Page 67 - zcyj (1)

Rushing to Cardio Drumming isn’t Lake Austin Spa’s style.
Everything’s relaxed. Granted we were there in the dead of win-
ter, their slowest time and we often had the class instructors to
ourselves — essentially personal trainer time. But even at the
peak, the classes top out at 20. And there is never a rush to sign
up, because they don’t fill up. In fact there’s never a rush to do
anything at the Lake Austin Spa.
Despite its name, the spa isn’t exactly a lakeside resort. It’s
bordered by a dammed-up portion of Texas’ 862-mile-long Col-
orado River. Sitting in the Spa’s dining room, which is just a
few yards from the water, you feel like you’re on a riverboat idly
floating with the slow-moving current.
In the morning, the mist is heavy over the river; the sky
looks like white cotton candy. As the sun cuts through, you can
make out the mallards and shore birds. Occasionally a fishing
boat putts by. And the wooded cliffs on the opposite bank are
part of the local park system so they are untouched. You feel
secreted away in the Texas Hill Country, instead of a 21-mile-
drive to the state capitol building in downtown Austin.
Water is the big draw at this spa, at least during the warm-
er months. There are plenty of water fitness activities: stand-up
paddle-boarding, hydro-biking, sculling, kayaking, water-ski-
ing and wake boarding. It was too cold for any of that when we
were there; we were content to sit on the dock and watch the
river life float by.
Still, we weren’t total chill slugs. We took a pontoon boat
ride down the river to a park where we hiked a trail thick with
native juniper and pecan trees and punctuated by a gushing wa-

Morning mist surrounds a viewing
platform jutting out into Lake Austin.

Wine Dine & Travel 2016 67