Sunday's 4/27/08 Travel section of The New York Times led off with the feature article "No Shoes, No Shirts, No Worries" about the booming nude recreation travel industry. According to statistics cited by travel writer Michelle Higgins, nude vacations have become increasingly upscale events. The three-page spread includes a brief history of the beginning of nudism and how clothing-optional vacations are now considered mainstream and more in demand than ever. The article gives information about the American Association for Nude Recreations (AANR) clubs such as Avalon in Paw Paw, West Virginia, and Mira Vista Resort in Tucson, Arizona, as well as AANR participating businesses Hidden Beach Resort, Castaways Travel and Bare Necessities Tour & Travel.
Back in 2006 we had a guest at Living Waters Spa who later told us he was a writer for the New York Times. You can see the article here. It was a real honor to have the Times writer actually stay with us.
This latest NY Times article does not seem to be written by someone who actually stayed at the places mentioned. I talked this week with the President of AANR (btw, Living Waters Spa is a paticipating business of AANR) and mentioned my concern that the known swinger hotel (Sea Mountain Inn) was presented in the article. He too was concerned and was going to write to the author and explain the huge difference from and AANR facility like Living Waters Spa and that of Sea Mountain Inn.
We work hard at helping folks separate nude from lewd; skinny-dipping from sexuality; and that nakedness doesn't mean sex. Swinger places are the exact opposite. I'm not opposed to swinger places - frankly that means the swingers have a place to go and will not bother us or our guests. But I do have a problem when swinger places sneak into the nudist world under the guise of being "clothing-optional." The one mentioned does this all the time. Not to mention various claims of recognition and awards with no links or evidence to substantiate their claims. However, this time they do have the NY Times to cite... albeit out of the ignorance of the writer.
Living Waters Spa exists to help people except their bodies - themselves, in a non-sexual naked context. If you want to have sex in pubic, see sex in public, go into a hot tub that has had people having sex in it, then go to a swinger place. However if you want to enjoy skinny-dipping in pure mineral water in a non-sexual context - Living Waters Spa is for you!
