To say I was shocked would be putting it mildly.
My fiftysomething husband, Bill -- a man of intellect and charm but historically not receptive to any suggestion that he explore his softer side -- inexplicably agreed to join me for a couples spa weekend.
''You'd have to have a massage," I said, reaching for the remote so I could turn down the sound of bodies colliding on a football field.
''OK."
''And then you'd have to choose a facial or a body wrap," I said, prying the Cabela's catalog from his hands.
''OK."
''And then," I said, certain that this would be the most daunting requirement of all, ''you'd have to describe your feelings about the whole experience."
''I guess this is as good a time as any to try it," he said.
Huh?
A few days later I set out with this perfect stranger for The Grand View Inn & Resort in Jaffrey, N.H., to experience its Spa Destination Getaway Package. The package included one night's lodging and, for each person, a 60-minute massage and either a facial, or an herbal body wrap. In the interest of journalistic breadth, we agreed that one of us would try the facial and the other the wrap. While I have had massages and facials, Bill had never set foot in a spa.
I didn't press for conversation on the ride up. I have always believed that my husband has a finite number of spoken words available to him on any given day, and I needed him to save them up for the post-spa interrogation.
The Grand View, encompassing 330 acres, looks like a farm, which not so very long ago it was. Scott and Kelly Mitchell bought the property in 2000 and began the task of converting the main barn into a spa, which opened in 2001.
The barnlike exterior of the spa building gives no hint of the clean, modern, soothing lines of the interior. Cool, tiled floors connect treatment rooms that were once horse stalls. An exposed stone wall recalls the farm's earlier landscape. At the far end of the spa, a door leads to an outdoor hot tub, in what was once the manure shed.
The inn is a regal 19th-century country mansion nestled at the foot of Mount Monadnock. Wood fires burn in the large kitchen and living room. The decor manages to be traditional and bold at the same time -- green or coral painted walls coordinating with large-patterned floral wallpaper and oriental-style carpets over wide board floors. The first floor is a series of oversized common rooms -- all comfortably furnished.
Nine bedrooms are on the second floor. We stayed in the Proctor Suite, a corner room with tall windows on three sides and a great view of the mountain, as well as a wood-burning fireplace.