She’s been laboring day-in and day-out for over a month-and-a-half in order to complete three months of renovation work in two months time. Dressed head to toe in working attire, Mary Virnig looks great and brims with energy.
She’s excited. Come this weekend, her ambition will reach fruition and unveil the most comfortable, relaxing and rejuvenating spa experience that Southwest Minnesota has ever bore witness to: the River Valley Spa.
“I am excited. I’m thrilled actually,” Virnig beamed. “I think it’s going to be great, I think it’s going to be fun. I think it’s time that people get just a little something different.”
Beyond expectation
Unintentionally the muscles relax and one’s breathing runs deeper even though Virnig is only discussing what’s in store for the clients of the River Valley Spa once the doors are opened for the first time this Saturday – you may not be able to eat the wealth of available perks and services, but the idea of them is still liable to incite salivation.
Located off Prentice Street just down the street from City Hall, Virnig and fellow certified masseuses Amanda Hansen of Granite Falls, and Tricia Pauling of Montevideo, will provide the extensive list of services.
Yes, they offer “first-class” massage, body scrubs and body wraps, aromatherapy, sauna access, ear candling and more. But what really sets River Valley Spa apart is “not the massage, but everything that comes with it.”
Walking through a typical massage session at the River Valley Spa Virnig paints the picture of an experience that is anything but typical. The pampering literally begins with the atmosphere itself, where an ambiance of sweet smells and soft music envelop high class aesthetics inspired by a motif of the elements.
Check in, take a seat, have a glass of water or some freshly squeezed juice. Slip into an opulent robe and make your way back to the sauna to relax and de-stress.
Exiting the sauna a little looser and lot lighter, cool down and enter one of the massage rooms. Here, Virnig divulges that which is in store but refuses to do so ‘on the record.’ She claims that the surprise is a part of the experience and that some secrets you’ll only uncover with a visit. Needless to say, those things left unsaid are visceral delights.
The massage is capped with an exfoliating foot rub and a whiff of peppermint oil that reinvigorates the senses.
“It’s not that I don’t want you feeling like a bowl of jello. I do,” Virnig assured.
“I want your senses excited” especially with the most arguably unique aspect of the spa still in store.
Tailored after an experience she had at an ornately luxurious spa while on vacation in Ireland, Virnig says that River Valley Spa’s thermal sweet takes relaxation to a whole other level.
“When we went there it was of the one moments where your jaw just drops and you realize: I am the luckiest person in the world where this is what I am doing on vacation,” she recalled. “Then you say: everyone should experience this.”
With the River Valley Spa, everyone can.
