This is our trip report from our New Year’s Eve trip to Avalon, a nude resort in West Virginia, from December 31, 2004 to January 2, 2005. This was our first trip to Avalon, but I’m sure will not be our last! Bill S from the St. Martin bulletin board had been bugging us for years to get up to Avalon and though we had previously made plans to go, they had fallen through. Our lives are so busy these days that I don’t have any idea how long it will be before we can return, but we certainly hope to at least return this summer.
Avalon is in Paw Paw, West Virginia, two hours drive time from our house. Initially Bill had invited us to stay at his condo on his couch (since his second bedroom was already spoken for) but we were able to get into the lodge since there was a last minute cancellation there. For folks that are not familiar with Avalon, most of the facilities are in one building, which contains the restaurant, the lodge (maybe 20 rooms), the bar and casino (slot machines), and the solarium with pool and two hot tubs. The solarium roof opens for summer use. There is another pool outside, which of course wasn’t open. There is also another hot tub outside fairly close to the restaurant. In addition, there are a couple of sets of condo units, either one or two bedroom units, tennis courts, hiking trails, etc..
We stayed in one of the lodge rooms, which we were happy for that, as it would have been somewhat crowded at Bill’s place. The lodge rooms are very basic, with a queen sized bed, no TV, but there is a coffee pot, small mini refrigerator and small bathroom. Each room has it’s own heater/air conditioner unit, which worked very well. There are no tables in the room, as they really don’t encourage eating in the lodge rooms. The condos, of course, have full kitchens in them and are fairly nice.
There are a few rules at Avalon, but they seemed sensible and we didn’t have a problem with them. Nudity is required in the casino and in the pool and hot tubs, but not otherwise, which is quite sensible, especially in winter. Most men were nude in the restaurant, most women started out anyway wearing something on the bottom. Especially for the folks staying in the condos, the dress of choice to get to the restaurant seems to be lovely plush robes and slippers. The casino is the only place onsite where you can smoke inside. You cannot consume your own liquor inside the lodge/restaurant/pool area, although you can do so up in the condo units.
We are members of AANR and TNS, and so got a small break on the price for the lodge units, which were $86 per night, plus $36 a night for grounds fees (for two people), plus taxes. Condos are something like $20 a night more. Liquor from the bar can be charged to your room and you really just needed to give them your name to begin with, then they would remember you, usually. We generally ran a tab at the bar, but very rarely actually signed a slip. This was allowed, but we found out when we checked out that they added a 20% tip automatically if you don’t sign the slip, so in future, we will probably make sure we actually sign the slip! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />
We made the trip primarily because it was New Year’s and wanted to enjoy the party. Dinner was at 6 PM since they needed to turn the room around for the party. Dinner was $48 per couple, plus tip, and consisted of salad, an excellent cream of broccoli soup, and a buffet which featured a succulent prime rib, crab cakes, scalloped potatoes, mixed vegetables, rolls, and either apple dumpling or key lime tart. It was all excellent! Service was very slow, but they were way overbooked and they may have run out of some items, as they had around 60 reservations and 80 people showed up.
Separate from the dinner was the actual party, which started at 9 P.M. and which was another $40. There was an excellent live band, hats, noisemakers, and free Avalon champagne flutes and champagne at midnight. I appreciated that they didn’t “cheap shot” the champagne, as they sat 2 bottles of champagne down on each table of 8 to 10 people and allowed folks to serve themselves. Boy, I tell you, people at Avalon sure know how to party!!! The dance floor was packed most of the night and everyone seemed to have a great time, including us! At midnight, they turned on a TV with Dick Clark’s Rockin’ Eve show on, and we all counted down to 2005. Eric and I had a really bad 2004, so we were VERY happy to see that 2005 light up!!! Then there was a buffet at midnight, with some snacks, quiches, etc. It was a most excellent party! We talked to several Avalon regulars the next day and they affirmed the buffet and the whole party was about the best that they had had there at Avalon.
New Year’s morning we got up and headed up to Bill and Linda’s place for breakfast of nifty breakfast burritos, and proceeded to enjoy a most beautiful day! The weather was 60 to 65 degrees and bright sunny and beautiful!! We spent a good portion of the day in and out of Bill and Linda’s place and on their porch, soaking up some lovely sun and unexpected, lovely warmth!! We had a carry-in lunch at Bill and Linda’s, with it seemed half of the condos showing up with items to donate to the buffet, as everyone laughed and ate and drank and talked and (semi) watched the Rose Bowl Parade and some college football. Late afternoon, everyone pitched in and cleaned up the place and moved all the leftovers down to one of the other condos, so that we could give Bill and Linda some peace. Bill had a 24 hour bug on New Year’s Eve, then Linda proceeded to come down with it on New Year’s Day! Despite being sick, they were still great hosts! What troopers! We moved the party downstairs and ate and drank and laughed the night away. There was another dance that night at the restaurant, with a DJ, but we never made it over there, as we were too busy laughing and talking... It was a lovely day, all around.
Sunday morning we got up and had the breakfast buffet at the restaurant. It was OK, nothing terribly memorable, at a cost $7.50 per person, plus tip. We packed up, checked out, said goodbye to Bill and Linda and headed home. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and will be back!
Bill reminded me that I did mean to say something about the people at Avalon. We had gone up to a resort in Maryland a few years ago and felt totally unwelcome and unwanted. This was definitely NOT the case at Avalon, as a more warm and welcoming group of people I do not recall meeting! Of course, we cheated, I guess, with being introduced to Bill and Linda's great group of friends there, but people we didn't meet through them were just as warm and wonderful.
