A PINEHURST VACATION

Fly into Raleigh, North Carolina, and take an hour and a half shuttle to the Pinehurst Resort, and forget about renting a car. Why? Just in case you want to wander outside the resort and village, a free Acura is available for three hours.

Although Pinehurst is known to be a "golf mecca", it just may not be your form of play. It certainly isn't mine. Let's see. There is the 24 tennis courts, 2 groomed croquet courts, championship lawn bowling course, and Lake Pinehurst and Beach Club with a 200-acre freshwater lake for sailing, canoeing, paddle boating, kayaking, fishing and swimming. Wait, I think I'll go to the spa for a Sea Grove Clay Wrap and Magnolia Luxury Facial and then relax in one of the rocking chairs on the porch.

The first thing that you may want to do is board their shuttle bus and tour the resort area. This way you can decide what is in walking distance from where your accommodations or activity site is in relation to how tired you may be from what you last did. Make sure you visit the Given Memorial Library housing the Tufts Archives and get the 101 on all.

I stayed at The Carolina, one of four spots to park my body for the evening. It looks to be the "fanciest" and where the 4 p.m. tea and is located. Nothing like some tasty pastries a few hours before dinner at the Carolina Dining Room. I had to change from my jeans a t-shirt to slacks and great "golf shirt" that I purchased as this restaurant has a "no jeans" policy. That doesn't mean that all of the other restaurants are like that. The menu fits the dress code.

With a choice of riding an old fashioned foot peddle bicycle into the village, walking or shuttle bus, I took the later. I couldn't resist a sample of Kraz Elegant Cakes and it was around the corner that I encountered a shop called Green Gate Olive Oils where I could taste a whole bunch of both olive oils and balsamic vinegars via spigots. Bread or sip as if you're tasting wine. Choose and it gets bottled. How about mixing a blood orange oil with a blueberry vinegar or marinating fish in lemon oil and a jalapeno balsamic?