only be reached by boat which is why it appeals to A-listed jet setters. Even if they are not there when you are, the tales you can pick up will keep you in juicy dinner party conversation well into next year. Levelers will love it here. 

Obviously, there are hills in the Hill Country but plan your trip right to travel on the level by letting horsepower - four-legged or -wheeled - do the climbing for you.

Bandera, population 967, where guest ranching began, is a great place to start and Dixie Dude Ranch, one of the first, is the place to stay.

The ranch itself is on the level and your mount does the work. Even getting on is easy with a mounting "platform" that puts you above the horse. In our group were two adults who had never been near, much less on, a horse and while they discovered places they didn't know could hurt, loved the experience. 

We headed nose to tail up into the hills and plateaued out over a lovely vista of rolling hills and native flora. 

World Champion all-around trick roper Kevin Fitzpatrick entertained us with some fancy looping until it was time for the family-style dinner. That's when we realized how famous Dixie Dude is - there were guests from Spain, Germany, England, Minnesota and Florida.

Cabin accommodations are rustic but spacious, well appointed and comfortable.

Tip: Don't miss Wednesday steak night at the 11th Street Cowboy Bar in Bandera. Locals bring their meat of choice and use the bar's many outside grills and large line up of condiments to cook and season it perfectly. You can buy beverages plus sides from salad to dessert. 

Then the band kicks up and everyone dances, especially the locals and eventually the visitors. Fun, fun time and just the thing to loosen up those new muscles you discovered in the saddle.

Between rides spend an hour or so in the charming Frontier Times Museum. Get Director Jane Graham to tell you all about it and you won't want to leave. Everything has a story and she knows them.

Oh, those hills, about seven too many for Leveler comfort, but don't let that stop you from traveling to and enjoying the Eternal City.

 Yes, everything you want to see will be at the top of one hill and at the bottom of another, so pace yourself. Between rigorous sightseeing, take advantage of some of the world's best people watching by lingering over a beverage in an outdoor cafe. 

Tip: The Coliseum is a must-see so do it the easy way. Look to the left of where you buy your tickets. There's an elevator there and it takes you up to a very good vantage point from which you can walk around to imagine what it must have been like during Roman times.

The many piazzas are blissfully level, albeit cobblestoned, each has a church worth a look-see, most have a fountain and a cafe for relaxing.

Sure, throw a coin over your shoulder into the Fontana di Trevi - if you can muscle your way through the crowds to its edge - but don't waste too much time there. After all, the myth that if you do so you will return to Rome came from the movie, Three Coins in the Fountain.

Tip: The Spanish Steps and Via Veneto are not to be missed. After shopping the windows along the Veneto, something cool at the Hassler atop the steps will bring a touch of elegant civility. As you approach the steps, veer off to the left; you'll find an elevator there.

    Avid traveler and sometimes Leveler Diane Till told us about this but Leveler Joan Monsky reminded us that the elevator stops running early, around 8 p.m.

Except for its very healthy dunes, Sapelo Island off of Georgia's southern coast, is flat. That's the good news.

The less than good news is that there aren't a lot of what most travelers consider amenities - specifically restaurants and bathrooms.

Tip: Among the nicest facilities are those at South Beach, where you access one of the most beautiful beaches  you'll ever see - rolling dunes, sweeping expanse of sand, undeveloped and open vistas. If you see three other people it's a crowded day.

There is a sweetness and a deep sadness overhanging this barrier island, the sweetness from its towering yet enveloping oak trees to the basic, with the earth lifestyle of its long-time inhabitants.

The sadness comes from them, too, what their ancestors endured, having been brought here as slaves, struggling to buy their land following the Civil War and being pushed off of all but a small portion to make the island a private reserve for the R. J. Reynolds family.

You can tour the Reynolds mansion on Wednesday mornings with an advance reservation and groups can stay there, but the former stables and barns now house the University of Georgia's Marine Institute. 

