Mud Baths Are Not for the Faint of Heart
Y’all know I love to travel with Pookie, but he’s not my only travel companion. Sometimes I like to cash in some airline miles and head west on my own to spend quality time with BGB.
BGB and I have a favorite spa in California’s wine country and we always book the couples package. We check in, then head for the little downtown area and pick up cheese, fruit, bread, and wine. We nosh and swim and sleep. One year we arrived just in time to watch the Independence Day fireworks from the nearby fairground.
The next day the real fun begins. Time for the mud bath.
In order to receive the full benefit of a mineral mud bath you must be naked. This is problematic because, my love for BGB notwithstanding, I don’t want to see him naked nor do I want to be seen naked. Consequently, we take turns facing into the corner with eyes closed and covered so the other may disrobe and submerge him/herself in hot mud.
Have you ever had a mud bath? Float too shallow and you can still see just a little too much. Burrow too deep and you feel the extreme heat in your…um…well…let’s just say it’s a startling experience.
After 15 minutes or so we get out of the mud bath. Most couples help each other shower off the mud, but I can’t get past the naked thing so we exit the tubs in the same order we entered and do the best we can. Bathing suits back on, quick dip in the hot spring, and rehydration with lemon water.
Then it gets weird. We go to another room where we do the Modesty Mambo, lie on tables, and get wrapped in warm blankets with cool cloths on our foreheads and behind our necks. This is called Returning to Core Temperature. Whatever. I usually fall asleep.
And in the next room the magic happens: 60 minutes of massage. Aaaaaahhhhhhh. I always come out of that room all happy and relaxed and just a wee bit wobbly.
It isn’t just the massage that gives me such a happy glow. It’s the whole experience: BGB, hot mud, core temp recovery, massage, wine…every little detail.
Do you want to know the best part? After each of these little getaways, I get to come home.
You know, there’s a NASCAR race held in Napa every June. Maybe one of these years Pookie and I will head west together, watch the race, and then enjoy that couples spa package together.
Finally, some help showering off all that mud!
Nervous Knots 
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