CHRONIQUE AMÉRICAINE

Slow Season Percks for the Stressed-Out!

(Un repos saisonnier anti-stress)

By Linda Mullally, California


"Chronique américaine"
de Linda Mullally,
Californie

"Un repos saisonnier anti-stress à Ventana, Californie" 

Slow Season Perks for the Stressed-Out!   

      By Linda Mullally

    
  
It starts with your hair dresser announcing that someone has mowed a crop circle on the crown of your scalp. Justifiably alarmed you rush off to your dermatologist, who confirms a condition called “Alopecia Areata”, auto-immune glitch causing inflammation of the hair follicle resulting in patchwork loss of hair. 

     
Photo: East Morela Hike.

 “Have you been under stress lately,” she asks scribbling a prescription for a topical remedy aimed at treating the symptoms while you examine your life, your pace and priorities for the possible root of the problem. 

     
 In this era when the accepted and expected speed limit on the highway of life is pedal to the metal until you hit exhaustion, not so surprising for the soul to revolt by popping hairy rivets off your lid! 

      
Who knows if the culprit is overdrive multi-tasking, techno connection compulsion, the 24 hour news cyclone, worry over a friend or relative, or dripping in sweat over too much small stuff? Oh, I almost forgot about that little irritant – something about the “New Economy”. You would have to be brain dead or from another planet to not have been grazed by concern over the global financial debacle.

      
Options and remedies for stress and anxiety are as varied as the personalities and syndromes. Meditation, yoga, Valium, Xanax, vacation or vino, all can take you to mellow.

Photo: Ventana Patio. 
      
An inn to inn walking vacation in the south of France sounds dreamy, unless you dread running the gauntlet at the airport between check-in and security or being trapped in a sneeze ’n wheeze capsule at 30,000 feet for 14 hours, or don’t have the stomach for the showdown between dollar and Euro.

      In spite of what his critics may claim, President Obama’s policies have rescued the United States from the brink of total financial ruin, but a healthy recovery is still elusive.  On the bright side, while the Republican and conservative Democrat obstructionists continue to fight health care reform and any program that might shift the still sputtering economy into higher gear, visitors can count on getaway deals to get more alluring.

        The Monterey Bay area, a world class vacation and retirement destination has just the treatment for frayed nerves and a stressed-out soul to reboot and recharge adrenaline batteries.
 
Even with a holiday-busted budget, because the Monterey Bay’s bank of tourists is as depleted as your savings and your energy reserves, the lethargic winter season, especially on week days, opens the door to an exclusive and rousing apothecary of “perks” at many resorts, restaurants and spas to invigorate you and the local economy.   

Photo: One of Ventana Pools.

      After 30 years and $18 million dollars of recent TLC, Ventana Inn and Spa remains the most magical cocoon to relax, retreat, rejuvenate, beat a burnout, or jumpstart New Year’s self-improvement goals.   This secluded 240-acre cozy mountainside enclave embraced by redwood groves lording over the rugged Pacific on the Big Sur coast entices locals to taste its blend of rustic and elegance with discounted rates until at least April 1st.       

      The 28 mile scenic drive south from Carmel to Ventana Inn and Spa on the Big Sur coast will leave you breathless. If getting fitter is on your list of goals for 2010, exertion opportunities abound along southbound Highway with coastal hiking trails from flat and leisurely to hilly and heart-thumping.

      Turn left at the Ventana Inn sign and prepare to cross the threshold into a universe of serene seclusion as you follow the meandering driveway past soothing water spilling sculptures.

Wood, stone and simple architecture compliments rather than competes with the natural landscape. Lush vegetation sprinkled with swaying hammocks, luxurious accents of plush robes, soft linens, four poster beds, and indoor and outdoor fireside sitting areas enhance the property’s romantic mood, while ocean or forest view verandahs guarantee privacy.

      Check-in around three o’clock to enjoy wine and cheese and a complimentary chair massage while the valet delivers your bag to your suite and warms your space aglow with a crackling fire. 

      A few laps in one of the two outdoor heated pools followed by a soak in the adjoining Japanese baths will melt any residual tension before the evening’s highlight, dinner in The Restaurant at Ventana. The valet will be happy to whisk you to the dining room in the electric shuttle, but why not stick to your fitness theme and enjoy the ten minute stroll along the discreetly lit wooded path beneath the starry skylight.

      Vancouver Island-born Executive Chef Dory Ford left the helm of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Portola Café to join the Ventana team after a kitchen fire shut down Cielo restaurant for almost two years.  Under Chef Ford’s creative influence, the dining room reinvented itself as The Restaurant at Ventana preserving Cielo’s warm ambiance with an emphasis on fresh sustainable seasonal cuisine.

There’s a 21 page wine list highlighting California wines sprinkled with vintages from three other continents to pair with the menu’s harmony of meat, fish and greens. Although all the deserts are tempting and deceitfully sinful from Meyer lemon meringue and chocolate trio creations to apple strudel and honey ice cream, my one disappointment was the absence of Nanaimo bars on the menu.
 
In truth, this sumptuous three-layer west coast taste bud teaser of dark chocolate, butter cream custard on a bed of graham cracker dust may be a tad too homespun for sophisticated dinner palates, but Chef Ford promised to introduce the Canadian confection to the lunch menu and I intend to hold him to it!

      After a heavenly night, indulge in the Bistro’s complimentary breakfast bar of warm flaky pastries, healthful cereals, succulent fruit and buttery cheeses. Luckily, you can burn the extra croissant in a yoga class or on a scenic hike winding up the trail above Ventana for a few minutes to a few hours. 

You’ll be amazed and inspired by the robust resilience of the recently scorched and scarred canyon now healing under a salve of green grass and redwood saplings. There’s poetry if not spirituality in the idea that Ventana Inn, the surrounding fire devastated habitat and you are striving to return to your “original splendor”.

      Disengage gently and gradually from the inn’s nurturing sensory cocoon with a massage followed by lunch on the terrace as you breathe in the vistas and the ocean breeze thick with energizing negative ions. Something feels different - your heart beats rather than races, worry lines melt into smile folds and your scalp tingles with new hair follicles dancing with growth. You emerge rested, refreshed, renewed, revitalized and resolute, good to go for another year! 

      For more information about the Ventana Inn and Spa go to
www.ventanainn.org

      More Monterey Bay getaway specials at www.seemonterey.org

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SEE also: — Allez sur:
http://journalquebecpresse.org/module ... /article.php?storyid=1159