We enjoyed our visit to the new Terra Cotta. There clearly is work to be done, but it has potential.

The room we stayed in was good size and well appointed, I did miss a table and chairs in the room more than I thought I would. It was a bit tougher to get some business taken care of while sitting on the edge of the bed balancing my laptop. The pool deck is in rough shape, but that's on the agenda to get redone at some point, bring flip flops to protect your feet from small rocks and deteriorated concrete.

I didn't care for the loungers, they're formed in a sitting curve for your legs, so if you decided to lay on your tummy the angle is all wrong. I prefer the flat vinyl loungers with the back adjustment than can work for sitting up or for laying on your stomach flat. I'm sure for some, these curved type are more comfortable.

The pool has a deep end, so most of the people congregate in the shallower end where they can stand. When there's a large group in the pool the one end can get rather crowded and noisy while the deep end is empty and the quieter end of the small pool and deck. The grounds are coming along too, not quite there yet, but you can see they're trying.

The afternoon snack is a nice feature, we enjoyed that.

WE LOVED THE NO-SMOKING RULE. That was terrific, no smoking anywhere on the property. I felt bad for the few people that had to put some clothes on every 90 minutes or so and go out to the parking lot to feed their habit, but we both commented on how nice it was not to have to smell it.

The no cell phone rules at other properties sort of perplexed us, until we sat at the new TCI listening to a woman talk very loudly to her daughter for 30 minutes about everything under the sun. It was almost as if she figured we all wanted to hear her conversation. It's not the cell phone's fault, but the user. I guess if you can't make courteousness a rule, you have to remove the phones altogether.

As has been said, I'm always glad there are more options rather than fewer options for a clothes-free getaway. I wish them all the best.