Nora has three weeks of recaps ahead of her in July, so I offered to write one about the nearly back-to-back girl trips we shared.
As long-time readers of this blog know, the spring trip to Nemacolin is filled with a weird duality: relaxing days, competitive evenings. Or, as I tenderly put it, Stupid Games. We’ll get to them in a bit.
Sarah and I joined Nora and Kayla in the party(ish) bus out. Why not let someone else do the work while we caught up (and sipped some Veuve)? On the way, BW texted me that we’d left the Switch (and all the games) at the house. I would have been fine shrugging that off as an “Oh, well!” but I realized Nicole didn’t plan to leave until noon. I heroically asked if she’d mind stopping by Nora’s to get the Switch. She said yes.
Darn it all.
After a smooth ride, we arrived by 1:30 pm to a happy welcome from the butlers and the door staff. Rooms were ready and so we all settled in, then took a walk over to the shops to stretch our legs.
Nicole and Kat arrived later in the afternoon, the former with the dread gaming console, the latter with bags of clothes for the annual spa clothing swap. We were so curious to see what Nora no longer needed, that the swap happened on night one, instead of games. A reprieve!
The weather in the first part of the week was lovely, and the sunsets were glorious. We came home to that miserably wet Memorial Day weekend, so every day spent outside was a gift.
On Saturday, Kayla, Nicole, Sarah and I went to High Tea in the “secret” room that opened in The Chateau in 2025. (Nora opted to stay back to take a walk, then dive into John Sandford’s Revenge Prey.) We’d gone there last year on Mother’s Day and it was too good to not go again. The room is a soothing blue and white, with tables placed neatly through the space so every guest had breathing room. We had the center table again and photos were mandatory.
Once we reached the peak fullness on the treats, our hostess boxed up the leftover sweets. A walk sounded like the proper way process all that sugar. A sudden thunderstorm was blowing outside so we wandered from the Chateau through the Grand Lodge and over to the Art Studio. We were already scheduled for a group paint session with Claire Hardy on Sunday, but the team at the studio has added other activities.
As a post-High Tea activity, Nicole, Sarah and I made candles. Later in the week, the three of us plus Nora and Kat tried glass fusion. As always, it’s fun to chat while we debated colors, scents and textures then created to our hearts’ content.
That night, we started the games. First round of Scrabble for Kat, Nicole and Nora, while I bowled with Sarah and Kayla. I won that first round of bowling (!) while Nora took the first round of Scrabble – she opened the game with a seven-letter word! It was such a lovely evening with the sunset streaming through the windows and door open to the patio, and everyone was relaxed so we flowed through the next few rounds of bowling and finished the evening with Nicole as the first winner of a final.
Sunday was oil painting with Claire. Nora had chosen a floral picture that most of us used as the launching point. Kayla and Kat went off in their own directions. Nora now paints with Claire four times a year — 3x in oil, 1x in acrylic – and she has honed her technique in a lovely and relaxed way. (Someone’s got to give Nora the shout out she deserves.) Pizza dinner always follows painting – as did some more games, of course.
The weekend set the flow for the rest of the visit. Treatments, reading, movement, room service, then games. Kayla and Sarah had their usual one-on-one final in Just Dance. I happened to take the Trivia game and the Scrabble final. Kayla, who also took Reverse Charades and the Wild Card categories was named the Biggest Winner.
And just like that, it was time to go home. For four days.
On the fifth day we headed to Tyson’s Corner for Kat’s birthday shopping trip. I joined the group late on the first day due to a doctor’s appointment related to my upcoming hip replacement, but all reports were that everyone found wandered the mall and found items to their liking.
Nora’s personal shopper, Azita, has been with Saks forever. With the closing of all the Saks stores in the DC area, she and her team shifted to Neiman Marcus at Tysons.
We had loads of fun in the new location with familiar faces and new friends. And the lunch menu was based on Nora’s books. Absolutely delicious.
We had so much fun that the dates for this December and next spring are already set!
Nora and family head back to Nemacolin next week for their summer stay, then it’s off to Italy in early July. My hip replacement was supposed to be today, but was pushed back to July 16 – the middle of the Italy trip. I’ll do everything possible to keep the travelogues flowing!
Laura
