Have Kids, Still Spa At The Nemacolin Woodlands Resort

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By Geoffrey Aronson
Published: 15 September, 2009
Tags: spa usa

Offering a great Kids Club and entertaining nearby attractions, this Farmington, Pennsylvania resort pampers families with an amazing spa getaway.

Before I visited, I put Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in the "maybe someday" category. My wife had long sung its praises as a great spa getaway in Farmington, Pennsylvania, a couple of hours' drive from our home in the Washington area. Every year or so, she and some friends would escape for a couple of days of bonding with their bodies, free of spouses and kids. I always have preferred more active vacations than what I envisioned a spa would offer. Nor was Pennsylvania in the chilly mud season terribly appealing. The resort's ski slopes had closed for the season, I don't play golf, and the weather wasn't right for tennis. In other words, I really didn't want to go. Boy, was I wrong.

Nemacolin was great, even on a rainy weekend in late winter that kept my family of five inside for our entire visit.

Active Or Restful Pursuits

I arrived a skeptic, less than thrilled with the prospect of what I feared would turn out to be a couple of days of enforced indoor idleness. Nemacolin's great indoor pool soon had me convinced me otherwise. Swimming is one of those old fashioned sports where you can't fake it. A fancy suit or goggles will not keep you afloat, and if you tire after a lap or two, it is very difficult to slow down to catch your breath. The indoor pool, bright and clean with relaxing music, often was empty. Once or twice each day, I'd swim my regimen of around 40 laps before retiring to the huge Jacuzzi.

The workouts put my mind and body in just the right mood for a spa treatment or two. The Hot Stone Massage was brilliant. I was less impressed by the Water Path Ritual, which consisted of walking around a rectangular wading pool for 20 minutes. I guess I just didn't get it.

My wife loves the spa lifestyle -- a full range of exercise classes, followed by an aromatherapy mineral bath or maybe a facial, some Spa Cuisine and a nap before you do it all again. Our two girls slipped easily into the mold. At 16 and 13, both are old enough to sample almost the full range of spa treatments. Even the options of horseback trail riding and skeet shooting (albeit in the rain) were not enough to distract them from their newly discovered pursuit of Spa Nirvana. If you are looking for something special, you can customize tour own spa package.

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