 |
|
|
|
5 great girlfriend getaways
Grab a suitcase and your best friend and take a road trip to one of these
amazing getaways.
By Marybeth Bond
|
|
|
|
New Age Health Spa, New York
Lay of the land
Cayuga Yoga and Meditation Centre, spa, fitness complex, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, whirlpool tubs, hiking trails, Alpine Tower, tennis courts, a sweat lodge, a labyrinth, and a bird sanctuary.
The food
The menu here is mostly vegetarian with vegan options as well as fish and chicken entrees available at dinner. Their almond-crusted trout, the strawberry and spinach salad, and the homemade Spa Pizza (loaded with veggies) are worth mentioning. The salad bar is a marvel, replete with mounds of salad greens, veggies and sprouts from the property's three greenhouses and garden. The chefs also use this bounty (including the fruit from the orchard) in New Age recipes. Those interested in their cleansing, detoxifying, juice-fasting program take three meals consisting of fresh raw juice, which may be supplemented throughout the day with spring water and lemon, potassium broth, or herbal tea.
Get your heart rate up
If you need motivation and creativity out of a fitness class to take your mind off the pain (and boredom) of working out, there are classes such as toning with the body ball, Pilates, interval training, belly-dancing, step aerobics, and abs workout, and cardio boxing.
Zen out
Those in search of a fit mind should commit to their "spiritual program": a head-to-toe, inside-and-out course of therapy that includes cardio, yoga, meditation, and lectures, much o fit held in the sun-drenched Cayuga Yoga and Mediation Center. (You can just attend the individual classes.) And in the tradition of the Native Americans, the spa has built its own sweat lodge out of willows for guests to use from May through September. When water is thrown on fire-heated stones, the round hut fills with steam, purifying towel-wrapped guests through sweat.
Best spa treatments
In the Healing Stone Massage, smooth hot stones are applied to the back and used to knead away tension, aromatherapy is worked into it and there's a focus on balancing your body's energy centers or chakras, which can get clogged when we are stressed or fearful ($185 for 100 minutes). And the Paradise Mountain Rain treatment is an indulgent recipe for fatigued skin: deep-sea salt scrub, mud wrap, Vichy shower, and Pomegranate and Cranberry Body Butter (110 minutes $190).
Special packages
Every month, a weekend is devoted to a special practice of yoga (Vinyasa, Power, Hatha) with a visiting, well-know yogi. Four seasonal juice fasts are held a year as is a yoga and juice fast weekend once a year. Every November and May, a Birding Weekend is centered on watching the bald eagles with local experts from the Audubon Society. There's also a cooking workshop in early December that prepares you for healthy holiday entertaining. And various spa packages are always offered.
What's included
Accommodations, three meals a day, and unlimited classes and lectures. Weekly rates start at $1,285; mini-weeks (Sunday to Friday) start at $1,020 with two qualifying treatments for free; and nightly packages start at $204. Prices fluctuate by season (peak rates are in effect Fridays, Saturdays, and holidays as well as every day from July through September).
One click and you're off
New Age Health Spa
(800)-682-4348
Reprinted with permission of the National Geographic Society from the book
50 Best Girlfriends Getaways in North America by Marybeth Bond. Copyright ©2007 Marybeth Bond. All rights reserved.
Find out where celebrities go for a spa day!
|
|
|
|
Next page |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
 |
|
| |
OR |
|
| |
|
|
| |
 |
|
| |
|
|
|
