Nothing like father/daughter time at CANYON RANCH in Lenox, MA...
Like all good fathers ours is impeccable about keeping things even. I was thrilled when he called to make good on the father/daughter trip he had promised for years in order to make up for the tropical jaunt I had missed with Mary and my Dad when I was playing hockey in college. I was slightly surprised, but definitely not complaining, that he picked a spa excursion.
The drive up to Canyon Ranch in Lenox, MA was beautiful, passing through the picture perfect town of Lee and past Edith Wharton's Estate (loved Wurthering Heights), and finally onto the sprawling, lush green grounds of the Canyon Ranch property located in the heart of the Berkshire mountains.
We arrived early evening on a Sunday and I have to say our three night stay was surprisingly busy with lectures, fitness, classes, appointments, walks, etc. Canyon Ranch definitely provides something for everyone at every hour. Highlights were a lecture by Dr. Mark Liponis on his book ULTRALONGEVITY, where he explained why "boosting" your immune system may be a bad idea and introduced a 7-step program to harness the power of your immune system, slow down and even reverse the process of aging - yay! My favorite fitness class was Stride - an interval training tread mill class with music. Loved the Vinyasa Flow yoga and joined my Dad for Aqua Shape in the pool. It was the two of us with some elderly guests doing water exercises with an array of equipment.
The grounds at Canyon Ranch are beautiful and complete with several inspirational walking/running trails. All of the exercise was rewarded by some heavenly and therapeutic spa treatments. My favorites were the Ayurvedic Body Treatment with sesame seed oil which really helped my circulation, and the deep tissue massage with Annie Rye. I also tried acupuncture for the first time. I didn't really know what to expect and didn't have any particular pains, but I definitely got something out of it. I felt lighter and more open after the experience and it was interesting to me that the practitioner picked up on things I knew about about myself. I signed my Dad up for appointments with the nutritionist, the Chinese Herbalist, physical therapist, and encouraged him to try acupuncture as well.
We woke up by 7:30 every day and would do some activities together and then divide and conquer. At meal times we'd recount all of our new findings and observations. Thankfully, this was not a starvation camp (only other spa experience I had was We Care with Mary, which turns out is basically a fast).
The food was good and healthy and served in portion sizes we all should be eating, but you could have as much as you wanted, including dessert - honestly the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had! No booze though.
After dinner, we opted to skip "bingo" and "game night" with the other guests and retired to our room to watch documentaries before passing out.
This was a great trip to do with a parent. Most people think of spa trips as a mother/daughter thing, but I had so much fun with my Dad. Also, as we're all getting older, it's a nice way to spend time together and learn a couple things to keep everyone healthy. Father's Day is June 19th - something to think about!
