We’re baaaaack! Okay, so we’ve been back since Sunday… For the life of me, I will never understand how bloggers with full time jobs post every day! Time just gets away from me.
We had an amazing, relaxing, much needed, pampered weekend at The Homestead last weekend. Thinking about how giddy I was this time last week, rushing home from work to jump in the car with Tyler, makes me wish we were going back this weekend. I am in no way being compensated for this, this is just another official BD endorsement…
The Homestead is in Hot Springs, VA, close to the West Virginia border, southwest of DC by about 200 miles. The last 30 or 40 miles are driving up the mountain, so it’s long and slow but beautiful…
Despite the 4-6” of snow in the forecast and the occasional snow fall, it never really accumulated. Welcome to the 497th time I’ve been disappointed this season by the lack of snow… However, this had no bearing on our weekend whatsoever.
The hotel is huge and beautiful and nestled in a small town on the top of a mountain. It was built in 1766 and looks very much the part… Everywhere we went, I felt like we were on the Titanic or in the pages of The Great Gatsby… I was in heaven. {All pictures are from my phone—that’s why they’re so awesome.}
{The main lobby}
OR in The Shining… There were a lot of these creepy staircases and long hallways {leading to rooms full of dead people…}.
Proof.
{Okay, so that was doctored but this is not…}
Our room was great—we both commented that we felt like we were staying in a room in someone’s home {a home with a well-stocked mini bar with $8 Chex Mix…}.
And we ate so much that I was a solid six pounds heavier on Monday morning than I was on Friday… {Is that really possible? I mean…}
Friday night we ate at Sam Snead’s which is off the property, but still part of the resort and just across the street. The menu is small, but the food was great… The next night we ate at “the casino” on the property—it was clearly not a casino, but I’m assuming sometime over the last 250 years it was… We both ordered the lobster mac & cheese because when either of us sees any form of mac & cheese on a menu, everything else goes blurry.
Saturday morning we ventured out to go skiing. Now, I wouldn’t go here exclusively for skiing but it’s one of the many outdoor options and since our package included two free outdoor activities, we went skiing! Because of the mild winter there was only one lift and one main slope open…which apparently proved too much for me!
It may have not snowed much but it was COLD out there and thank God because otherwise Tyler would have had his gloves off, videoing my every last fall down the mountain.
So, I fell getting off of the ski lift… which is when I probably should have just turned around. Once we skied on, I found myself at the top of a very narrow, very steep mountain. I think I fell six times my first run. My husband is very patient.
{Lunch in the lodge… Hot chocolate never tasted better.}
This is pretty much how it went… “I’M GOING TOO FAST. Turn right…{light pole}…quick turn left…{woods!}…turn right….{fall.}” At one point Tyler was behind me screaming “YOU’RE SNOW PLOWING TOO MUCH!!” “THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I’M TRYING TO DO!!” My best run, I only fell twice and I was thrilled.
It was only the first 50 or 100 yards that were hard—the rest of the slope was great! Fun, fast…It was great. But the world’s slowest ski lift, followed by ten minutes of falling and getting back up, just to get in three minutes of fun skiing wore off quickly… After lunch, the temperatures dropped to 20 degrees, the snow makers were on, and I fell about 20 yards up from one. So I’m on the side of a mountain, freezing, laying on the ground for the 100th time, snow blasting in my face, and I’m done. I have a bruise the size of China on my right hip.
{My day 11 picture…what makes me happy: this guy and snow….}
This is the map of the slopes—I stopped to snap a picture on our way out, which is when I realized why the top of the mountain was so dang hard… It was a black diamond. Yes, a black diamond in VIRGINIA, but still… Homegirl hadn’t skied in a loooong time and had no business on a black diamond. Anyway, I actually had a great time! It was just exhausting.
We thought the best way to let our muscles recover was a trip to the hot springs, but we found out they’re clothing optional and thus, not co-ed. So instead of sitting in separate hot springs, we went to the indoor pool.
Sunday we enjoyed the brunch spread in the main dining room, which is beautiful. It serves as the main restaurant, 1766, in the evenings but prepare yourself for a $300 dinner if you go {which is why we went for brunch…}.
And this concludes my commercial for the Homestead! It was such a nice weekend to escape just the two of us. The service was fantastic; it was the perfect mix of lazy and active, we felt pampered while we still got a great deal on our stay {thank you, Travel Zoo}, and we felt far away from home though we were any easy 200 miles away. I recommend it to everyone, but especially to all of you DC-ers looking to get out of town for a few days…
As for this weekend, we’re going something ground breaking for our long weekend. We’re staying home.
Happy Friday!
