I'm Home!

Florida was great! Hot (82) and sunny the entire 12 days I was there with not a drop of rain. I'm sure you are all cursing me as it's been pretty cold here in Toronto and only warmed up over the last few days. I'm rested, relaxed, tanned and ready for V. and I to take this bull by the horns and get a move on. I know from both his posts and talking with him while I was away that he's had a hell of a week and didn't get anything done that he wanted to do, including getting into the doctor for his tests and such. However, we should that all done by the end of next week. If all goes according to plan, we may be able to start cycling by the end of April. All things that can be, are crossed.

For those of you who may not have realized, I wasn't just down in Florida sunning myself and relaxing. I went with my mother to the Regency House Spa in Hallandale Beach. This is an smaller, older establishment but it is the only spa in the US that is right on the beach apparently. Their mission is to encourage a healthy lifestyle. They do this by providing a vegan menu, a wide variety of fitness classes, and lectures. What and how much you do is entirely your choice. So, for me, my day essentially consisted of an hour on the treadmill at 7am while my mom went with a group out to the boardwalk to walk. Following breakfast at 8:30ish the resident doctor gave an hour lecture on health and wellness daily at 9:30. At 10:45 and 11:45 there was always an aerobic class and an aquafit class to choose from, each lasting 45 minutes. If the ocean was calm enough the aquafit classes were held in the ocean. Usually I chose one of the aquafit classes, although I did do a couple of the land classes during the week. Lunch was from 12:30-2. An afternoon aquafit class was offered at 2:15 everyday. The afternoon was usually when I spent the time relaxing in the sun reading. There was usually yoga in the afternoon and occaisionally pilates as well. Dinner was from 5:45-7:30pm. The evening had little scheduled. Sometimes they ran a movie on the tv in the lobby, or they had a presentation of some sort. Most people retired to their rooms. Some went out to the movies, or other things, usually if they had a car. Interspered into your days were any spa treatments you wanted. Everyone gets 2 coupons for each week they were there. Since we were there for 12 days, we got 4 coupons. These were good for swedish massage or facials. There were many other treatments one could have for additional cost if you wished.

Now the food. All of the food they buy is organic. Breakfast was always fruit. It was a serve yourself setup where you could choose from strawberries, blueberries, kiwis, grapes, mango, pineapple, papaya, canteloupe, honeydew or watermelon. You could also have the blandest oatmeal ever. However, once you added lots of cinnamon, the vanilla soy milk, and fruit (I chose strawberries) it actually was quite good. Because there is no dairy permitted your choices was soy milk or rice milk. Lunch varied. Usually there was a salad bar which was pretty much comprised of lettuce, a variety of sprouts, tomatoes, onions, carrots and beets. They would often add in a soup. Their soups were very good. One day there was pita and red pepper hummus which was excellent. Another day had half a whole grain bagel and a "wannabe" tuna salad or egg salad. I have no idea what either was actually made from and I didn't ask. :) Both were passable. Between breakfast and lunch and lunch and dinner, if you were hungry, you could get carrots and celery. Dinner was always served to us and ranged from soup or salad and some sort of entree. For the most part the meals were pretty good. You could always ask for a baked sweet or white potato, brown rice, lentils or quinoa at lunch or dinner. You could also get steamed vegetables if either meal just didn't appeal to you.

So, would I adopt a vegan diet? Not a chance. Would I go back to this spa? Probably. For the time I was there, it was just fine. But next time, I'd want to have a car available. As I said to a friend of mine, J., she's likely the one person I know who would truly enjoy and embrace this type of experience. I have other friends who would likely be willing to give it a go as well I think.

I haven't got any pix at the moment, but if I can borrow my mom's camera I'll see if I can post any pictures.

It's good to be home. :)