Last Amazing Day at Canyon Ranch

Alas, a bitter sweet day, because it's our last.  We've had Lots of adventures, made new friends, had great exercise classes, devoured chocolate covered bananas, took a major mountain hike (by some), saw two Great Horned Owls and several Havalinas..   And what, you may ask, is a Havalina?  There is a photo below.  They look like small black pigs, but they are in fact, part of the rodent family. Annette spotted about ten of them this morning on the "Great Hike".  It was supposed to be a level 2 hike that turned out to be a level 3!!  Annette made it all the way to the top!  Arlene  got almost there.. She didn't have on good hiking shoes and was worried about slipping on the descent....

While my roomies were climbing, I was sketching and painting. We drove to an art gallery and grounds of the famous artist De Grazia.  You may not recognize the name, but I think you will recognize the style.  Many of his Indian children water colors have ended up on greeting cards.  We visited his simple home where he worked in a lot of different art mediums.  He died sometime in the early 1980's..I had a great time taking photos on the grounds and then attempted to do a watercolor of the mountains.  Watercolor is a very hard medium to work in without any experience..I think I will need to take a basic drawing class when I get home.

I had a great Aqua Exercise class while Annette and Arlene went to Melissa's Zumba class (always a joyful event that everyone loves!). After lunch ( which by the way was awesome --hamburger and real pizza  followed by the hidden dessert secret of chocolate covered bananas ) we rolled over to Ball Class.  Wow, talk about hard!  It is a GREAT class to teach balance, but oh my goodness, if you have balance or Ab issues, you will not be doing some of these exercises,  BUT you will giggle a lot!  Annette actually did quite well.  Her "core" has definitely gotten stronger...

Dinner was lovely.. We actually had another chance to visit with one of our new friends we met the other day.  This is her second year at the Ranch.. Last year, she was at a 35% physical fitness level.  Since then, she has lost 80 lbs. and has now tested at the 95% physical fitness level!  She looks awesome and is doing so well!  Great success story that shows what you can accomplish if motivated..

Annette surprised me with a bag of birthday "goodies" and the Ranch happily provided me with a chocolate birthday cake!! Yum!   The birthday celebration has definitely begun!  Arlene gave me the magnificent gift of a book that she has made that contains all my blogs!!  Can't wait to see it and re-visit all the great travel experiences of the last couple of years!!

And, of course, the evening would not be complete without our nightly spa massages!  We all come home totally relaxed and ready for bed!  Tonight, I experienced an Ahh Shiatsu Massage.  It's a wonderful deep tissue massage done with someone walking on your back.  It is a great skill.  Because of the weight they can get behind it, they can go much deeper into sore muscles and its more comfortable then working with the hands on those muscles.  There is only one place in the US that teaches the technique..  It was a great experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  

We're all packed (we think) and ready for our 6:00am wake up. We're coming home with tons of great memories and experiences as well as some new friends we hope will stay in touch ..

We've changed our minds.  We're staying until the rains come in August!!