no, I loved it in Chi-town during the year I lived there. I spent a lot of time outdoors even when it was below zero. Snowball fights, cross country walks, movie nights with friends. I get that there's lots to do. I just still prefer being able to go outside without having to put a spacesuit on. Like I said, my body really is more configured for the heat than the cold. The beauty of the changing seasons and the snow in winter is cool, but I prefer living here in Atlanta or Texas, where, even when it does snow and sleet (like it will Saturday here), you know that two days later it can literally be sunny and warm enough to wear a light jacket. I'm also one of those people who's extremely sensitive to light and color and setting. My entire mood and disposition can sometimes "dip" in cloudy or cold weather. i'm almost like a plant in my need for sunlight. That too means that I do better in climes that are more consistently warm and sunny.
-------------- Original message -------------- From: Astromancer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Then you haven't spent ENOUGH time in Chicago...You'd know how we compensate for the lack of temperature and certain outdoor activities...We have a lot of fun stuff to do when the snow falls...When it gets too nippy, the fun simply goes indoors...I can tell that it must be awfully boring when the wheather turns bad in Texas...I A & O is the plan every day here... [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ah, here's where we part company! I like the seasons and the things that I associate with winter--Christmas, good food, fireplaces--but i'm not a fan of the cold at all. But then, being a Texan, i guess i'm configured for heat. When you grow up with summertime highs of 110 regularly, the blood changes! -------------- Original message -------------- From: Martin That'll work, too. I love cold weather. Astromancer wrote: Why? Just spend a winter here and drive on the expressways after the winter thaw...Lake Michigan's a freshwater lake...Save you money on that saltwater thing and follow my afore-mentioned advice... Martin wrote: I need to look into this. ravenadal wrote: chicagotribune.com Breathe the salty air . . . in Chicago. Fans flock to salt-covered caves, even dining rooms to get a whiff of restorative powers By Monica Eng Tribune reporter January 17, 2008 As I sink into my beach chair, I hear waves rolling onto the shore. Salt tingles my sinuses and my lips taste of the sea. There are stalactites dangling overhead and warm, crunchy white rocks beneath my feet. Polish speakers are all around, holding big scoops of salt rocks in their hands. Freaky dream? Alien abduction? Nope, I'm just hanging at Galos Caves in Portage Park, one of three local salt rooms. For devotees, 30 to 60 minutes in a salt-covered room can help relieve stress, cure a hangover or even improve respiratory health. Once little known outside of Eastern Europe, salt environments have arrived in Chicago to serve a small but growing community, especially those from Poland. "We were on vacation in Europe a couple of years ago and we saw a cave in a small town and we got the idea to create one here," said Jolly Inn Banquets owner Ewa Chwala, whose banquet complex hosts the Galos [salt] Caves as well as Chicago's first dining room encased in Black Sea salt. "We also heard about a salt dining room near Krakow and so when we opened our A la Carte Restaurant [a few months ago] we converted one of our salt caves into a small dining room." In addition to Galos Caves, there's a salt room at Solay Wellness Inc. in Skokie outfitted with several salt lamps (bulbs placed inside a large chunk of mined salt), a salt ventilation machine and floor bricks of ancient Himalayan and Polish crystal salt. Visitors sit on folding chairs and take in the salt-saturated air while owner Isabella Samovsky tells them about the benefits of salt therapy and the products they can use at home. Megi's Spa in Park Ridge features a large breathing room, where the salt on the wall, floors and ceiling has been imported from Poland. With its worn wooden beams and faux stalagmite spouting up from the floor, the room is designed to resemble a salt mine. Crystal salt rocks glow in the walls and two fountains flow with a brine solution. Visitors can get a massage on one of two tables, recline on mesh loungers or play with the buckets and salt pebbles that cover the floor. Like the other two rooms, this one attracts many families with children who suffer from respiratory conditions. Visitors wear regular comfortable clothes, but usually slip off their shoes before they take in the salt air. Most come from Eastern European families, but Megi's owner Megi Stoklosa is determined to popularize it beyond her Polish clientele. "This is very popular in Europe but not yet here," said Stoklosa. "I am trying to do my best with Americans, but it is very hard when it is not conventional medicine. Not everyone believes it." Poland native Agnes Judaz of Chicago has been bringing her 4-year-old son, Patrick, to Galos since he started showing signs of respiratory illness two years ago. "He improved a lot and now whenever he gets a stuffy nose, I bring him here right away sometimes for three days in a row and he gets much better," Judaz said before entering the cave on a Sunday afternoon with her husband and two children. Their visit seemed less like therapy than a day at the beach, with the kids filling up buckets and toy dump trucks with the sea salt pebbles in the warm, dry room. On another side