Canyon Ranch Lenox BabyMoon: Day One

Good afternoon from Lenox, Massachusetts! Ryan and I are in the middle of the third and final day of our long weekend BabyMoon at Canyon Ranch, one of the most relaxing and rejuvenating resorts I’ve ever been to in my entire life. This place is magical and we’ve filled our days with hiking, delicious dining experiences, spa services, fitness classes and plenty of relaxation. It’s been an incredible experience and I’m excited to share some of it with you this afternoon!

First, in case the whole “BabyMoon” phenomenon is new to you, it’s basically an excuse for expecting parents to soak up some quality time together before a baby arrives. I had never even heard of a BabyMoon until a couple of years ago when I saw a friend post about it on Facebook, but it didn’t take much to convince me that a long weekend away with Ryan was a good idea!

Back in January, I was invited on a media visit to Canyon Ranch that centered around “Finding Your Fitness Age.” Canyon Ranch is a healthy living spa resort that offers guests everything under the sun when it comes to fitness activities, spa services, mind-body exploration, lifestyle management courses and more. If you love anything related to fitness, spa services and delicious healthy eating, Canyon Ranch is basically a dream come true. I ended up turning down the invitation because fitness tests that encourage you to push yourself just didn’t seem like a great idea for me since I was newly pregnant and still experiencing nausea along with some anxiety and trepidation surrounding what all I could and couldn’t do, etc.

When I declined and told the resort about our baby news, we started chatting about the possibility of a BabyMoon! That sounded right up my alley and since my blogger buddy Jenna had a fabulous experience on her BabyMoon at Canyon Ranch’s Tucson location, I knew Ryan and I had to make it happen. (Full disclosure: Ryan and I paid for and arranged all of our travel to Lenox, but felt very grateful to be able to stay as guests of the resort for three nights.)

We caught an early flight out of Charlotte on Saturday morning, landed in Hartford, Connecticut around 10 a.m. and after a 60-minute drive, arrived at the ranch just before lunchtime. With nearly a full day ahead of us, we were determined to make the most of our afternoon and evening on the property and, after checking in and grabbing an activity schedule, headed to the dining room to chat about our plans and grab a bite to eat.

I quickly noticed numbers beside the dishes listed on the menu and realized Canyon Ranch shares a breakdown of nutritional information for all of the meals and snacks served at the resort. I do not personally count calories, but I love it when this information is readily available because it can be so eye-opening to see what you’re eating (especially when something like a salad ends up being more caloric than a burger at some restaurants)! In the case of the food at Canyon Ranch, most of the portions are rather small, so I almost always ordered an appetizer and an entree and split another entree with Ryan (or even ordered two myself). Since we’ve been so active on this trip, we’ve been pretty darn hungry and thankfully the food we’ve enjoyed so far has been incredibly fresh, satisfying and delicious. I actually love that the portions aren’t huge so you’re able to try a bunch of things and leave the restaurants feeling satisfied but not overly stuffed.

After lunch (I started with a cup of soup and a small salad from the salad bar and ordered the lobster and shrimp roll sandwich and the apple crostata for dessert – both pictured above), we decided to check out the trails on the resort grounds and headed outside to complete a two-mile loop.

It was gorgeous outside and since Saturday ended up being the only day without rain and clouds, I’m glad we took advantage of some outdoor activity! Walking the trails was a great thing to do after we arrived because it gave us a feel for the grounds on the ranch and we were able to see everything and get ourselves acclimated.

We didn’t have too much time to waste before our first spa service, so after our walk, we came back to the room to shower and head back out. Ryan had a deep tissue massage on the agenda and I was off to the salon for a manicure that I’m hoping will last through my baby shower next weekend.

During my manicure, I chatted with a few of the women working in the salon and quickly realized that a lot of the people working at Canyon Ranch have been working there for years and years… We’re talking 15+ years for many of the people which is awesome.

Once my nails were done, I met back up with Ryan for dinner at The Cafe!

There are a few dining options at Canyon Ranch: The Dining Room, The Cafe and, during warmer months, the outdoor Café Jardin. During our stay, we’ve flip flopped between The Cafe and the Dining Room, though in the end I think Ryan and I would agree that we prefer the food and ambiance of The Cafe. It’s bright and airy and the farm-to-table dining style is right up our alley.

To begin, Ryan and I shared the grilled artichoke starter and I also ordered the black truffle mushrooms and thought both were incredible. (Ryan also got the beef and farro soup that tasted like the most comforting bowl of beef stew. Loved it as well!)

 

For my main meal, I ordered the seared scallops and the roasted veggie pizza while Ryan ordered the gnocchi and grass-fed hangar steak.

The dinner from our first night ended up being our favorite meal at the ranch so far. We left dinner feeling satisfied and decided to take our desserts to go so we could enjoy them in our room later in the evening. (I had the dark chocolate cheesecake which I’ve since enjoyed every single night. The best!)

Please take a second to note the large pillow next to me… When we were getting settled in our room, I took some time to browse through the resort’s informational packets and found a section all about pillows you can request. When I saw a full-length body pillow on the list, my Snoogle/pregnancy-pillow loving heart skipped a beat. I requested the body pillow to use during our stay which has been wonderful!

Before we were in for the evening, Ryan and I had one more activity on our agenda and headed out to play BINGO at 9 p.m. BINGO was packed with guests of all ages and though we didn’t win anything, it was still a fun way to wind down.

We wrapped up our first night at Canyon Ranch by stopping by the movie section to pick up a DVD to watch in our room.

They have tons of old favorites and even more recent releases. I was quite impressed with their selection… They had everything you can currently find on RedBox and way more!

And now I am off to soak up the rest of our final day on the ranch! We’re hoping for another relaxing dinner tonight and I have a facial on the agenda for early this evening which I am really, really looking forward to since I’ve only ever had one facial in my life and I’m pretty sure that was 10+ years ago.

I hope you’re having a great Monday and I’ll see you guys tomorrow!