Spa?
My sis and I went to a “spa” this week. I use the word spa in quotes because it was about as far from a spa as you could possibly get. Dictionary.com defines a health spa as: A business establishment with equipment and facilities for exercising and improving physical fitness. I suppose that’s what it was—but here’s what our experience was like:
*when we got there, there was no electricity. The manager tossed us our keys, said “the power’s out,” and walked away. (and a big “hello” to you too, grumpy lady!)
*for most of our 4 days there, we had no hot water in our room.
*at one point (when I was actually in the shower), the water shut off entirely. Yeah.
*there was some kind of smoke/gas in the air for 2 days, leaving us all with dizzying headaches. Apparently the chimney was wonky and they used nasty chemicals to unclog it.
…
At one point I even burst into tears at the front desk because I just couldn’t take it anymore! I don’t usually think of myself as high maintenance, but I felt like I was complaining nonstop. Things picked up though. There was 1 shower in the main building so we all showered there. (I felt like I was back in my freshman dorm room!) Sigh. But the food was really good, and it was nice to be out in the mountains. New York State is beautiful this time of year, with the leaves changing and all that, blah blah blah.
The coolest part was the abandoned ski lodge my sister and I found while taking a walk. Whoa. I love scary movies, and this totally made me feel like I was in The Shining.
Yes, I was really scared as we pushed passed the No Trespassing sign and into the old, derelict lodge. But it was so freakin’ awesome. There was a lot of graffiti, but there were still desks, couches, and tables lying around.
The pool was grimy and full of shutters and debris from a fire that had demolished the room, but being a photographer/filmmaker, I thought it was wicked. I kept waiting for the undead to pop out of the water and pull me in. Thank god that didn’t happen. Hah!
Anyway, I don’t know if I’d go back to that spa (though they were really nice and gave us a discount for all the inconveniences) but it was great to be out in Nature. Check out this funky little gecko thing I spotted on one of our walks!
It was pretty nice to get out of the city, either way.
September 13th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
wow. sounds…fun?
also, you are a goofball [and a true city gal] because that is a common salamander!! not a gecko. haha.
i used to catch those things all the time when i was a kid out in the woods. i think those are the ones that change to green in the water too. or something like that.
actually now i looked it up cause i was curious and i believe it is an eastern newt.
September 13th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
oooh, I was looking at some spas upstate in catksills to get away to for a few days, if you don’t mind let me know offline which place it was (if it was even in the catskills). it sounds bad, but the walk and discovering the abandoned lodge sounds uber-cool….
September 13th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
omg that sounds awful! i would’ve left and then sent them my bill from barneys, have them pay for my retail thereapy haha! but glad you still enjoyed the nature because my idea of nature on a spa visit would probably be a seaweed wrap haha. though i must admit, that gecko thingy is pretty cool!
September 14th, 2007 at 12:06 am
I like that ski lodge.
it looks amazingly cool.
September 14th, 2007 at 12:19 am
Redrum! Redrum! REDRUM!
September 14th, 2007 at 8:39 am
OH that ski lodge!!!! That would make it all worth it to me…how fantastic!!
Oh, I finished your book last night Miss Fabulous!!! Will there be a follow up??????
I loved it!
September 14th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Love the abandoned ski lodge–that would have definitely made the inconveniences worth it.
September 14th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Too bad your “spa” trip sucked and I would’ve just left early, but at least you made the best of it by finding a creepy ski lodge. Pretty awesome. I would’ve broken too, a stupid teenage in a scary movie.
September 14th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
oops, typo! I meant teenager.
September 15th, 2007 at 12:45 am
that house looks sooo creepy - you are brave to get close to it - i am too chicken! and im scared of ghosts lol!
September 15th, 2007 at 8:25 am
wow that ski lodge is amazing. i love finding and exploring abandoned places.
September 15th, 2007 at 10:23 am
I’d be too scared!
September 16th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
what a vacation. and sap’s are supposed to be stress free!
wow, your life is like a movie! coming across an abandoned ski lodge? i that just about takes the cake.
September 17th, 2007 at 1:31 am
That sounds like the perfect place to do one of your horror flicks.
The abandoned ski lodge, not the spa…although…;)
September 18th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
What kind of spa was this? Lol! A spa with no electricity or hot water? I just had a tea spa I wrote about over at Zee Says. It was fun!
September 25th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
That ski lodge was crazy!
It’s totally a Shining moment! Redrum. Yikes!
I saw the real Shining hotel last year in the mountains in Colorado. It looked very nice, but it was the summer…
October 5th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Thank you for sharing!