Jana's Bachelorette/A Weekend at the Spa

Since I am the official Maid of Honor at my sister's wedding it was thus up to me to plan her bachelorette. And since you only get married once (or you should only get married once), I figured it really needed to be more than just a couple hours at a bar one night. And Jana loves camping, so I thought maybe we could go camping somewhere for a weekend. Then Christy suggested that we go down to the "Spa Farvolden" for the weekend, since that's always a fun alcohol-filled extravaganza. So I emailed the management (Aunty Cyn and Uncle Andy) and we set it up for the weekend before the wedding itself. For anyone that doesn't know about the "Spa", it's really just my aunt and uncle's house in Calgary. But it's not just any house, they have an outdoor pool, hot tub, ginormous kitchen, delightfully well-stocked bar, bathrooms that are bigger than most people's bedrooms, and all the food and snacks you could ever want. So we call it the "Spa Farvolden", 'cause it's like going to the spa for the weekend.

Mom and I hopped in the van on Friday and picked up the first bridemaid, Diana, from work. Then we proceeded through the hoardes of construction that is Edmonton right now to get the bride herself. From there it was back to Mom's house to get the final bridesmaid, Christy. We made a quick stop at the Mac's for slurpees before leaving town and heading out down the Queen Elizabeth highway for Calgary.

When we arrived at the "Spa" we were greeted with some delightful pizza and the first round of cosmopolitans, which are known in our family as "cosmic"-politans. At which point we were told by Uncle Andy that the limit in one day for cosmic-politans is 9. After the first one went straight to our heads, Christy and I were pretty sure that there was no way we'd make it to 9. In fact, even between us we couldn't make it to 9 that night. But we did try. Really hard. We capped off the evening with a hop into the pool and hot tub.

I might also mention that there were treat bags for those that came. They included a lovely penis straw, a star light and noise-making stick, fuzzy handcuffs, feather boas, and a couple other little things I thought were amusing at the time. Jana also got a couple extras, like a lovely illustrated edition of the Kama Sutra. Yes, the real one.

Saturday morning began with a lovely breakfast of whatever we were willing to scrounge out of Aunty Cyn's kitchen, which was really less scrounging and more there's too much to choose from. Then, without delay, it was into the pool!
Once we all had our fill of floating aimlessly around, it was definitely time for a game of pool volleyball. The interesting part of the Spa's pool is there's a shallow end and a deep end. The deep end, however, has a ledge all the way around the outside, so if you were on the deep end team you didn't have to tread water the entire time. Not that the ledge helped that much, since the deep end seemed to lose most of the games.

There was one point during the day when Jana mentioned to Aunty Cyn that she really wanted to try a mojito. At this, Aunty Cyn got very excited, because evidently she'd been dying to try and make one and hadn't had a reason yet. So she snipped some mint out of her herb garden, and whipped together some other ingredients, and we had our mojitos. But not just any ingredients. All fresh. Nothing but the best at the spa, I tell you. Fresh limes with freshly grated zest, mint straight out of the garden, and all blended to perfect deliciousness with ice. And I think after that first one, we've all switched to mojitos as our favorite drink.
After the first one, we decided we needed more, so Aunty Cyn called Uncle Andy to pick upa couple ingredients from the store. Then when he came home che put him straight to work making lime zest and we had a second batch just before heading out to dinner. I think the second batch was even better than the first.
Oh, after the first or second pool volleyball match (I forget which one now for obvious reasons), Christy and I were discussing the Spa's tequila selection. And I do mean selection. I think I saw at least 4 different kinds behind the bar. Well, not more than a few minutes later, a tray appeared poolside, and we were all doing shots. And we didn't even have to leave the pool! There was salt, limes, and after all that, chips and salsa to top it all off. How can you argue with service like that?
After we were all done baking in the sun, we were chauffered to Joey Tomatoes for dinner, where we had lovely meals and many a confused look from the other patrons when we kept turning on or flashing star devices.
To cap off A fantastic Saturday, I finally managed to convince everyone to head out to a bar, spearheaded by my friend April who lives in Calgary and knows where to go. We ended up at Ranchman's in Calgary. Though I suspect that was solely because of the fact that they have a mechanical bull there. As part of Jana's fun, I gave her a white t-shirt and told her I'd give her $1 for every phone number she got. I ended up only owing her around $3, but you can bet those 3 guys were pretty happy to get in on that action. I think the picture below demonstrates quite nicely. I might add that we specifically looked for a group of guys in cowboy hats. Save a horse, ride a cowboy, you know.
Jana, April and I did, in fact, ride the mechanical bull. We have the bruises to prove it. My thighs look like I was whacked repeatedly by some very angry gnomes with sticks. And it's harder than it looks. I have a lot more respect for bull riders now. But we did it. I may get ambitious in the future and upload the video to YouTube. Though it is a little embarassing. We'll see. April was more than kind enough to drive our drunk butts home, which was amazing considering Christy and I had been drinking since noon and were getting to the end of the evening feeling a little queasy. Though we both managed to keep down our dinners.

Sunday we all got up a little late, but were treated to a fabulous bacon and egg breakfast a la Aunty Cyn. My mom even chipped in and made some of her patented toxic toast (she likes to put a LOT of butter on toast). Then it was pretty much back in the van and back to Edmonton, with a quick slurpee stop at 7-11.

Overall, I've got to say it was a fabulous weekend that could not possibly have gone any better. The weather cooperated, no one got sick, and we all had a good time. I'll be booking my next trip to "the Spa" soon, I expect.