Mmmm … this is where the trip began to come a bit unstuck. Briefly. It’s not that it was a bad place, it was after all what the Tortuga and her friend intended – a health spa stop over in St George, Utah – but the Old Tortoise was expecting another 5-star hotel, not some scientific research facility with a reception manned by Mr Personality-Removed.
Having said that the rooms were spectacular with the most amazing beds. The children had a great time in the pool and a day playing tennis, the Tortuga got herself encased in mud and massaged. And once we worked out that the dining room was not the place to be and catered au-apartement courtesy of the local Wall-Mart things turned out not so bad.
It is worth mentioning that the service in the dining room was appalling. Plus once we identified the (limited) wine list, the only interesting item – the champagne – was inevitably out of stock. I am ashamed to say that this Old Tortoise spent a day and a half mostly on the couch, mostly watching daytime TV and mostly swigging vodka and tonic, waiting for the moment he was instructed to load up the truck and head out of Dodge. He didn’t dare spark up a cigar in case the Spa Police got wind of it.