of the room, friends Michelle Tac, 23, and Agnes Wiewiora, 33, of Chicago quietly chatted in recliners. "We just came here to relax because it is such a peaceful environment," Tac said of the room, where soft music and the sounds of rushing waves flow in through the speakers. "Then we go eat some Polish food [next door in the restaurant]. It's the best thing." "It's definitely a good way to recover after partying out at the clubs," Wiewiora said. "It's good for your breathing but it's also great for your skin. Just look." Polish-born Chicago pediatrician Maria Staisz says some of her patients have turned to salt caves to treat their children's chronic respiratory conditions. "I've been a pediatrician for 30 years and I know that sometimes changing the climate helps," Staisz said. "Some people may not be able to afford a trip to Arizona or Florida and so they go there. And so I say if it you feel it helps then go for it. I went to one of them myself ... and between the music and the sounds of the sea and the chairs liked it." Staisz said the caves' popularity in the Polish community is linked to a preference for natural medicines. "Polish people like homeopathic remedies," she said. "And keep in mind that in the past they didn't have access to a lot of medication and drugs." The amount of time spent in salt environments depends on the desired result. Practitioners recommend visits of at least 30 minutes from once a month (relaxation) to three times a week (respiratory relief). While Galos and Megi's attract an Eastern European clientele, Solay Wellness in Skokie draws the alternative therapy crowd. Sally Blommer had traveled from Milwaukee to attend a class and was referred to Solay by her instructor. "I've seen salt lamps in a lot of different places and I wanted to try one," Blommer said. "My massage therapist in Milwaukee has one and our [breathing class] instructor told us about Solay, which was right around the corner." Blommer and her pal soaked up the salinated air in the Solay salt room while waiting to have their order filled for several products -- including lamps and a salt crystal brine solution -- they would be taking back to Milwaukee to give as gifts. "We get people coming here from the health and wellness community, but we sell all over the world on the Internet," said Samovsky. The facility consists of an office, a salt room and a large warehouse where she stores salt products from all over the world. She explains the curative effects of the salt rooms lie in the "anti- bacterial, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory" properties of crystallized salt, which is very different from the refined table salt sold in most stores. While some people head to the salt rooms to take in their curative effects, others go to the salt dining room in the A La Carte Restaurant because this cozy nook looks so cool. "The first time I saw the room I thought it was unbelievable," said Doug Lenzo, who was dining with pals Monica Czazhor and Elizabeth Krueger on a recent Sunday. "It's just different than any other place you can dine. And the food is delicious." "One of my girlfriends actually got engaged here," Czazhor said as she and her friends finished a lunch of French onion soup, pork cutlets and other "continental" favorites. "I just thought it was gorgeous and it's really relaxing too. I like it for dinner but it's just a really romantic place. I would come here for cocktails too." Although, Czazhor was in the salt dining room for an early dinner, she's no stranger to the salt cave next door. "I had a really bad cold and a cough and my girlfriend told me to go in there and it helped with my breathing and stopped the cough," she said. I'm not sure if I was cured of any respiratory ills by the end of my sessions in these salty rooms, but I was certainly soothed by the relaxing sounds and woodsy, slightly floral aromas emitted by the salt. The bowl of chicken noodle soup at the Jolly Inn afterward probably didn't hurt either. - - - What are salt rooms? Public environments -- caves, rooms, restaurants -- where rock or crystal salt covers floors, ceilings and/or walls. Why go? The salt-saturated air has healing powers, devotees believe. WHERE TO GO Galos Caves, 6501 W. Irving Park Rd.; 773-283- 7701;http://www.galoscaves.com : Salt room is open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. daily. A single 45-minute visit costs $5-$15 (multi-session packages are less). Megi's Spa, 2626 Dempster St., Park Ridge; 847-298- 4406;http://www.megisspa.com : Open 10 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. $15 for a 30-minute session. Massages in the salt room $75-$80. Solay Wellness Inc. Salt Room, 8051 N. Ridgeway Ave. Skokie; 312-224- 2710;http://www.natural-salt-lamps.com : Salt room is open noon-7 p.m. Thursdays and by appointment. Free, but it is part of a demonstration of products. "There is no reason Good can't triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia." -Kurt Vonnegut, "A Man Without A Country" --------------------------------- Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] "Akin, but no matter what you think, I am concerned for your life, so Ill only say this once; if you talk too much or ask too many questions, you might say something that interests the Community, and you really, really dont want to get them interested." - The Side Street Chonicles by C.W. Badie --------------------------------- Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage. 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