HERE IS A LIST of Midwest spas, along with comments on the ones we visted (listed first). Most spas refuse entry to anyone under 18, although children and teens are free to use other resort or hotel amenities. Unless noted, prices do not include the standard 15 percent tip per spa service:
Olympia Resort and Spa, Oconomowoc, Wis., 800-558-9573. Terrific on pampering, aerobics and nutrition. Daily regimen begins with a sunrise walk and moves on to a day-long battery of aerobic workouts, passive sweating from various herbal wraps and steam rooms, and an abundance of relaxing massages and facials. Spa guests fill out health forms on entry, but no doctor is on premises. ”If a guest is on medication or diuretics, we provide an examination by a physician,” says Geri Brogan, spa director and a dietician with hospice and hospital experience. ”I see a lot of women on tranquilizers. Surprisingly, many of them are married to physicians. The problem is that most people don`t realize some tranquilizers can react with certain common foods such as chocolate or aged cheese.”
Meals at Olympia are a vegetarian delight, including an array of fresh vegetables and fruits–filling, too, though Brogan insists women are restricted to between 600 and 1,100 calories daily (men get 1,100 calories), with no salt and sugar, or butter and caffeine except by request. The Olympia features a standard spa line of saunas, steam rooms and whirlpools and even has eucalyptus rooms–none coed.
The cost? Olympia offers a $311 ”spa sampler,” which includes room for two nights, three meals daily, a massage, facial, two exercise classes daily and unlimited use of facilities. Then there`s a ”Rejuvenation” plan ($588)– four nights, all meals, four exercise classes daily, a massage, facial and herbal wrap, and use of spa facilities. The Full Four-Day Plan ($790) and Full Seven Day Plan ($1,324) offer much more. In addition to meals and room, both offer numerous massages, herbal wraps, exercise classes, a moderate number of facials, pedicures, manicures, scalp massage, loofa scrubs, shampoo, and other extras. All plans discounted for double occupancy. Hotel guests may partake of spa amenities a la carte. Spa features Lancome cosmetics line and makeup session.
Fewer than 10 percent of all spa guests are men, and you other guys don`t know what you`re missing. Aside from missing out on considerable pampering, you`re also missing aerobics classes and slow-stretching sessions that are every bit as tough as racquetball, running and working out on a Nautilus circuit, all of which I do fairly regularly. I never before had been in an aerobics or a slow-ligament stretching class, and my muscles were as sore after 30 minutes in the latter as they had been after my first sessions with Nautilus. For muscle soreness there were body massages and loofa scrubs from masseur Richard Backus, whose massage is among the best of more than 30 I have had over the last two years while doing research on health clubs and massages. Spa closes at 6 p.m., so bring a book for nighttime. There are a pair of first-run movie theaters on premises (comfortable but cool; wear a jacket) and several small shops. Otherwise, there`s little to do or see in Oconomowoc, and Milwaukee is a 30-minute drive. Olympia Resort amenities, which are available to spa guests, include tennis, racquetball, swimming, downhill skiing on manmade hill, cross-country skiing and ice skating. Negatives: Olympia fitness room relies on glittery freeweights but is scarce on modern fitness resistance equipment. Although clean, spa needs spot repair. The Olympia Spa is west of Milwaukee off Int. Hwy. 94, about 2 hours north of Chicago.
Pheasant Run Resort & Tower Club Spa, St. Charles, Ill., 584-6300. Pheasant Run opened its spa last spring to women only, but now permits men. It`s geared first to fitness, then to pampering, says Jill Streich, health club and spa manager, who has a degree from Winona State University (Minn.) in parks and recreation. The spa layout still has the feel of a resort, but there`s also a better-than-average line of exercise equipment. There are a reasonably complete Nautilus circuit, a Universal gym and two computerized LifeCycle exercise bikes in a fitness arena overlooking a swimming pool and dining area in a huge atrium. Looking down at the pool, I had the feeling I was standing in Brookfield Zoo`s Tropic World. Spa and fitness area are open atypically late, until 10 p.m. weekdays and 9 p.m. weekends.
The spa offers several plans, the most popular of which are the shorter packages: an ”R&R petite package” ($137) of two days and one night; and the regular ”R&R” package ($274) of three days and two nights. Both include room, three exercise classes and one or two body massages, facials, herbal wraps, mineral bath, limited use of exercise equipment, and unlimited use of coed sauna, whirlpool, steam room and swimming pools. There are also meals-included Five Day Plan ($850) and Seven Day Plan ($1,195). All plans discounted for double occupancy. Also included are tanning beds in each locker room, mineral baths, hair analysis, loofa scrubs, makeup applications with the Lancaster cosmetic line and oil treatments for hands and feet. Several masseuses and masseurs are graduates of the Chicago School of Massage Therapy, which is a virtual guarantee of an excellent massage.
Daily regimen begins at 9 a.m., including one aerobics class, a stretch class, a belle-bottom trimmer, along with another optional aerobics class in the evening. ”We had one woman who lost 13 pounds in one week,” says Streich. Pheasant Run resort amenities, which also are available for spa guests, include cross-country skiing on a golf course, snowmobiling and swimming in either heated indoor pool (kids might enjoy the one with a passageway into a foggy, unheated dome). Spa facilities also are open to hotel guests and members of local health club on an a la carte basis.
Special spa diet and meals are primarily for guests staying for five and seven days (by request they can be added to the shorter plans, but at extra cost). Streich says guests for extended stays are given a physical by a registered nurse and also meet with a dietitian twice. Daily food intake of less than 1,000 calories includes red meat in small amounts. Coffee and tea are permitted but not salt or sugar. Racquetball and tennis privileges a mile away at Country Courts. ”It`s the perfect setting. We don`t have any mountains, of course. But it`s far enough from Chicago to let you feel you`re away from it all.” Only spa in Chicago area, on Ill. Hwy. 64, adjoining DuPage Airport.
