More from the Great San Francisco Adventure of ‘08…

Jess’s parents hooked us up with an AMAZING stay at the Fairmont Sonoma Inn and Spa.  I was kind of walking around, mouth agape, for the whole experience, but I did take a picture of the bed in our room:

And this picture of cake:

In an amazing act of generosity, our stay included two spa treatments!
What I got:

Honey Steam Wrap:  I was slathered with Sonoma honey by a bald guy with HUGE MITTS and wrapped in this warm body burrito thing while the guy (did I mention HUGE hands?!) massaged my scalp and feet.  I was then put in a euchalyptus steam room for about ten minutes, after which I showered (on my own) and then had aloe vera lotion applied head to toe.

Aromatherapy Massage:  I told the guy I sat at a computer 40 hours a week and he ripped my shoulders a new one.  He said I would benefit from weekly massage, and I promised to tell my boyfriend this.

After our treatments we took advantage of the mineral bathing rituals which consisted of a mineral wading pool,  jet spa, steam room and sauna. Then you take a cold shower and do the rotation as many times as you want.  I was at the peak of relaxation and couldn’t exactly take pictures, but here’s what it looked like…

Pretty amazing.

That night, we ate at Sante, the hotel’s fine restaurant, or as I like to call it, “Hey! I saw this made on Top Chef, once.”  (Mushroom consumme with FOAM! Suck it, Marcel!)  Toward the end of the meal, this young man came up to us with a cheese cart.  Granted, I can’t really name how many actual cheese carts I’ve seen, but this one was impressive - I’d say about 15 varietes.  The young man’s name was Russell, so you knew he was going to be entertaining.  I’ve never heard anyone talk about cheese so adoringly, and probably never will.  Each cheese told a story, where it came from, was it pungent, was it mild, could you eat the rind, this cheese is from a sheep that ate wheatberries and wild grass, etc.  I got the giggles in the middle of the presentation which of course is contagious.  We agreed to try some most likely because we felt bad but also because the kid was SO fucking passionate about cheese.  He whipped out this special knife and started cleaning it with these oddly precise motions, which made Nurse Annie nervous.  We watched him without knowing what to say, and in the silence he asked, not-so-smoothly, “So, you ladies into cheese?”

We could not lie. We totally were.