Sunburn in September

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I’ve been MIA as of late, but for a good reason! David and I spent some time away at a spa. We spent our time at Sundara in Wisconsin Dells. Sundara has been voted as one of the top 10 spa destinations in the United States, so it’s pretty cool to have it so close by. 

It’s a pretty small place…they only have 26 rooms, and it is tucked away into the woods so you feel pretty secluded. It’s a very romantic place to go with your significant other. This was our second time going there.

Our room was very nice. They have the most comfortable beds at Sundara. Feather beds with down comforters that are so soft you sink into them and never want to get back out. Our room also had a special shower in it that had 8 massaging shower heads positioned so that you could stand in front of it and get a full body massage. 

Everyone gets their own bathrobe and sandals at check in and people pretty much wear them all over the hotel, so you don’t need to pack much for clothes. The bathrobes are once again super soft and cozy so it’s nice to be able to roam around the hotel in them instead of having to wear clothes (although I have to admit I felt somewhat akin to a beached whale in my bathrobe. Pregnancy and big fluffy bathrobes are not the most flattering combination). 

Another cool thing about the spa is that they have an outdoor pool that is open year-round, and that is a very big deal for Wisconsin! They heat the pool to about 85 degrees year round and if you go there when it is cold outside there is steam rising off the pool, with an outdoor firepit. It’s very cool!

So, David and I started out our trip at the outlet mall in the Dells, because who can resist? Then we headed over to look at the currently drained Lake Delton. It was pretty crazy to see where the lake used to be! We were surprised at how shallow the lake was (Lake Delton is a man-made lake). It looked like a big field with houses surrounding it, because a lot of vegetation had already grown in.

There were “No Trespassing” signs posted all around the lake as well as police orders not to park your car and take pictures, gawk, etc. The draining of Lake Delton has been very devastating for a lot of people in the Dells area, and I imagine they were getting very tired of all of the gawkers wandering around their houses taking pictures of the empty lake. The towncar driver at Sundara told us that right after the lake drained they had a very large influx of people into the Dells, because it was kind of like a freak show for everyone to come stare at. Now he says business has really plummeted for all of the people who relied on the Lake for their livelihood.

After we checked out the empty lake we headed over to Sundara and got checked in. Then we went over to the Kalahari and had dinner at Kahunaville and then headed over to the movie theater to watch The Dark Knight. It had been forever since we had seen a movie in the theater!

The next day we slept in, which was wonderful, and then headed to the rotunda for breakfast. Sundara serves a free breakfast every morning full of local, organic foods. I enjoy it, although I think David would prefer a heartier breakfast (everything is pretty healthy, and David is not too excited about zucchini in his scrambled eggs!).

After breakfast we headed down to the spa for the “Purifying Ritual.” It starts off with a rainfall shower where you scrub down your body with a special sand scrub. Then you head over to a sauna where you are supposed to spray your body with a hydrating mist before entering. Then another shower to rinse off. Then you alternate between a hot tub and cold plunge pool before heading to the relaxation lounge. 

Since I am pregnant I had to amend things a little bit. I spent about 2 minutes in the sauna before I felt like I was too hot, and I didn’t alternate between the hot and cold pools. I figured my body didn’t need that kind of shock, and frankly I don’t enjoy the cold pool. My doctor had given me the go-ahead prior to our trip to spend up to 30 minutes in the hot tub at a time, although that was too long for me! 

We headed outside to the pool, and we were lucky to have an 80 degree day at the end of September. We lounged around by the pool and went swimming. I had some hummus for lunch, and David enjoyed a few glasses of wine (which I jealously smelled and wished I could drink!). 

Eventually we both were called in for our scheduled massages. David had a hot stone massage and I had a “mother-to be” massage which basically uses pillows to support your body and you obviously don’t lie on your stomach at all. Both David and I agreed that we had wonderful, relaxing massages.

Then it was outside for more time at the pool. I felt compelled to spend as much time lounging by the pool as possible because I figured it would definitely be my last time doing that for at least 8 months if not more! David was getting too hot, so we eventually had to leave. When we got to the room we realized that David had a pretty bad sunburn going on! I wasn’t burned at all, but David, whose chest had not seen much sunlight all summer long, had a very red chest and stomach.

After that we showered up and headed out for dinner at Fields Steakhouse. When you stay at Sundara they have a towncar that they will drive you around town in, so we used that to go to dinner. We knew that if we had them take us the driver would walk us into the restaurant and get us a table, which in turn would alert them that we were guests at Sundara and we would each get a glass of free champagne. David was lucky enough to get to drink 2 glasses of champagne, since once again I am not able to do that at this juncture. We had an excellent dinner and were stuffed by the time we got back to our room.

They have turndown service each night at Sundara, so when you get back to your room they have the lights turned on dimly, the bed turned down, romantic music playing on the CD player, and 2 gourmet chocolates next to the bed.

The one thing I had forgotten to pack for the trip was my white noise machine. I know you are thinking that I sound crazy, but as I have mentioned in the past I have very specific needs when it comes to sleep. If my room doesn’t sound like an airplane is taking off all night long, then I can not sleep. I just really enjoy the sound of white noise, and it helps to drown out David’s heavy breathing coupled with his snoring.

I don’t know what triggers it, but every time we sleep away from home David’s snoring increases ten-fold. I can handle a little bit here and there, but when we are on trips it literally makes me go bonkers. I get so desperate that I crank up the air conditioning so that it will run all night long or go turn on the fan in the bathroom in an attempt to create some type of noise, which are really futile attempts because David’s snoring overpowers even the strongest air conditiong units.

I dealt with it the first night, and eventually ended up shoving cotton balls into my ears and wrapping a towel around my head to try to drown him out. The next day I spent some time searching on the Internet and found this wonderful site. It is a site completely dedicated to white noise (they even have pink, red, and brown noise…don’t ask me to explain the difference because I have no clue). So I rigged up my computer to play that all night long and set it next to the bed and I was able to sleep happily with my white noise!

The next morning we got to sleep in again, had our breakfast and checked out of the hotel. Then we went and took a ride on the Ducks before heading home. 

It was a very nice trip, and I was not ready to come home. The next morning when David woke up with Madeline she had puked all over her bed. She then proceeded to puke in the basement. She told us her tummy hurt and she had a slight fever. By the end of the day she was doing much better, and today she has been completely fine, but there’s nothing like a puking toddler to snap you back into reality pretty quickly!

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Tags: ducks, hot tub, lake delton, sauna, spa, sundara, white noise, wisconsin dells