French Lick Springs Golf & Tennis Resort Spa, French Lick, Ind., 800-457-4042. The full line of pampering with an old-fashioned touch. Hot mineral baths in ”Pluto Waters,” body massages, manicures, facials, pedicures, makeup, herbal wraps, exercise classes, diet, stress management, nutritional consultation, hair care and scalp treatment–all in a stately old hotel with slightly sagging hallways and polite long-time employees. In high season, the resort hotel employs 600 in a town of 2,000.
There`s a two-day package ($260, not available Friday and Saturday), which includes room, six meals, two massages, two mineral baths, three exercise classes, unlimited use of spa facilities and one manicure, pedicure, shampoo and set, and skin care session. The fuller five-day spa program ($875) provides practically everything your heart desires. It begins at 4 p.m Sunday and ends at 1 p.m. Friday. Hotel`s winter amentities, available to spa guests, include domed pool, eight indoor tennis courts, horseback riding (weather permitting), a bowling alley with eight lanes, entertainment, cabaret shows. Hotel guests can use spa on an a la carte basis.
Spa director Gail Spencer says about 40 percent of clients for skin care are men. ”About the only thing men do not participate in is makeup,” she says. Negatives: Weight/exercise equipment is scant and outdated. French Lick Resort is about a 7-hour drive from the Loop.
Interlaken Country Spa, part of Interlaken Resort in Lake Geneva, Wis., 800-225-5558. The spa officially opened only three weeks ago. Two spa packages will become available by February: a ”Country Spa Escape” ($117 weekdays, $132 weekends) for three days and two nights, includes room, two meals daily, Swedish body massage, two tanning sessions, plus classes in aerobics, yoga, aquatics, weight training and one (apiece) facial, makeup application, herbal wrap, mineral bath. There also will be a five-day ”Fun and Fitness” package ($515), including room, two meals daily, two massages, a facial, a makeup session, two herbal body wraps, two mineral baths, two tanning sessions, daily exercise and various evening classes on topics such as nutrition or Color-Me- Beautiful.
”We are more of a pampering spa than a fitness spa,” says Sheri Counselbaum, spa director. Sauna, whirlpool, steam room and exercise room all coed, the latter outfitted with Marcy Apex resistance equipment and Universal gym. Resort has a swimming pool. Hotel guests can use spa facilities on an a la carte basis.
Wooden Door, Lake Geneva, Wis., 312-382-2888. The Wooden Door is more of a women`s retreat house than a spa, and a spartan one at that, with bunk beds in a small group setting. But because many people regard it as a spa, we`re including this interesting camp.
Wooden Door features a good deal of aerobic dance, yoga and other gym activities, a 900-calorie diet, a sauna and a modest line of pedicures, manicures, facials, massages and makeovers. Classes in self-defense and self- awareness also offered. The program accommodates 80 women on a periodic Sunday through Friday program, with 12 sessions reserved in 1985. Cost is $365 for a winter or autumn session, $415 for a summer session.
Heartland, Gilman, Ill., 312-236-2050. More fitness than pampering. A two-day weekend package ($400) includes massage. A five-day ($1,250) program includes four massages and a facial. The seven-day ($1,650) program includes five massages and two facials. On request, Heartland will provide roommates for double-occupancy discounts ranging from $100 to $450. All guests have unlimited use of CamII pneumatic resistance equipment, a cardiovascular Stairmaster, rowing machines, stationary bicycles, swimming pool, coed whirlpool, as well as men`s or women`s sauna and steam. All programs include aerobics, yoga, stretching and toning classes, racewalking with or without Heavyhands, and water exercises. Lectures at night in nutrition and stress management.
”Our basic philosophy is exercise, nutrition and stress management,”
says Jerry Kaufman, co-owner, who designed Heartland to be a cross between tough Ashram and the plush LaCosta. Massages, makeup and facials were offered from the beginning. Pedicures, manicures and other pampering were included later. A bus will take guests to Heartland and back to Chicago; price included. One price for whole stay, though extra pampering services can be bought a la carte. No tipping. No smoking indoors. Located about 80 miles south of Loop.
The Kerr House, Grand Rapids, Ohio, 419-832-1733. Acute pampering in a century-old mansion. Other spas on our list begin with a brisk walk; at the Kerr House, the day begins with breakfast in bed. It moves along serenely with a walk by the Maumee River, pauses with a few aerobics classes and deep breathing exercises, bounces for a while on trampolines, before exhausted participants partake of candlelight dinner (on antique linen and stemware, serenaded by a harpist). ”Dinner attire” is customary. The day concludes, finally, with a pre-bedtime dip in a whirlpool. Owner Laurie Hostetler insists her international clientele get a full workout. ”We`re not passive at all,” she says. ”Most people exit with a weight loss of between 3 and 8 pounds.”
Spa fare includes massages, herbal wraps, saunas and whirlpools, along with finger facials and European facials to cajole the ”toxins” from an inarguably coddled clientele. Hostetler`s menu provides 1,000 calories daily, no white flour, no red meat, no sugar, no salt and no food additives. No more than eight guests are accepted in any given week, says Hostetler, who has a staff of 20. Hostetler bought the mansion in 1977 and transformed it into a Victorian-style spa with a professed Hatha Yoga orientation. The five baths are communal but no one complains, she says. One has a copper bathtub; they all have marble sinks, private toilets and bidets. Usually the place is for women only but certain weeks are scheduled for couples. The rate for five nights at the Kerr House is $1,750 (double occupancy), private room $2,150. The Kerr House is about 20 miles southwest of Toledo.
