I meant to write this post weeks ago, I really did. Somehow, time has slipped away from me, but I wanted to let you know how Part II of our anniversary trip went (I know there's at least one person out there, on the edge of her seat, waiting to hear about it!).
After the San Juan Adventure Full Day Cruise, we headed out to Ferndale to Silver Reef Hotel Casino Spa for an overnight and couple's massage. I have a lot of friends who are "not into casinos", but let me tell you, you wouldn't even know you were at a casino if you only ever set foot in the hotel and/or spa. I was really impressed with the separation of the casino from the lodging and relaxation portions of the property. The hotel has its own entrance and you access the spa through that entrance as well. We checked in and headed up to our room, which was a Diamond Executive King room. You needed your room key to access the floor it was on (for privacy) and included bathrobes, slippers and nightly turndown service. As soon as we checked in, we put on our swimsuits, donned our bathrobes and headed down to the pool. 
I loved the pool! It's available to hotel guests as well as anyone who purchases spa services. It's all indoors with plush lounge chairs and there is a pool, hot tub, steam room and sauna. It has a pretty little waterfall cascading behind the hot tub and interesting fabric panels strewn from the ceiling creating a unique atmosphere. We spent quite a bit of time there. The next morning, we headed over to the Red River Cafe for a breakfast buffet which was great. (As a warning to any non-casino people out there, you do have to walk through the casino to get to the cafe.) They had so many selections I couldn't possibly have sampled everything! We didn't get there until 9:30 AM and it closes at 10 AM, so we did miss out on a few things, but even for having been late, we didn't miss much. Eggs, potatoes, waffle makers with toppings, pastries, bagels and bread with toasters and toppings, cereals, fruits, hard boiled eggs, yogurts, coffee, tea, hot cocoa, milk juice and more. Fabulous!! After breakfast we hung out an watched TV in our room for a while (it's a rare treat to watch anything other than kid shows in our home, so we took full advantage of the movie channels) and then headed back downstairs to pick up some souvenirs and play a few games. We're not huge gamers, but like to take $10 or 20 and just play the slot machines for fun. My husband lost his $10 in about 3 minutes flat, but I ended up cashing out with $29 (I started with $10 as well). :) My husband got a nice insulated travel mug with native art on it, and I got one of those plastic insulated cups that looks like a disposable cup with lid. It's turquoise and has the Silver Reef logo on it. It's sitting on my desk right now with traces of Carnation Instant Breakfast in it, so instead of subjecting you to a photo of that, here's a generic image of one of the cups I am talking about to give you an idea of what it is: 
The final part of our weekend was a couples massage at the spa. We checked in and changed and enjoyed relaxing in the waiting area, where there is water, granola and magazines. Then we were called back to our treatment room where we were placed on massage tables side-by-side and received one hour massages. Each of our massage therapists talked with us first to see what type of massage we wanted (my husband chose deep tissue and I went with therapeutic) and at the end, we were both so relaxed, it was hard to leave. I was really impressed with the atmosphere and the quality of the Silver Reef Hotel Casino Spa and hope to get another chance to have a little getaway there again. Even if I don't have a reason to stay at the hotel, the spa is more than enough reason for me to be planning a trip back, and of course a little fun at the casino is sometimes just what you need on a Friday night. :)
