Sidebar: Bardessono Hotel and Spa

A "significant national model of green building and operating practices," according to its marketing materials, the Bardessono Hotel, Restaurant, and Spa proves that environmentalism and luxury can go hand in hand. Located in downtown Yountville, the property is an ideal base for exploring California's Napa and Sonoma wine country.

The resort's 62 pet-friendly rooms combine a contemporary, environmentally friendly design with outstanding in-room entertainment and connectivity capabilities. Its signature feature is a rooftop pool. Rates include the use of carbon-fiber bicycles for touring the area.

The green theme is extended to the hotel's restaurant where diners enjoy fresh ingredients from local farms--fitting since the property itself was once a farm.

Sidebar: Thunderhill Raceway Park

Back in the Eighties, the Laguna Seca and Sears Point/Infineon tracks were under siege from anti-racing environmentalists. Fearful the activists might kill serious road racing in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Sports Car Club of America made a pre-emptive move, working with enthusiasts to build Thunderhill Raceway Park three hours to the north in Willows, California. The 2.8-mile road course has been called by race driver Randy Probst the best new racetrack built in the United States in the last 20 years.