All the Single Ladies

Like most women, my family and kids are everything to me. But as much as I love them, I do cherish my monthly girls' night out away from them. Almost 14 years ago, my friends and I officially started our ladies nights. Once a month we would either go out to a restaurant or gather at someone's house. Sometimes we invited the boys and as we had kids of our own some of our get togethers were kid friendly. Occasionally with all of life's craziness we have to skip a month or perhaps I can not attend. It is truly a bummer when this occurs.

This weekend, after all this time, we had our 1st Annual Girls' Weekend Get-A-Way! (If you have never gone on a girls' trip, I highly recommend it.) After countless emails and a few planning meetings, we came up with the following criteria:

• No more than a 3 hour drive from home
• 1-2 night stay
• Pool or lake is a must
• Spa, shopping, winery are all nice to haves
• Accommodates 5-8 women
• Budget friendly ($100-200 per person)

With the help of many Google searches, suggestions from friends, family and co-workers, number crunching and hunting for the best deals, we ultimately selected French Lick, Indiana. It was everything we had asked for:

• Slightly less than 3 hour drive, but Denise made it in 2.5 including the stop for the ticket
• 2 rooms for 2 nights ÷ 5 girls = $144 each
• Indoor & outdoor pools complete with poolside restaurant, bar and DJ (Let's keep it going)
• Spa, little gift shops and winery
• Work out room that we checked out but no one used
• Even has a Casino, small bowling alley, bike rentals and game room
• Husbands and children not included

We stayed at the French Lick Springs Hotel. Super cute, Southern charm, clean, friendly staff.  There is another hotel just down the road, the West Baden. We learned it is where more couples stay as most of the family friendly activities are located where we stayed. I am happy to share any specifics if you have any questions, but here are the toplines of our trip:

Even though we brought an ipod, we pretty much talked the entire 2 1/2 hour drive. The highlight of the road trip was being pulled over by an unmarked police care just outside the resort. I guess he had been following us for quite a while as we passed several locals on a two lane road who were all going surprisingly slower than we were.

Lesson learned: speed limit is 55 mph and unless you want to donate $125 to the State of Indiana, you may want to set your cruise control.

Front Entrance of French Lick Springs Hotel

Luggage for 5 ladies for a 49 hour trip.

As usual, I only used 1/4th of what I actually brought and wished I had things I didn't bring.

I couldn't have picked 

a more perfect setting 

to read (yes, read) 

my book.

  

Mommy snacks and drinks!

 

I splurged on a pedi. Then we spent the afternoon poolside, but I didn't get any pictures.

After dinner at the local winery (bread was amazing, pasta was ok, wine – not so much), we headed over to check out the other hotel, The West Baden and as recommended, it was totally worth the visit.

 

We also had dinner at 1875 Steakhouse. I will have to update this post with a photo once I get it. Everything we ordered was delich, but it was more expensive than I would typically spend.

Fill in the rest of the time, with telling stories, laughing until our faces hurt, working on our alcohol tolerance levels and planning the 2nd Annual Girls Weekend Get-Away.

Next August, Nashville, TN! (And hopefully, we have a larger attendance)