Today is my final full day in horse and wine country, also known as Loudoun County, Virginia. I had a tasting scheduled for 11 a.m., and since I didn’t want to be drunk by noon, I had breakfast this morning in Salamander’s Harrimans restaurant. The restaurant features a trimmed down breakfast menu, but covers all the bases, especially with the a la carte menu. One item caught my attention as a bit unnecessary: 12-egg omelette made with quail egs, topped with caviar and dusted with gold. For $125. But to each their own. I went with the Ranchero Scramble – two eggs with black beans, tomatoes, avocado, cilantro cream, with hash browns. And to start the meal, the wait staff brings out the cutest little donut holes.

With plenty of carbs in tow, I headed out to Greenhill Winery & Vineyards, located about two miles from Salamander Resort in Middleburg. Middleburg’s newest vineyard features sprawling hills with vines, white cows, a charming tasting room with a great patio, and a colonial house reserved for wine club members. Greenhill uses the same winemaker as Doukenie, but the wines are anything but similar. This winery features dry wines and only uses neutral French oak. They also produce a Blanc de Blancs in the champagne method.

From there I went back to the resort to partake in one of my favorite activities, spa day. The resort recommends arriving an hour and a half before your appointment time to enjoy the facilities, so I did just that. It’s about this time that I realize that I’m just not really good at the whole spa thing. I don’t get to do this often – the only times I’ve been lucky enough to get spa treatments it’s been for work. So I’ve experience full spa amenities about three times in my life (don’t get me wrong, I know I’m incredibly lucky to have even experienced this much).

After arriving at the spa, which was incredibly busy, I filled out the necessary forms, grabbed one of the only robes they had left, and passed some large group of women to head to the back. The spa here is incredible; it features a massive hot tub, a mist sauna, a rain shower, plus the outdoor pool and cabana area. It was about this time that I figured out how awkward I am when it comes to relaxing.

Basically I can’t sit still. I change into my bathing suit and decide to lounge on these heated chairs (which were amazing). I start to read a magazine, but in a bout five minutes I noticed all these other rooms that needed exploring and I began to get bored with sitting. So I get up and try out the sauna, but almost immediately I turn to leave. It was so hot, and I’ve never really been in a sauna like that. I convince myself to at least stay for five minutes.

I was so hot so I made a beeline for the shower across the hall. I put my towel on the hook and open the door only to find another woman in there. She just stared at me, and it took a few minutes for it to register that this was a one-person-only feature. I didn’t even say sorry. I couldn’t really think of anything. She was the nicest person, and would have totally been in the right to be rude to me. All I could do was ask if she had tried the sauna, then elaborated on how hot it was, and she politely said she’d be out in a few minutes. So I nodded my head and went back to the chairs.

I tried out the shower, which was pretty neat, but I still had nearly 45 minutes before my appointment. I went outside to go lay by the pool, only to find that every single chair of any variety was taken. So I resorted to just hopping between the sauna, the shower, and the hot tub until it was reasonable enough to go to the waiting room for my appointment.

Other than that, the session was fantastic and I now smell like eucalyptus. The only thing left for me in Virginia is dinner tonight and a flight home tomorrow afternoon.