SWIMMING IN MUD

SWIMMING IN MUD

    First anniversaries come along only once in your married life.  My husband wanted to do something exciting and memorable to celebrate ours.  He did!  Oh, yes!

     Did you like to play in the mud as a child?  Well, I did.  I loved squishing it between my toes and rubbing my feet into the gooey mess.  Kids!  They like the craziest things.

     Well, I’m no kid anymore, but I still like to do crazy things, now and then.    That’s why my husband gave me a big surprise for our anniversary.

     We drove up to Calistoga, the wine country, for a lovely weekend at a spa.  I thought we would drink wine and be pampered for the weekend.   Okay, we did get pampered, just no wine.

     It was a quaint little place, smaller than I thought it would be, but quite nice.  They had just remodeled and it was bright and clean.  It had all the fun things that any big spa had, with a big swimming pool, and they were so good to us.  Whatever we needed, they provided.

     The Golden Haven Hot Springs Spa and Resort was going to give me a weekend to remember.  I will definitly never forget this weekend.

     The first day we went shopping in all the sweet little boutiques along main street, stopping at wonderful art galleries that had both sculptures and paintings.  We were in heaven; we both love art and visit all the galleries we can find.  A love of art is a personal thing, with each painting stirring something deep inside your soul.  We saw all types of paintings from abstract to impressionism.  It was worth the trip just for that alone.

     There were so many Cafes’ along mainstream, with delicious aromas floating through the air to titilate your palette.  We didn’t know where to start, but we stopped and shared a Rueben at one of them.  After an afternoon of gallery hopping, we took a pizza home for a quiet supper and we curled up with a good book.  

     Our morning started with Eggs Benedict, at a cafe’ with open beams and a “Let’s have fun” attitude.  The place was full of happy people, chatting away and laughing at everything.  What a great way to start our day.  We left laughing as we drove back to the spa to begin our day. 

     My introduction to the spa was a mud bath.  Now, I loved mud as a child, but sinking my whole body into a tub of peet moss, clay and volcanic ash...Give me a break...mud?  I am all for a new experience, but I was not so sure I was ready for this.

    Here I was, naked as a Jay bird, trying to get into a tub of hot mud, which was no easy task.  The tub was deep and had high sides, that you had to climb to, and sit on, to let yourself down into the mud.  Now, I am only five foot tall. (I am a little short on one end.)  I finally got onto the edge of the tub, hung onto the bar on the other side, and slowly lowered myself into the 105 degree mud.  HOT!  HOT!  

    Your body rather floats on top of the mud, but they warn you not to stand up in the mud, because the lower you go the hotter it gets in the tub.  I sank into this oohy, gooey mess, as it warmed my body, it relaxed every muscle and felt good.  The attendant placed a cool cloth on my forehead and brushed a mud pack onto my face.  When he left, we looked at each other and burst out laughing.  What a sight!

     My husband has been to the mud baths before and loved it, as for me, ten minutes in that muck and I was ready to rid myself of it.  But that wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought either.  I couldn’t get out of the darn tub.  I tried three times, but the mud kept sucking me back in.  My husband grabbed my legs, which didn’t work the first time, so I put my arms around his neck and finally slid out of the tub on a sea of mud.  I stood there laughing.  I looked like the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

     We showered off the black muck and jumped into a hot tub to relax some more.  Oh, it felt so good to have the jets massage those muscles I strained getting out of the tub.  Now that is what I call relaxation.  I loved it! I wanted to spend the rest of the day in the warmth of the hot tub, with the water caressing my body.  

     Way too soon, they showed us to a cooling down room, where we were wrapped in a blanket and ice cold clothes placed on our forehead and at the back of the neck.  I was so relaxed, but there was more to come.

     After a few minutes we were escorted to the massage room, where we were treated to a full body massage.  WOW!  Those hands were magic, as they kneeded each muscle to a completely relaxed state.  I felt like a wet noodle when she finished.  I was so relaxed that all I wanted to do was sleep.

     Believe me, that was an anniversary I will never forget...Mud and all!