Let me just start by saying that this post is in no way going to do justice to what may very well be one of the very best 24 hours in my life. (Click the links to view some of my pictures from the trip.)
We carpooled the 2 hours out with the president of the company (remember this was a company sponsered trip) and his wife. We arrived at the parking area right on time to catch the snow cat (a 10 passenger van on snow tracks) to take us the rest of the 5 miles to the lodge. The snow up there was incredible - they had just gotten nine fresh inches of it - everything was white and beautiful.
When we arrived at the lodge, it was made apparent to us that we were not to lift a finger. The service here was wonderful! We were given a tour of the lodge, which was built in the 1920s in just 90 days! We also got a tour of the spa, which was added in 2003. Of course many renivations have been done over the years. After the tour we congrigated in the bar area to enjoy some drinks, and play shuffleboard or darts.
Bubblehead and I were shown to our private cabin. We had a woodburning stove to help keep the chill off, and a beautiful claw-foot bathtub in the bathroom. The cabins had no TV and no phone. (The main lodge of course did, as well as wireless internet, but I vowed to stay off the internet during our stay.) We spent some time warming our feet by the fire and settling in before heading over to the lodge to join our group for lunch.
After lunch began the activities. Bubblehead almost had me talking into snowmobiling with him, (thank goodness I skipped that - go over and ask him to tell the tales.) I ultimately decided to go cross country skiing with some of the other wives. This was my first time on Nordic skis (unless you count my Nordic Track), but I did well and had a lot of fun. (I think it helped that I've been Alpine skiing since about Ella's age.)
After skiing we came in and warmed up with tea, served with fruit and cookies. Being the tea snob that I am, the "high tea" was dissappointing, but it was still nice. We visited with a man from New Orleans who was visiting Wyoming the first time.
After tea is was time for me to go have a massage. I had a hot stone massage, which was just amazing! I then showered at the spa (using all their wonderful smelling things!) and headed back to the cabin to dress for dinner.
Dinner was so delicious! I had a blackened sea bass with a berre-blanc sauce. (excuse my spelling please.) Bubblehead had the prime rib. After dinner we went to the tea room for dessert (the most amazing carrot cake I've ever had!), tea and coffee, and of course the gift exchange.
The gift exchange was actually not bad - we all had fun with it. Bubblehead "played" it well. When someone opened a gift with a $50 bill and a note saying that the money was theirs to keep and to pick another gift, Bubblehead paid attention to the gifts on the table, and the president, and was able to score the 2nd $50 bill!
The next day we had a lovely buffet breakfast. Bubblehead played some shuffleboard, and I took my book up to the spa to sit next to the fire for a little while. He then joined me for a soak in the hot tub, where we had the tub and the views to ourselves. Afterwards we sat in the sauna before getting ready to head out.
The entire stay was the most wonderful combination of activities and relaxing you could ask for, made even better by top-notch, personal service. I would love to go back in the summer for horseback riding, and to actually see the lake, which was covered in snow for our visit. It was the perfect way to start off our Christmas, especially seeing as we had absolutely no snow at home. If I could only bottle the feeling of happiness and relaxation I had being there, I'm sure I could get rich off of it.
