Still on Vacation...

Today is our last full day here at the French Manor Inn and Spa in beautiful South Sterling, Pennsylvania. We are happy, relaxed, well-fed, massaged, and generally mellow. This will all change, of course, when I get back to work on Monday ... but for now, life is good.

It's a cool and cloudy morning, with a light breeze blowing. The temperature should go up to about 71 today under partly cloudy skies, and there's only a 20% chance of rain, so we may be able to get our picnic in after all (one of the things included in our package at the hotel is a fully-packed picnic basket on one day of the stay...so far, it's been too chilly and rainy to take advantage of it, but perhaps today is the day. It had better be, since we have to leave tomorrow. Sigh).

Yesterday we visited the Spa (right downstairs from our room, a two-minute walk) and had a "couples massage" followed by "facials." Agnes talked me into the facial, which I didn't want to spend the money on because there isn't enough industrial strength spa treatment in the world to do much with this face, but she's pretty persistent, so I decided to go ahead with it.

We began with the usual filling out of all the forms that relieved the masseur, the masseuse, and the Spa of liability if we died on the table, then changed into our spa robes. Since we were the only customers in the place that morning, they graciously allowed us to change together in the ladies locker room (!), after which we repaired to the couple's room, took our places on the massage tables, and surrendered to the ministrations of the staff.

After 50 minutes of kneading, stretching, and prodding, I felt like a boneless chicken. Then came the facial. I'd never had one of those before, and am still not completely convinced I really enjoyed it. It did feel good, and Agnes told me I looked younger (as did she), but some of the gloss wore off when the masseur told me he thought I looked like the actor Ray Liotta...

You be the judge...

Personally, I think Ray Liotta ought to look like me.

After we finished at the Spa, we went back to our room to see if the drizzling rain would finally stop so that we could go for a nice walk to work off some of the good meals. Eventually, the drizzle let up and the sky partially cleared, and we walked down the mountain to admire the landscape and take pictures. Here are a few pictures of the surrounding area.

It's called Huckleberry Mountain for a reason...

This is the entrance to the driveway up the hill to the hotel...

If you continue on Huckleberry Road instead of turning up to the hotel, this is what you see...

Along with beautiful scenic vistas through the breaks in the trees...

Coming back up the hill to the hotel, this is a view of our room's balcony, with the tower of the main building next door...

This is a very nice place, highly recommended for a quiet, relaxing, scenic stay. Especially once the rain stops! We'll be outside the rest of the day, enjoying the sunshine and our picnic lunch. And probably another swim later.

Believe me, I'm going to enjoy it now ... Monday will be here soon enough.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo