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carpets at the Golf Club had an irons-and-golf- Roanoke, Virginia. Cunningham, a golfer, and
balls theme? regular Greenbrier visitor told us he had or-
dered up a 1:15 tee time so he could see the
When we got to the pool-side Tree Tops
eclipse in the middle of his round.
Café, we were ready for lunch and eclipse
viewing. We hadn’t thought to bring eclipse By the time his group hit the ninth hole,
glasses, but fellow lunch-goers loaned us a the eclipse had reached its peak. “The breeze
pair and we oohed and ahhed along with eve- felt cool,” he said, “but by the 13th hole it was
rybody else, including staffers, as the moon’s hot as hell again. All the years coming here
shadow began to eat away at the sun. we’ve done everything once, that’s the first
time for that.”
The Greenbrier was in the 90% zone, so
the day dimmed but never went black. Still, We had met Cunningham at the mas-
that muted light in the middle of a hot, bright sive spa wing of the main hotel. “Massive”
day was weirdly beautiful. isn’t an exaggeration. It’s got a column-lined,
gilded indoor pool (real gold, they say), sau-
As we returned to the main hotel – dodg-
nas, steam rooms, “relaxation pavilions,” and
ing shuttle buses and horsemen – we walked
42 treatment rooms. Along with conventional
across thousands of mini-eclipses that fil-
spa services like massages and facials, the
tered down though tree-leaf prisms and onto
facility’s MedSpa offers microdermabrasion,
shaded pathways.
laser treatments, botox and chemical skin
Later we shared our eclipse experience peels.
with fellow guest Steve Cunningham, from

A sculpture of massive golf tees
marks the entrance to the resort’s
Golf Club.
Dancers perform the “Greenbrier
Waltz” each night in the casino.

152 WDT MAGAZINE WINTER 2018