The Surprise

We dropped off Son at the airport for a 10:15 flight and said goodbye again. This made me sad although it's worth mentioning that I'm very proud of him and happy that he is doing well on his own. But I still miss him when he's gone.

We came home and I was told to be ready to leave by 12:15. And make sure that I had a good lunch before we left. I asked if I needed to do anything to get ready. The answer was no, we just needed to leave at that time as we were expected to be somewhere at a certain time. Oh, and maybe bring my knitting.

When we got in the car, he told me we were headed to Santa Fe. The knitting was to give me something to do on the drive, but instead I just enjoyed the scenery. The farther north we went, the more frequently we saw patches of snow on the southwest corner of the hills. It was really pretty.

In Santa Fe, we needed to fill up. We took my car, which is diesel, and finding a gas station with diesel proved to be a bit challenging. I've never had a problem near Albuquerque, but apparently in the Santa Fe, it is a different story.

With a full tank, we headed up into the mountains. About 5 minutes before we arrived at our destination, he got a phone call on his cell from Ten Thousand Waves. Apparently we had an appt at 2:00 and had been advised to be there a bit early and hadn't shown up yet. We informed them that we were running just a bit late (due to the diesel hunt) and were almost there.

What is Ten Thousand Waves, you ask? It is a mountain spa resort that is designed to feel like a Japanese onsen. They have both communal and private baths (outdoor hot tubs) and offer a large array of spa and massage services. In the paragraph above, I linked to their facebook photo album. Humor me, if you will, and take a peek so that you have a better understanding what this lovely resort is like.

I've heard great things about Ten Thousand Waves and was excited to learn that this was our destination. Upon arrival, we were given kimonos, directions to a private outdoor hot tub, and escorted to the changing rooms. It wasn't until we were in the the hot tub that he informed me that he had scheduled us for a full afternoon of services and this was just the beginning...

They notified us (through an intercom system) when our time for the soak was almost up and directed us to wait in a lobby area. When we checked in at the lobby, they instructed us to head to the sauna. From there, two therapists took us to a large double room with two massage tables. We were cocooned in hot, herb-soaked linens and given a head/shoulder massage while the herbs seeped into our skin. When that was over, we were instructed to take a COLD shower to close our pores.

After the cold shower, back to the tables for a long therapeutic massage. My therapist spent most of her time working out some tension in my right shoulder. It wasn't exactly fun at the time, but I must say that my shoulder is feeling much better this morning. So it seemed to have worked well for me. After the massage, we were covered in hot oil, sprinkled with salt, and given a salt scrub. After this another shower and some instruction not to use soap for the next 24hrs to give the oil time to really penetrate the skin. From there we had the option to visit the sauna again (which Husband did, but I declined). And then back to the dressing room as our afternoon services were over.

All tolled, we were pampered for about 3.5 hours. It was a wonderful and relaxing afternoon together and a real surprise. That's something I'd probably never splurge on for myself. Experiencing it together was quite special. I'm still not quite sure what gave him the idea to surprise me like that on this particular day, but it's most certainly an afternoon I won't soon forget...