Hello Warriors,
Today, "Dynamic Duo Inspired Journey," is taking you for a little get-away adventure to chillax and relax. It's Jackie's B-day in late April and we decided to get restored, refreshed, and renewed. Every day life can be tough, causing us stress & crazy anxiety. So our model is to break away and get rejuvenated. Warriors, it's our time! It's our season! Come on and go with us.. it is time to refresh your body and your mind!
Where are we going? The Adventurous Dynamic Duo is taking you about an hour Northeast of Atlanta to Chateau Elan, a luxurious resort and working winery in Braselton, GA. Warriors, as you can see, even for our birthdays, we look at our bucket list to see what we can accomplish. So here we go on a Saturday morning, all packed up and hitting the road again. Are y'all ready for a little adventure and relaxation? Well, we certainly are!
We arrive at the Chateau Elan around 11:30 am; early enough to get our bearings of the layout of this magnificent resort. Warriors, this place is very sophisticated and classy. As we are entering into the resort, the entrance landscape has their name Chateau Elan carved into the Lawn. Just beautiful! The various buildings on this breathtaking oasis, looked like little castles, with big, bountiful, and refreshing red rose brushes, along with muscadine grape vineyards all around on the grounds. It has a 16th Century Loire Valley of France kinda vibe. We had a 12:00 - 2:00 pm winery tour, so we were trying to figure out which building to explore. Our check-in for our one-night stay in their Inn wasn't until 4:00 pm, so we are going to start our day off with a little sightseeing and increase our knowledge base of this fab resort. Um Hum! Learn a little something...get that knowledge when you can & while you can! Lol.
We entered into the Winery, and on one side is a restaurant and on the other side is a bunch of wine for sale; with a bar for their wine tastings. The Adventurous Dynamic Duo checks in and we wait for other people to arrive. Our Tour Guide arrives, introduces himself, and we are off on our first Winery tour ever. Yes! Warriors, what an opportunity to learn and taste several different wines. Okay! Let's get this straight. We are Christians, and we like wine. However, we do not believe in getting drunk, nor do we drink all of the time. So, yes we did taste wine during our tour! Read your bible. Remember, in the Bible, turning water into wine is the first miracle that Jesus performed in the New Testament. It says, not to get drunk; so stop judging, leaving the judging up to God. Amen! Okay, Warriors, let's continue...now that we got that out of the way. Lol.
The tour guide, took us to a room that was set up for wine tasting, with a tray of assorted cheeses, almonds, and crackers on it. He poured each person a taste of the first wine, then we all headed outside by the muscadine grape vineyards. As we are tasting our white sparkling wine, the tour guide begins to tell us a little history on Chateau Elan. He tells us, Chateau Elan stands on 3,500 acres and has won hundreds of national and international awards. It was established in 1981 by Donald and Nancy Panoz. It has an Inn, another hotel called Hampton Inn, a health spa, eight restaurants and a wine market. The resort also has four golf courses, a tennis center, and equestrian center, as well as a residential community. Actually, one of the golf courses is exclusive for the President of the USA and for pro golfing tournaments. Their spa has 35 treatment rooms, 14 themed overnight rooms, and its own restaurant, Fleur de Lis. We found out that these muscadine grapes make the best wine, ever. Also, we learned why they have rose bushes on each side of the rows of grape vines. Warriors, guess what? If the rose bushes start to die or have any problems, that row of vines is deemed as no good. Interesting????? Simone Bergese is their winemaker. He is originally from Alba, Italy, joining Chateau Elan in 2013. This man is a genius with the wines, as his wines have won over 150 awards at prestigious wine competitions.
We head back into the building, to a behind the scenes look at the Winery Vat and their Production Rooms. Wow! What an experience to see these huge steel vats and wooden barrels. Our tour guide explains the entire wine-making process from grape to glass. He tells us that some wines stay in the Vats/Barrels for days, some months, and some for years. One barrel holds about 300 bottles of wines. Well Warriors, they no longer step on the grapes to make the wine; those days are over! Lol. So, so, interesting. We leave out of this area and head back to the wine tasting room. Our guide was funny and very knowledgeable about wine. We enjoyed tasting several different types of wine including: Port, Pinot Grigo, Chardonnay, Moscato, and Brut. The tour guide informed us of what cheeses to eat with which wines; as well as, which ones to eat with almonds. We had a blast! This was so much fun, and during the tour, we met people from all over the USA and from other countries.
