Quality Time At Spas
For many of us, the fondest memories of our youth are the vacations we took with our parents.
Now that we are adults, and our parents are over 50, some of us would like to re-create that bonding experience, but with a lot more substance than an amusement park has to offer.
Mary Bemis, editor-in-chief of American Spa magazine, visited The Early Show and recommended some spas that offer physically and intellectually enriching vacations for parents and their adult children.
Here are a few spas Bernis mentioned on The Early Show:
Rancho La Puerto is one of Bemis' favorite spas. It's in Tecate, Mexico — a border town about 45 minutes from San Diego airport - and is surrounded by Mexican art and culture. Rancho La Puerto has more than 300 acres, and people stay in little bungalows called "casitas."
Rancho also has an impressive guest-speaker program which includes filmmakers, poets and experts in their fields. Recent speakers have included Galway Kinnell, Pulitzer Prize winning poet; Madeline Albright, ex-Secretary of State; Linda Wertheimer, National Public Radio correspondent; and author Betty Friedan. It also have guest speakers on an array of health and nutrition related topics.
Rancho la Puerta offers a range of health and fitness classes for all ages and levels, including "restorative yoga." One of the more popular activities at the Ranch is the guided morning hikes in the mountains surrounding the spa.
The ranch also has a mind-body program for seniors with seminars called: "Healing the Spirit: Aftercare for Cancer and Other Serious Illness," "Beyond Retirement: Passion, Meaning, Wisdom and Action" and "Awaken the Spirit."
Patrons eat in a communal dining area. Meals are vegetarian and low salt.
The Golden Door is similar to Rancho La Puerta, but it's smaller and more exclusive. It is located in Escondida, Calif. (about an hour north of San Diego)
Among the famous mother-daughter pairs who visit the Golden Door regularly are Laura Dern and Diane Ladd. The spa offers special mother-daughter and father-son packages, where the parent pays the full rate and the young adult pays half rate with shared accommodations and treatments.
The Golden Door offers classes geared to baby boomers in posture improvement, stretch and restore yoga, chair yoga, yoga Zen, natural vision enhancement and meditation.
It also offers early morning mountain walks at a private mountain.
Gurney's Inn
Gurney's Inn Resort, Spa and Conference Center is one of the best kept secrets in the spa industry. It's in Montauk, N. Y., which is the eastern tip of Long Island and about 2 hours and 30 minutes from New York City. The inn is on the beach and has a spectacular ocean views.
And Gurney's Inn is the only place in the continental U.S. that offers "Thalasso Therapy." It uses seawater and products of the sea in a marine environment to treat ailments and enhance good health. A Thalasso program includes hydro massage in sea water, exercise in heated sea water pools, body treatments using seaweed products and sea water, massage, relaxation, good nutrition and exercise outside in the sea air.
Gurney's is officially affiliated with Stonybrook Hospital's Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and some health insurers actually pay for their patients with arthritis to use the spa facilities, because of the Thallaso therapy.
It has branches in the Berkshires in Lenox, Mass,. and Tucson, Ariz., and in Las Vegas.
Canyon Ranch is very similar to Rancho La Puerta, but some say it is more programmed and institutional. It is a hugely popular and very well known spa. There are all kinds of health and wellness programs, cooking classes and self-improvement lecturers.
It offera special health packages ranging from pregnancy health to arthritis/pain management and weight loss of interest to multiple generations. Canyon Ranch also has a medical and nursing staff.
The spa facilities include five gyms, yoga studio, a 50-foot outdoor pool, an indoor running track and beauty salon.