We made it!!!

First I apologize for not posting last night, we were busy from the time we arrived here at the BLR until we fell asleep (which was pretty early).

So... the drive from Monterey to Malibu was beautiful and we did not get really nervous until we turned onto Dexter Canyon Road and started the winding climb to the resort.  It all became very real and Jenn said she though she was going to be sick.  I asked if it was the road and she said she was no, she was nervous.Then I asked if she was worried for me, she said the hell with you, I am worried about myself.  That actually made me laugh and feel a little better.

So we follow the small signs to the resort and pull in to unload our luggage (it looks like we are staying for 2 months not 2 weeks). Let me just say right off that the staff here at BLR has the customer service thing down pat!  Everyone seems genuinely interested and committed to the guests having a great experience.  Someone parked our car for us, others helped us take our tons of luggage to our room.  The atmosphere here is a bit like camp, it smells like redwood and has a rustic feel.

We barely had time to put our stuff in our room before we had to be back to be weighed and measured by the trainers.  Then the Life Coach took us into another room for an introduction to the philosophy of the program - excise, nutrition, education, and relaxation.  She is young, a licensed psychologist, and has lost 100 lbs. herself.  Inspiring!

Dinner was next and, because the salad bar is not in yet, we had a small starter salad at our place setting.  These salads are not included in the 1200 calories a day we will be eating here and since dinner was a Cafe Salad I didn't eat it.  The dinner salad was pretty good, chicken, black beans, rice, lettuce, and a ww tortilla.  Mine arrived without any chicken but they changed it as soon as I told them about it.  Dessert was a pudding? and fruit parfait that needed to be colder but tasted good. 

After dinner everyone introduced themselves, people from all over the US, Canada, and one from Australia.  The lecture was an intro to the program and what to expect for the week. Our schedule is 13 hours a day, the 6:00am optional class is not really optional.  If you miss a class or lecture someone will come to find you unless you let the front desk know why you are missing.  Tomorrow will be the evaluation hike and then eveyrone will be put into a hiking group according to their abilities - I am planning on being in the turtle group.

We headed back to our room to unpack.  The rooms are small, probably about 10x10 with a good size bathroom.  There is an armoire, desk unit, a bed and bedside stand.  Towel racks, hooks, toilet paper holders and privacy shades are coming on Tuesday.  We managed to get stuff put away and were off to the pool.  It felt great after the hot day and the whirlpool is just the thing for sore muscles.  I don't know what everyone was doing but we had the pool to ourselves!  Back to the room and lights out for tomorrow we hike...