Ah, vacation; long months of planning and anticipation, the sweet arrival of the day of departure. Now begins the actual stretch of time where the days languidly melt into one another. Time becomes irrelevant and knowledge of the actual day and date slips way back into the furthermost recesses of consciousness. Then, zap! before you know it, it's all over and it's life in the real world once more.
We recently returned from a vacation spent at two separate locations. We visited two clothing-optional resorts which were at totally opposite ends of the spectrum of the nude experience. It was amazing. Who'd have thought two places where the majority of people go about pursuing their choices of relaxing activities sans clothing could be so different? But they were.
We spent the first half of our holiday at our favorite hot springs. I've written much about this magical place in past entries. The visitors there are laid back, liberal, sometimes philosophical and occasionally artsy-fartsy. The guests at the second place we went to were, for the most part, simply fartsy...as in old fart(sy). After much discussion we decided we should perhaps branch out a bit and check out a different clothing-optional place. I'm not sure what we were expecting but I don't think it was what we encountered; a large group of folks whose accumulated age averaged out to around 70! The age group at the Springs ranges from 18 to late seventies. The group of people at the new place was as right-wing, God Bless America (and no one else!), George W. fans as you could possibly imagine. It was as if we'd been magically transported into an imaginary future in the "King of the Hill" animated series to hang out with "the boys" and every other one was very much like Dale, the paranoid exterminator. The chit-chat never seemed to vary from what kind of RV so and so had along with a boring running commentary on all the other resorts all over the country that were...Just Like This! I believe I just might've sampled my first "Twilight Zone" experience. And all this, a mere two and a half hours from where we live. I'm exaggerating, of course, but you get the picture.
The Springs is a retreat comprised of 27 acres for naturists to step away from the world and reflect upon nature, themselves and how the two can truly complement each other. There are several cabins, a rustic lodge housing a communal kitchen and dining room and a few campsites for walk-in tent camping only. There's a steam room, sauna, cool pool, an old-time redwood hot tub and four private tubs for individual soaking. Mineral water smelling faintly of sulpher flows into all of these. This place is situated in a small, narrow valley. There are no radios, no phones, no newspapers, no TVs and cell phones simply do not work. Pure, unadulterated bliss.
The new (to us) place was a resort for nudists to sun, soak, play tennis, billiards, dance, play bocce ball, shuffleboard, eat meals in a restaurant or belly up to the bar stark naked. There were three chlorine-scented swimming pools and two jacuzzis, a boutique to visit and pedal boats to putz about on the lake (which nobody stepped foot into). This resort encompassed 250 acres on which was parked a sea of RVs, campers, trailers and stationery mobile homes with sweet little green lawns in front and all the kitschy decorating paraphernalia you could ever want to see. Many of these folks spend the better part of the year here and some live here year round.
Overall, we had a glorious time at both places luxuriating in a continuous cycle of sunning, soaking, swimming, sex, snoozing, sleeping, sex and feasting upon fantastic meals while sipping an array of exquisite wines. It was, in a word, Sensational. Would I like to return to the activity-filled resort populated by folks nearing the age of those I assist in my workplace each day? Probably not but now I can say I've been there and if ever I wish to return someday, I know how to get there. In the future, I'll be more than happy to spend an au natural vacation at the Springs. I always suspected it was the greatest place on earth. Now I'm sure.
