New Years 2010!! The day the weekend the fun!
This was a really great New Years trip!. Started at Natural Bridge with my sisters & their husbands. Great food, lots of time to relax and talk together. The evening was topped off with the party and a great dance band.
Friday we left Natural bridge and decided to see where we ended up. On a whim we gps'd our way to The Homestead Resort in Hot Springs Va. Well GPS's are funny things. they look for the fastest route (that is how I had mine st up).. and by 10 miles distance the Garmen sent us from I64 at Clifton Forge out onto a gravel & tar fire road through the mts.
This was slightly worrisome but it turned out to be well plowed and mostly ice free roads. The 'speed limit' was 55 (which caused the GPS to think this was faster). Yea sure 55 on 1 lane wide with switchbacks. So well we did get to the resort. This place is a huge 4 Diamond resort started in 1766. With golf, skiing, swimming, a spa,theater, dancing, Dress for dinner in jacket & tie restaurants, etc. Very ritzy.
So now: #1: are the pet friendly? Yes..
#2: do they have a room: Yes they have a pet friendly room available! Woo 2 for 2!.
How much ... 150 (plus Plus PLUS) per night. Ok cool lets do it.
Its 2:00 and the room won't be available till 3 or 4 so we take a walk (With Puglsy) through the place. (its Huge, ballrooms, meeting rooms, spa, pools, etc).
We then took a ride through town: Hot Springs (very small). then to nearby areas.. and ended up at Warm Springs. We saw The Jefferson pools and wondered what they were.
They are still in operation and are the original healing hot (98.6) springs in America. Thomas Jefferson came here in 1818. We decided to 'take the waters' Very rustic, (built 1761) building Separate men's & woman's pools. Bathing was clothing optional (good as I had no swimsuit) and the water was the perfect temp for me. I could have stayed for hours...but it was 30 degrees out of the water and quite cold when dressing.
I soaked for the whole hour, Melanie a bit less as she prefers water to be hot enough to remove skin. So back to the resort.. where at 5 our room was finally ready and a bellman brought our bags. The room was very large and well appointed with a walk out balcony to the grounds for Da Pug. So we hooked his leash in the doors and let him explore his 15ft range :)
Opps dirty paws on the rug and bed!! So a quick paw bath for the pug and we now began to consider dinner options.
There are several restaurants, bars and cafe's here but.. no jacket & tie limits our choices so we decide to go to Sam Sneed's tavern. Hmm no reservations available but we can get dinner at the bar. Lucky break #3: we get there and a couple had canceled their reservation so we were seated for a superb steak dinner immediately. The rest of the night was great and included a stop at the resort sports bar and a moonlight walk around the grounds.
Sunday we spent time taking pictures and and seeing more of the place. We took pictures at the HUGE 30ft tall) Christmas tree. We looked at the library, the ballrooms, the various shops and the grand entrance foyer and then collected out bags, da Pug and headed toward home.
Well sorta..
We went to Bridgewater for a stop & visit with Jeff & Kelly & their grandsons. We had a nice but quick visit as Pugsley was confined to the car (non pet friendly house).
We arrived home at 6.. to find a car pulling out of our driveway...
It was Beth & Tierza! They were dropping off Christmas gift for us! It just worked out that they were there just as we arrived home. 5 minutes later and we would have missed them. We all chatted for a bit then they had to go run 2 more gift drops. Funny timing yet another bit of weekend luck.
We are home now.. its 16 degrees.. and I plan to stay inside and warm!
Friday we left Natural bridge and decided to see where we ended up. On a whim we gps'd our way to The Homestead Resort in Hot Springs Va. Well GPS's are funny things. they look for the fastest route (that is how I had mine st up).. and by 10 miles distance the Garmen sent us from I64 at Clifton Forge out onto a gravel & tar fire road through the mts.
This was slightly worrisome but it turned out to be well plowed and mostly ice free roads. The 'speed limit' was 55 (which caused the GPS to think this was faster). Yea sure 55 on 1 lane wide with switchbacks. So well we did get to the resort. This place is a huge 4 Diamond resort started in 1766. With golf, skiing, swimming, a spa,theater, dancing, Dress for dinner in jacket & tie restaurants, etc. Very ritzy.
So now: #1: are the pet friendly? Yes..
#2: do they have a room: Yes they have a pet friendly room available! Woo 2 for 2!.
How much ... 150 (plus Plus PLUS) per night. Ok cool lets do it.
Its 2:00 and the room won't be available till 3 or 4 so we take a walk (With Puglsy) through the place. (its Huge, ballrooms, meeting rooms, spa, pools, etc).
We then took a ride through town: Hot Springs (very small). then to nearby areas.. and ended up at Warm Springs. We saw The Jefferson pools and wondered what they were.
They are still in operation and are the original healing hot (98.6) springs in America. Thomas Jefferson came here in 1818. We decided to 'take the waters' Very rustic, (built 1761) building Separate men's & woman's pools. Bathing was clothing optional (good as I had no swimsuit) and the water was the perfect temp for me. I could have stayed for hours...but it was 30 degrees out of the water and quite cold when dressing.
I soaked for the whole hour, Melanie a bit less as she prefers water to be hot enough to remove skin. So back to the resort.. where at 5 our room was finally ready and a bellman brought our bags. The room was very large and well appointed with a walk out balcony to the grounds for Da Pug. So we hooked his leash in the doors and let him explore his 15ft range :)
Opps dirty paws on the rug and bed!! So a quick paw bath for the pug and we now began to consider dinner options.
There are several restaurants, bars and cafe's here but.. no jacket & tie limits our choices so we decide to go to Sam Sneed's tavern. Hmm no reservations available but we can get dinner at the bar. Lucky break #3: we get there and a couple had canceled their reservation so we were seated for a superb steak dinner immediately. The rest of the night was great and included a stop at the resort sports bar and a moonlight walk around the grounds.
Sunday we spent time taking pictures and and seeing more of the place. We took pictures at the HUGE 30ft tall) Christmas tree. We looked at the library, the ballrooms, the various shops and the grand entrance foyer and then collected out bags, da Pug and headed toward home.
Well sorta..
We went to Bridgewater for a stop & visit with Jeff & Kelly & their grandsons. We had a nice but quick visit as Pugsley was confined to the car (non pet friendly house).
We arrived home at 6.. to find a car pulling out of our driveway...
It was Beth & Tierza! They were dropping off Christmas gift for us! It just worked out that they were there just as we arrived home. 5 minutes later and we would have missed them. We all chatted for a bit then they had to go run 2 more gift drops. Funny timing yet another bit of weekend luck.
We are home now.. its 16 degrees.. and I plan to stay inside and warm!