Spas on the Road

A trip to your local spa is often part of your personal wellness and beauty routine. Perhaps you go every six weeks to get a facial and try to get a massage every month. However, a trip to a spa while you’re traveling can be something else entirely.

It’s a new experience with different treatment offerings, AND you leave the spa and return to your travel schedule, not a pile of laundry or a dinner to cook.

Recently I visited Spa Toscana at the Peppermill Resort, Spa, Casino in Reno while my husband, Randy, was attending a conference. I scheduled a short 50-minute scrub/massage and planned to check out the spa. After lunch, I was going to the Georgia O’Keefe exhibit at the Nevada Museum of Art. That never happened. I spent five hours at Spa Toscana, lounging, luxuriating, and feeling pampered. I also went back to the hotel and slept almost two hours before the conference banquet. I can tell you, I was totally relaxed.

Not a sparkly new spa like some I’ve visited recently, Spa Toscana has a soothing old-world vibe with marble everywhere: on countertops, walls, floors, columns. It feels rich and gracious; like you’re visiting the home of a generous relative or friend. Because it is huge — 33,000 square feet— there are innumerable spaces on three floors that provide you with plenty of room to move around in and explore.

Of course, the dressing room floor has all of the basics: showers, toilets, lockers. But there are some lovely surprises. There are separate vanities with individual sinks that host a magnifying mirror, hair dryers and curling irons, and such things as hairspray and mouthwash with additional amenities available upon request. It’s fun to have your own space and tools so you can spread out your makeup and take your time.  On this floor, you’ll also find a women’s only hot tub (large enough for large groups), and a eucalyptus steam room, sauna, and cold-water plunge, all right outside the dressing room.

Treatment rooms are on the second floor and are accessed by a private elevator (the men have their own on the other side). If I were to give a theme to my visit it would be “unbelievably comfy places to sit.” The seats in the lounge were like white clouds with ottomans. Headphones were available with calming spa music and there were snacks, water and teas. My scrub/massage was great. I love it when there is a shower in the room and no one has to try to rub off all the grit with a towel before the massage. Light and sound and multiple spray heads made for a nice bonus. Afterwards I found myself back in the lounge for a little more chair time.

The halotherapy or salt room featured an entire wall of salt, lit from behind, that gave the impression of having entered a room made of amber. Seating here was basically a bench, but there were footstools underneath that pulled out for extra comfort. I was already pretty relaxed so I don’t know if the salt room helped relieve tension or not. It was certainly pretty and peaceful.

Next was a ride up to the fourth floor that had another lounge area and what is called the Caldarium. It was spectacular with an indoor pool with three small hot tubs at its edges, and huge French doors that opened to an outdoor sun deck. This is where my original day’s plans started to dissemble — I knew I had to spend time here. Huge plants (alive and lush) filled the room and warm, natural light filtered in through the open doors and floor-to-ceiling windows.

In some spas, when you ask about getting something to eat, they’ll look at you (almost rolling their eyes) as if to say, “and now you want to eat something too?” And then they’ll bring you a tiny menu, make you wait for what seems like forever to be served, and then charge an exorbitant amount with service fee on top of service fee.

Not so Spa Toscana!

There was waitstaff eager to serve you. The menu had many options. In no time I had a salad and California roll, a glass of wine, and — you guessed it — a great place to kick back, read a magazine (current I might add), and relax. The lounge chair itself was amazing. You could raise the foot and head to any level, or make it completely flat. It had headphones and an iPad in a drawer that allowed you to choose the type of music you wanted and you not only heard the music, you felt the vibrations through the chair. So fun.

There was so much to see and do, I didn’t get it all in. I couldn’t find the deluge showers , but admittedly didn’t look too hard. I only stuck my head in the relaxation room with its almost dark room, movie theater recliners, and star studded screen. I slipped through the salon just to see it (they serve wine there too). It was a big space and the chairs were so comfy…

Spa Toscana gets a five-towel rating. You probably guessed that. And because of its many spaces, it gets both a Martini and a Yogini designation. In other words, it has plenty of spaces to get loud and party a bit, and others for real rest and reflection.

Final note:  As always, I paid for my spa treatment and food in accordance with my commitment to ethics.

Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.

The Buddha