In preparation for our family vacation—three boys, one minivan, one very long car ride to Maine and a week making sure they don’t kill themselves in the great outdoors—my husband John and I decided to spend a romantic long weekend alone in San Francisco.

As we always do when we travel alone, we made a vow to 1) not discuss the boys and 2) do things we couldn’t do with them.  And as always, we were only mildly successful with the first vow but, this time, we outdid ourselves with the second.

We spent two fantastic nights in San Francisco, which included surfing for John and quality time with my sister for me at the beautiful Cavallo Spa and at Unique SF, a warehouse pop-up full of locally-made clothing, jewelry and foods.

But it was on our trip to the Russian River area of Sonoma that we truly embraced our child-free life.

Boon Hotel

This gem of a boutique hotel sits right outside the little river town of Guerneville. Its courtyard has an inviting pool and hot tub surrounded by very white terry-cloth covered lounge chairs topped with bright orange umbrellas. The most striking thing about it for us was the distinct lack of cannonballs.

We spent hours enjoying the silent pool reading books (amazing how dry paper remains when you take out the cannonballs) and chatted with fellow guests.  It was during one of these chats that we found out about the ultimate child-free venture: the enzyme bath.

Osmosis Spa Cedar Enzyme Bath

John is no spa aficionado but even he was intrigued with our fellow guests’ description of the detoxification effects of the treatment. Plus, the Osmosis Spa’s enzyme treatment is the only one of its kind in the U.S.  We made a reservation for the following night.

After a tough day of hiking in the redwoods and a fabulous dinner at Boon, we headed down the Bohemian Highway to Osmosis Spa. We walked in, changed into robes, and enjoyed a Japanese tea ceremony overlooking a tranquil Japanese garden. Our bath attendant then took us into a room which held two large tubs full what looked like light colored mulch. We sat and she covered out bodies with mulch right up to our necks. We stared out the wall to ceiling windows at a view of nature imagining the toxins floating out of our bodies. Occasionally, our attendant would come and wipe our brow with a wet washcloth and give us small sips of water.

And now we’re back, toxin-free, with a little more mojo in our marriage, and ready for our family vacation. CANNONBALL!!!