Close to home.

Stay-cation (n.): A vacation spent close to home.

Life gets crazy. Sometimes, a change of scenery is all you need…even when it’s close to home. We enjoyed a weekend (not far) away recently at the Antelope Yurt. This weekend, we “escaped” to a local hotel- and it took us just 13 minutes to get there.

For a couple of weeks, John had been hinting at a surprise for this weekend. We’d both been having a hard time with various things recently, and needed something fun to look forward to. On Friday, he told me to “pack a weekend bag” and offered no more information. After filling the car with enough stuff for a month-long vacation, we dropped off Cholula with a friend and headed toward our secret destination.

With John’s mountain bike on top of the car, I knew we weren’t headed to the airport. He stonewalled me as I guessed at the possibilities. I didn’t have much time to brainstorm because all of a sudden, we were there: the Waldorf Astoria.

John’s incredible at discovering unknown deals, and apparently, the Waldorf offers a deeply discounted rate for locals during the summer. As we walked through the chandeliered lobby toward our suite, I felt like a princess. Our room was lovely, with a fireplace and a view. I immediately slid my feet into the slippers by the bed. Our stress was gone. A thunderstorm threatened outside- but neither of us cared.

Our dinner that evening was delectable- a beautiful meat and cheese platter, a short rib “hot pot” for me, and a steak for John. I loved the cozy leather seats in our nook. My only regret is not saving room for dessert.

Inexplicably, John and I awoke before dawn the next day. The sun was just rising and the sky was gorgeous. We savored the quiet as we watched the colors change, then ordered room service and munched breakfast in our robes. Yum! And then we promptly fell back asleep for two hours.

When we woke up for real, the sun was (sort of) out- so we headed to the pool, a bag of magazines in tow. The sun played peek-a-boo behind a few giant thunderheads, but no more than a few raindrops fell- in fact, we both got slight sunburns. We read, we had lunch, we swam. We watched the laughing families, here on vacation. I heard a woman on her cell phone talking about how fabulous Park City is, how nice the people are, how much she was enjoying her brief stay. I felt a wave of gratitude that this is our home.

In the afternoon, we headed toward the big event of the weekend- a couple’s massage at the hotel spa. We both had knots of tension all over our bodies and couldn’t wait for this experience. The spa itself was beautiful- quite modern but cozy. After our treatment, John and I both said that it was the best massage we’d had!

We sat at the bar for dinner that night, chatting with the bartender and watching football. A roasted corn bisque was served in adorable little pots, and we shared the grilled cheese and apple sandwich and a tasty burger. Again, we intended to order dessert to take to our room but were too full! Delicious.

Yesterday, we slept late, simultaneously luxuriating in the soft bed and missing our four-legged bed hog. We pushed the check-out time to the limit, and John mentioned one last small surprise for me. I looked up to see our friends walk in, who were joining us for brunch! Yay! We sat on the patio, sipping mimosas and Bloody Maries and devouring tasty meals. And then it was time to go home.

As we drove out of the hotel’s driveway, I thanked John for such a magnificent surprise weekend together. Cholula squiggled and squealed when we picked her up – and so did we. We were home before we knew it, our stay-cation complete. It was the perfect rejuvenator for us both.

After one last weekend nap, that is. There really is no place like home.