Gouldhome, Canyon Ranch, April 13th

April 13th

I decided not to go on a hike today since I wanted to get up leisurely. It was nice to laze around in the morning. I still was up fairly early though. When I went to breakfast, I found Karen and Donna at the table so sat with them. The French toast was good, but whole wheat French toast was not as good as squishy white French toast. The agony of staying at a health spa ;>

I spent the whole day in classes. The first was a mini trampoline course, called Jump n Jive. Then off to the Women's Stretch class. Then one called Get on the Ball, where we used large balls as props to help us exercise. This was a strength and balance class. The basic exercises were strength but because you were doing them balancing on/over/next to a ball you had to be extra conscious of centering yourself. This was probably the hardest class that I took. Some of the exercises in this I just couldn't keep up for as long as Judy our instructor asked. But that is ok you are never forced to complete something. They are always very forgiving of your frailties. Except for once.

Donna was taking a rhythmic stretching class. And Norma (who I had taken and liked in other classes) told people to get out if you couldn't put your foot up on the bar. She didn't want anyone who couldn't keep up to be in the class. It turns out that it was a new policy at Canyon Ranch. For higher level courses (and they are all leveled 1, 2 or 3), the instructors shouldn't have people who weren't up to the level. They were trying to make classes for those who were good at something, so they could be challenged. But this wasn't presented very well to Donna and she was a little offended by the treatment. Later she had a consultation with Norma and they discussed it. It turns out Norma is not too keen on the new policy even though she is trying to enforce it.

Anyway at lunch I had chicken enchiladas and they were quite good. I wonder if I can convince my family to move over to a healthier chicken enchilada? It is one of my family's favorite meals and if I change it they will probably complain. The desert was to die for. It was baklava. Now I usually don't like baklava because it is too sticky sweet for me, but this was wonderful. Just the right amount of sweetness. I have to learn how to make this. YUM!

After lunch it was back to classes. Karen and I took an intro to Ranch Bo. The Ranch Bo would have been a wonderful workout, the intro really worked my muscles and made me pant and we were just practicing, not keeping it up constantly. But neither Karen nor I wanted such a hard workout. I was pooped and my quads screamed since I worked them out well on yesterday's hike and also in the Jump n Jive and Get on the Ball. So we decided to go elsewhere. I picked Totally Tubing, a strength training course using stretchy tubes. It was an excellent workout, but boy did my quads protest during the quad training.

I wasn't interested in any of the three o'clock classes and I couldn't take anymore classes after 4:00 pm. I had a Watsu appt for 5:00 pm and you are supposed to relax and take a whirlpool/steam/ or sauna to relax beforehand. It was murder but I lounged around for a while. I went back to the room for a while and read a little. At 4:15 I headed over to the spa and showered and whirlpooled. A difficult life. Anyway at the appointed time I put on my bathing suit and robe and headed over to the Aquatics center.

Watsu was described in the Canyon Ranch booklet as water Shiatsu. My masseuse told me it was a range of motion kind of thing. He told me not to tense up or he couldn't move my body around. I would be in the water and he would hold me up. I was just to relax. So in I went. The water was a perfect temperature. Not either cold or hot, just the right temperature so you don't notice it at all, just its movement over your body. Hmm maybe I should describe the room. The Watsu room is the most beautiful room in the whole spa. It is really a shame that you close your eyes during the Watsu since you miss it all. First it is round. The ceiling is turquoise blue, and on it there are pictograph-like paintings of horses and handprints in reddish brown. One wall had a waterfall and in the middle of the room is another waterfall. There are three Watsu pools. And very calming music was playing as I entered.

Anyway back to the massage. I entered the water and he put two floats on my legs to keep them up and my feet off the bottom. He starts by holding your hands then coming around back and holding you to his chest. Then he starts swirling you around in the water. The experience if very sensuous. The water flows over your body in soft caressing sweeps. Sometimes you are moved in circles, sometimes in waves. Then he takes your body and moves it, rotating you here and there in gentle stretches. You lose track of time in the water. It is a whole different experience from any I've had before. I would highly recommend it if you love the water as I do. If you have any fear or discomfort in the water avoid it.

Afterwards I was totally relaxed and kind of energized. I wasn't tired at all and quite content with the world.

We had dinner that night at 6:30. There was buffalo on the menu so I had to try it. The sauce on the buffalo was good, and so was the buffalo, but for some reason I didn't enjoy that much. I also ordered an ahi tuna dish for the table. We all wanted to try it but none of us wanted to order it. You can always order as much or as little as you want. I overheard one lady after lunch say she got every entree on the menu! Dessert for me was blackberry ice cream.

After dinner we went to play bingo. We took a long time but Erin finally won something, then Karen then Donna then Karen again. I never did win anything. I was hoping to win the big prize, they had the ranch cookbook and a ranch robe. Ah for the cookbook, I guess I'll just have to buy it.

I was going to go to bed early because I want to hike tomorrow, but I didn't get in bed until sometime past 9:30. Ah well. I set the alarm, just in case I slept too long.