Wanna get away for a while?

I recently had the pleasure of spending a few hours at the Inn at Sandy Creek on Rancho Sereno. The experience made me want to spend a few days there.

I'm not the kind of person who relaxes easily. I need to be doing something all the time. That's one of the reasons I began this blog. But the Inn at Sandy Creek accomplished the impossible ... it got me to relax.

The four-room Inn is located about an hour north of Dallas, just outside of Whitesboro. It's only 10 minutes from Lake Texoma; but unless you really need to put a speedboat in a larger body of water, forget Lake Texoma because right there on the grounds of the Inn is a five-acre lake stocked with largemouth bass.

The Inn's "great room" is adjacent to a gourmet kitchen where breakfast is served each morning. Just outside the great room is a heated, screened dining porch and outside of that is a large deck that overlooks the lake.

Now this place is definitely out in the country. I did not see anything I would call a "supermarket" once I left the Plano city limits. Having said this, the Inn at Sandy Creek is "roughing it" like the Mansion on Turtle Creek is "roughing it." The great room I referenced earlier features a stone fireplace that separates the oval dining table area from the area where you can gather to watch the 48-inch flat screen high definition satellite television.

But I've saved the best for last: the guest rooms. The picture above is the view from one of the guest rooms. C'mon, just imagine waking up to that. Two of the guest rooms, each with their own separate entrance, are part of the lodge and offer immediate access to all its amenities. But my favorites -- the ones I want to return to for a longer visit--are located in separate cottages a couple hundred feet from the main lodge, offering even more seclusion and privacy. The room rates include a fresh cooked breakfast served in the great room from 7:30 to 9 a.m. on the weekends (continental breakfast on weekdays), afternoon tea (I mean, how civilized is that?) and unlimited self help to beverages and ice from the outdoor pavilion kitchen (one of the best barbecue pits I've ever seen is also in this pavilion.)

Does it lack anything? Well, yes. The whole time I was relaxing at the Inn I kept looking at a spot where I said to myself "I would love to put a horseshoe pit right there." Now I will admit I'm of two minds about the horseshoes. There's a part of me that says horseshoes with some other guests could be a lot of fun and would amount to all the exertion I would like to have in a relaxing heaven such as this. Then another part of me says I don't want the clanging of horseshoes interrupting my reveries.

The mention of horseshoes, however, reminds me of something else. Rancho Sereno is a 16.5 acre private quarter horse ranch and wildlife preserve in addition to the site of the Inn at Sandy Creek. It is located in the heart of the Texas horse country, within minutes of the most recognized trainers and breeders of quarter horses in the United States. That makes the Inn the perfect place to say for those horse owners and professionals visiting and possibly shopping in the area.

You can find out more by going to www.ranchosereno.com or by calling 214-502-2403. I promise you, for a getaway weekend, the Inn at Sandy Creek can't be beat. Perhaps we can all get together for a game of horseshoes, the Super Bowl, the Mavs in the playoffs or just to read and swap some good books and other tales.