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COMFORT ZONE AT
THE RANCH
| STORY & PHOTOS BY ALISON DAROSA |
t might have been mistaken for a teen girl-
friends’ slumber party. Equipped with plastic
cups of white wine, the gaggle giggled non-
stop as each eased into a frothing moonlit hot
tub. Their late-night chatter was interrupted
only by an occasional round of raucous laugh-
Iter.
Three of the hot tubbers were sisters, ages 41-44. The
fourth was their 72-year-old mother.
Dorie Smith and her daughters are among hundreds
of mother/daughter sets who pilgrimage each year
to Rancho La Puerta, the renowned fitness spa just
across the U.S./Mexico border in Tecate, about 90
minutes from San Diego.
The women have discovered something mind-altering
about “the Ranch.” For a week, they thrive on a pow-
erful cocktail concocted with equal parts exhaustion,
exhilaration, pain and pampering. It’s a recipe that
erodes emotional barriers, encourages communica-
tion and vulnerability, nourishes intimacy.
Put simply, the Ranch fosters mother/daughter es-
capes – without family baggage.
It's a comfort zone where relationships blossom – a
place to sweat and to soothe, a place to dream.
“I haven’t been with my mom this much and not ar-
gued, ever in my life,” said Abby Laporte, 20, who visit-
ed with her mother, Jennifer Laporte, from Petaluma.
“All you have to do here is take care of yourself,” Abby
added. “It’s so restorative. You come back to that self
that you really dig.”
Ranch guests exercise, eat healthy meals, indulge in
sybaritic spa treatments and dabble in enrichment
courses that often focus on relationships – but can
range from using hypnosis to improve your golf swing
to a discussion of the G spot.
Except for spa treatments and cooking classes, the
week’s stay is basically all inclusive. There’s no debat-
ing which museum to visit, what to wear, which play
70 Wine Dine & Travel Summer 2014

