The Hotel "Fitness Room"

Hi all! We are still up here enjoying the cold Minnesota winter! We had a great Christmas, celebrating with my family, including our cute little nephew.

It was so fun to watch him explore and enjoy all his gifts, and all the wrapping paper!

I think I mentioned Woody and I are staying at a hotel while we're in Minneapolis. My sister and her husband have a great house, but it's just not big enough for six adults, a rambunctious little boy and two cats. My mom found a nice, extended stay hotel not far from there house for us and it's worked out really well so far. My brother-in-law had to drive us here the first two nights since the roads were so rough, but it was much better last night so we borrowed their trailblazer and will meet them at the Univ of Minnesota Arboretum in a little bit for their brunch and to take a look at the decorated Christmas tree display and Gingerbread houses before we head off for a few more museums today.

My mom knew that since we were going to stay at a hotel we needed one with some sort of 'fitness room.' I think it would be very cool to work as a consultant to hotels (mom & pop and large chains) to help them develop their fitness rooms and other services to help guests stay in shape while staying over.

So many hotels have barely there fitness rooms. We weren't expecting much from this one, pretty bare bones, from the web site. That's fine. As long as they are open about the sparseness, I'm fine with it. The hotel where we are staying later this week in San Antonio on the other hand, plays a little trick on their website. They positioned the picture just right so it looks like there are several machines than there really are, since what you really see is a reflection in the mirror (you wouldn't notice this if you just took a casual look at the picture).

This one isn't bad. I went down yesterday morning and Woody joined me today. You can see in the pictures (that isn't me on the treadmill) there are only two treadmills, an elliptical, bench and some weights. I think a bike would be nice for those who aren't able to use treadmills (like me right now) and don't like elliptical (this one is a bit awkward), but it's still not bad. I do like that there is a nice flat screen tv, big windows, bright but not obnoxious walls, towels, a drinking fountain, and disinfectant wipes to wipe down the machines. We got a nice 30 minute workout in, just enough to work up a little sweat, and did some stretching. It's definitely nice when you're on vacation, even in the cold winter, to be able to work up a little sweat. I have no illusions that this is doing anything to help curb all the calories I'm eating this weekend, but at least we're moving a little bit!

Hope you're all having a great weekend and staying warm! Anyone watching bowl games? What do you think about Urban Meyer's announcement? Crazy, right?