Sensory Fulfillment
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Santa Fe , NM
Our day began in Los Alamos, high in the mountains above Santa Fe. It's a fairly prosperous town, with a lot of new construction on "research hill" where all the labs are located. The skies were steel gray and there was a hint of snow in the air. On my first walk of the morning with Gabby, I couldn't even see the mountains – the sky just came down and hung around the lower elevations. It did not look promising.
As we left town, pockets of blue sky appeared and there was hope that we would not get snowed in as we passed through the higher elevations on our planned route.
The Jemez National Recreation area is BEAUTIFUL! See:
http://www.newmexico.org/place/loc/bymap/page/DB-place/category/158/place/640.html
A definite must for a return trip in warmer weather – lots of camping and hiking opportunity. Our first stop was at the mineral baths in James Springs. In this small town high in the mountains the baths seemed to be the most happening thing around. What a treat, it was old and funky and VERY inexpensive - $7 for 30 minutes. It was Ellen's first experience with mineral baths and she really enjoyed it. As usual, our skin was so smooth and we were so relaxed after our 30 minutes in the warm waters. Check out: http://www.jemezsprings.org/
Our next stop was back in Santa Fe on Canyon Road – an area full of galleries. http://canyonroadarts.com/golf.html The day was cold, not many people around, so we zipped into a very nice restaurant and had a late lunch.
Then – it was on to our evening of Spa: 10,000 Waves, 10,000 Waves, a Japanese spa in the hills overlooking Santa Fe . http://www.tenthousandwaves.com/ here's what Ellen had to say about the event: "We entered the spa at 3:30pm and stumbled out at 9:15, our bodies having been soaked in mineral baths, saunafied (a word?) wrapped in herb soaked sheets (like mummies), massaged every which way including with rocks; and our heads, necks and shoulders manipulated with oils. We left with our hair FULL of oil which we were instructed to leave for 24 hrs. Some of the experience I can only imagine as I fell asleep periodically. But, I give it all an A+++++" From my perspective….after 90 minutes in our private area that included a 15"X3" Jacuzzi tub, sauna, cool-down room, dressing room, and shower—then after being wrapped in hot herb soaked sheets, and my shoulders and head plied with essential oils, I entered into a different world with the hot stone message. The masseuse placed warm stones between each of my toes, on hot stones as I laid down on a bed of hot stones, hot stones were placed in each of my hands, and then messaged my body was messaged oiled hot stones. Then I turned over, with a large hot stone on my stomach, she messaged my back with more hot stones! I was a total noodle by the time we walked out of there, it was a total extravagance and I totally enjoyed it, big thanks to David for the recommendation to this spa. This spa set a new bar for a spa experience!
