Gouldhome, Canyon Ranch, April 6

April 6

Yesterday all of us flew and we stayed in the Ramada. The Ramada was NOISY, so none of us slept well last night. Some wedding was going on in the ballroom just across the small courtyard from us. And the trains kept going all night long. Karen had it the worst. She slept on the sleeper couch and it was very uncomfortable and someone was playing music at 1am in the morning. But finally the night was over. We all were up early and had a quick breakfast. Then we had to wait for the van from Canyon Ranch. Next year we have to schedule it for 7:45 because we are always ready by 7:30, but we schedule it to come at 8am.

Once at the ranch we went to check in. Then we went over to the program coordinator and nurse area. But there was a long wait - just like two years ago. So we signed up for a slot at 10am and went to a 9am class.

Donna and I went to Intro to Sun Salutations. George was teaching the class. He was fabulous. He went over all the little nuances of each pose and finally at the end we put it all together. This was definitely the best class of the day, though a little crowded.

At 10 it was back to scheduling. We all went right in and talked about what we wanted to do - we had prescheduled a lot of things but they only let you schedule two things in advance (in addition any of the health and healing things you want). I added a Stone Massage for Wednesday, but kept everything else the same. Donna added a lot and moved things around. Karen wanted to do one more massage, but had to move around one of her others to do that. Finally we were all set and we went back to the waiting room to wait for the nurse. Last year somehow I never saw the nurse. You are always supposed to, but the wait was so long and the others in my group were finished, so I think I just walked out without it. Mornings are a busy time to check in. We sat down in the waiting room. They had a plate of their wonderful muffins and breads and some orange juice. Yum. I am so looking forward to lunch and the food here. So much better than the plane food I had yesterday.

In not too long Karen and Donna were called in. It took a few more minutes for me. The nurse went over all my health information (they have you fill out a large form) and told me about things I could do there, and what I should be avoiding with my knee problems. It would probably be a very useful thing if you weren't sure about what help you wanted for your health problems, but I was quite sure already that I only wanted to try acupuncture. Well I didn't really want acupuncture - I'm horribly afraid of needles, but my massage and physical therapists kept telling me to try it. I figured that I would try it here. It is so peaceful here, that I might have an easier time for the first one.

We all got back together and decided what our 11am class would be. Donna and Karen went off to Body Contour. I was a little leery of it since it is an intermediate/advance course and I hadn't been lifting weights for about a year. So I went to strength basics which was being taught by Beverly. Well it was a little too basic, but not bad. A lot of the stuff they taught I already knew, but they did go over some form issues that are always useful. Since they were working on form, we didn't really use very heavy weights and I didn't get any real workout - except for my biceps. They wanted people to know how to pick the right weight and had everyone exercise their biceps to failure. Many of the other participants didn't like going to failure and wanted to quit before hand, but the two instructors watched us well and made everyone keep going.

At noon I met Donna and Karen for 20 minutes of abdominal work. Abs Express was taught today by Ronnie. I remembered him from two years ago. He is such a fun teacher to have for a class where you push your limits. He is always joking around, but he still pushes you hard and makes it fun.

Well after this we were all starving so we went off to lunch. I started with a pear-peach smoothy (wonderful) then had Salad Nicoise for my main meal. Karen thought the idea of rare tuna was well less than wonderful, but I love rare (or raw) tuna. It was just fabulous, for me it was the best entree of the week. Of course before it was served, we had the salad bar. The black bean salad was very good as was the fruit salad. I think Canyon Ranch is a terrible place to lose weight. You always want to try everything on the menu - and sometimes we do.

Their menus are very different from your average. They have no pricing on them since everything is included (no tipping either which is nice, you never have to bring any money around). Instead of that they have the calories for everything listed as well as the fat grams and the fiber grams. So if you want to count your calories you can. Or they also have a balanced selection. If you pick that every time, they do all the work of balancing it all out for you. But I can't do that. Their food is to die for and I want to try everything. Luckily the Goulds are into sharing. You can always get a bite of something off someone else's plate. And Canyon Ranch is great you can order everything if you really want too and have them just give you a side of something.

Anyway, back to the main story. Dessert was of course yummy. They had a pear-fig compote, blueberry sorbet and orange pecan cookies. We got one order of each and shared them all. They were all fabulous. The best was probably the blueberry sorbet, but the compote came in a close second, because it was so interesting.

At about 1:30 I was off to the spa to sit in the hot tub. The sorbet had made me cold, and Tucson was cold in general, it was probably in the low 60s most of the time we had been here and the nights in the 40s. So I soaked in the hot tub until about 1:55. Then off to another class.

I wanted to take Posture and Balance. I really like the concept of the class, but two years ago I was not really impressed with it. And I wasn't this year either. It wasn't bad, but not as good as the other classes so far.

At 3 I decided I wanted to work my muscles since I didn't get much of a chance in Strength Basics this morning. So I went to Quick Fix Muscle Mix and talked to the teacher. She said it was mostly lunges and squats the whole time and I knew my knee wouldn't hold out. I figure my time would be spent better elsewhere. I went right across the hall to Ron Fletcher Class (a variant of Pilates). I forget the name of our instructor, but he was obviously a dancer. The class was a lot of fun and the instructor good. Our only equipment was a 46" towel that had been cut in half length wise. Most of the movements we did were not in themselves very hard. But he would have us do them so we engaged all of our muscles. So if we did it right, it was challenging. I enjoyed the class, but it was my last one and I hadn't really gotten a good workout today. I had taken a lot of thought-stretch-mild strength classes for the most part. No cardio work at all, but a lot of work on the core. Maybe tomorrow I'll get a more balanced workout.

I went back to the room and our luggage was there so I unpacked. Then back to the spa to shower (I like showering and such at the spa better than at the room - I think I like the atmosphere better).

At 5pm I had an Ayervedic Pedicure. It was very strange. I was given some strange juice that had been sitting in a copper pot all day long and some cracker with jam on it. When I was finished with that I had herbal tea. I had headphones on and listed to Indian music. The chair I was in was a heated massage chair. She did all sorts of things to my feet, from washing to oiling. The only thing I didn't like was getting my nails filed. It is an unpleasant sensation. I've never had a pedicure before and didn't like that part. Though the gal that was doing it told me that this pedicure is more of an experience than a normal one. And very, very different. She said if I wanted to know what a pedicure was like I should go later in my stay. But I don't think I will. So many things to do, so little time. All in all it was a fun experience, but I'm not sure I would do it again.

Then I wandered around for a while and had a mocktail outside the restaurant. They don't allow alcohol, but they still have fun mocktails. I chose the strawberry dacari. When Donna got here she had a prickly pear margarita.

For dinner Karen and I couldn't decide between the tilapia and the beef tenderloin. So we asked the waiter. He recommended the fish. So that is what Karen and I got. Donna went for the beef. It turns out our waiter was wrong. The beef tenderloin was great and the fish was good, but not wonderful as the beef. The beef also came with purple mashed potatoes that were quite good. Our fish came with mashed white beans which were just ok.

In addition to this I ordered some red lentil cakes (Indian flavored and quite good) and had some salad from the salad bar. Dessert was chocolate and dried cherry beggar's pouch and more blueberry sorbet. Quite good. But not as good as the pear-fig compote from lunch (though Karen disagrees so they are probably pretty close). After dinner Karen and I went back to our room to crash. She tried to stay up to 9pm but just couldn't concentrate on her book well enough to read it. I made it to 9 but I had to read the same passages over and over to understand them. We were so tired.