Now it is time to check into our hotel, so we get an early check in. The front desk's personnel gives Jackie a bottle of Peach wine as a birthday gift, before heading to our room. The Inn is fabulous, and our room definitely exceeded our expectations! After we settle in, Sidney says, "Baby, they have balloons for you." Jackie goes over to the counter, "Wow, they did this for me for my birthday?" She looks at the note and it says, "Look in the refrigerator, and there is two pieces of cheese cake, chocolate covered strawberries, and a bottle of Sweet Red Wine." We are too excited. We have some of the yummy cheesecake, and we chill for a little bit. Soon, we will be heading to the Spa for our hot stone massages. Yessssss!!!! Our phone rings, and it is one of Jackie's sisters and she asked how was our room. We start telling her how great it is and how they had a treat in the room waiting, just for Jackie. Her sister laughs and says, "That was from me. I called them to setup an early check-in and had all of the goodies waiting inside the room for y'all." We all laugh, ha ha. It wasn't the Inn; it was Jackie's sweet, middle sister surprising Jackie. Lol. Thanks again, SIS!
We arrive to the Health Spa building, and it was so beautiful, with it's European style. You can even dine at the Spa, as they promote health inside and out. They had classical music playing, the lights are turned low, and one of the seating areas has a fire place. Additionally, they have a hot-tub, sauna, and an inside pool. We sign in and we are shown to the locker rooms to change into supplied robes and slippers. It was so cool, because if you forget your swimwear, they sold disposable swimwear. Really?? We meet each other in the waiting room, where they have tea, water, white chocolate covered raisins and mixed nuts. Our wait isn't long. Sidney's female therapist gets him first and Jackie is sitting there waiting for hers, saying to herself, "It's my birthday and he gets to go, first?" Lol. Well Warriors, it wasn't long and Jackie, along with her male therapist, was headed to her magical room to experience the right-on-time hot stone massage. What a treat for us!
The hot stone massage involves the use of smooth, heated stones. The therapist places the hot stones on specific points of our bodies to energetically balance the mind and body. It was very comfortable and deeply, relaxing. This was exactly what the doctor ordered for us. This is what we felt, after coming out of this 55 minute-dream-come-true, experience. Lol.
Now we are relaxed, no more back pain, and we really want to take a nap, but we prepare for dinner in an hour. Dinner was excellent! We recommend this Chateau Elan experience to you, all. Jackie had a dream birthday. By the way, to accompany all of our future dinners, we took all of the extra bottles of wine home. NO! We can't drink that much wine. Lol. Who knows, when we will drink it. Again, we pack it in when on our adventures, another check, and check off of our bucket-list. Thank You, Lord, God, for blessing us, so much! We hope you enjoy the pictures to follow. But first, a few tips:
1. When you go to Chateau Elan, plan on staying the entire weekend They have trails you can walk or ride bikes. There is so much you can do inside the Spa and don't forget the fabulous golf courses.
2. Benefits of a Hot Stone Massage...conditions it helps: anxiety, back pain, depression, insomnia.
3. If you have health conditions, check with your physician to see which type of massage is best for you.
4. Make sure you take your swimsuit and wear it when you go for your massage.
5. Remember, this is truly a treat because it isn't cheap, but it is ALL worth it.
6. Live your life intentionally. Every day is a gift from God.
7. When on the Wine tour, do not get drunk! Taste and enjoy, but let's not overdo it. Sorry, Folks...Sip to taste, not to get waste-d!
8. Do something fun for your Birthday! It's your special day!
Okay, Warriors, are you ready to go to a Spa? It definitely is a healthy treat, and we recommend you enjoy your life and go to one, soon! Additionally, we highly recommend the Chateau Elan, but there are so many great spots to go to around the world. Do your research and plan to go, if you haven't.
As usual, we are so glad to have you with us this week. May God bless you all to do all of the things on your bucket-list. He has been blessing us and we just want to inspire you to live your best life. Don't forget to join our blog if you haven't by signing in using your email address and the code ZEJFNW. This way, we can stay connected!!!
We love you.
Your Adventurous Dynamic Duo!
Jackie & Sidney
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