Sapelo is reached by a 30-minute ferry ride from Meridian, GA., and a reserved tour is necessary to see it unless you're fortunate enough, as I was, to be brought over by an island property owner.

Tours of the mansion and island or lighthouse and island can be arranged at www.gastateparks.org/info/sapelo, but to get a special feel for the island and its history, I'd go with Spirit of Sapelo's wagon and bus tours, www.thespiritofsapelotours@darien.net or www.gacoast.com/geecheetours.html. The three-hour long Spirit excursions are run by the Bailey family whose matriarch, Cornelia Walker Bailey, is the last of the generation born, reared and educated on Sapelo.

Tip: Her book, God, Dr. Buzzard and the Bolito Man, is a wonderful read. Order and read it before you come; wish I had. Sapelo's People by William S. McFeely will give you an insight into slavery on the island; www.coastalgeorgiaexperience.com/site/502999/page/920238.

Canopied roads, intriguing boutiques, excellent restaurants, challenging golf courses, an expansive equestrian center, beaches, marshes and a hunka history make  St. Simons Island, GA., a fun destination.

And, levelers, it's about as flat as land can get.

General James Oglethorpe established Fort Frederica in 1736 to protect the Georgia territory he had claimed for England. At the time, the French and especially the Spanish were contending for control of the area.

The town of Frederica grew and thrived adjacent to the fort until 1742 when British troops from Darien and Frederica roundly defeated Spanish invaders from Florida at the Battle of Bloody Marsh.

Ironically, the battle that decided British supremacy in the colonies eliminated the need for the fort and both it and the town were disbanded. Their remains are now protected by the Park Service at Fort Frederica National Monument.

The Feb. 18 founding of Frederica town is celebrated annually with reenactments and demonstrations. Irony continued as this year, reenactors from Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida, Spain's East coast bastion, joined the British contingent and the Clann Non Con Highlanders from Darien in recreating their era for visitors.

 Tip: Fans of the late author Eugenia Price, who based many of her novels here, will want to seek out some of her other landmarks such as Christ Church, Frederica, where the Wesley brothers, fathers of Methodism in America, first preached under one of the enveloping oak trees. The daily St. Simons Trolley tour, recommended by the author, hits 35 points of interest on the island. www.stsimonstours.com, 912-638-8954.

The 1794 frigate U.S.S. Constitution owes its nickname, "Old Ironsides," to the rock-hard live oak timbers cut and milled on the island's north end at Cannon's Point. St. Simons Island timbers were also iused in constructing the Brooklyn Bridge. You'll be glad they left some standing.

Tip: Don't miss the Tree Spirits, weathered faces carved into trees - some say they represent sailors aboard St. Simons oak built ships who died at sea. Look for them at Demere Road at Skylane Drive; at the Wine & Cheese Cellar in Redfern Village off Frederica Road and at 3305 Frederica Road.

Accommodations range from B&Bs, motels, rental cottages and condos to the King and Prince, a Historic Hotel of America; Sea Palms golf and tennis resort and The Lodge (Mobile 5-star, AAA Five Diamond, Golf Digest. No. 1 in US) and The Cloister (a Robb Report 100 Ultimate Escape,  Travel & Leisure 500 Greatest Hotels in the World, plus Mobile and AAA top rating), on Sea Island, a brief causeway away.

Tip: Locals flock to The 4th of May Cafe on the corner of Ocean and Mallory Street in the Village for reasonably priced, ample and delicious food breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Butter Pecan French Toast, $5.95. won't blow your budget but it will blow the diet - worth it.

 The Golden Isles area - Brunswick, St. Simons Island. Little St. Simons Island, Sea Island and Jekyll Island - offer enough to keep you happily - and flatly! - occupied for a week or more. Located on the south Georgia coast, they are 65 miles north of Jacksonville, FL; 274 miles from Atlanta; 75 miles south of Savannah and 186 miles from Charleston, S. C. 

I'll blog more about them in coming days.