Warm Ways

Looking for a steamy destination where green plants thrive and the blooming is perpetual? The Biodiversity Education & Research Greenhouses at the University of Connecticut offer one of the most diverse plant collections in the Northeast. You can check their website to see what’s in bloom at any given time (usually hundreds of things) and then go pay a visit.

As long as you’re out in this part of Connecticut and in the mood for blooms, you must pay a visit to the remarkable Logee’s Greenhouses in Danielson. Logee’s dates back to 1892 and remains in the same family today. Its retail store encompasses five greenhouses, a shop, prodigious lemon trees and air fragrant from blooming tropical plants. No passport required.

After seeing all these pampered plants, maybe it’s time to pamper yourself. Head down to The Spa at Norwich Inn, where massages, facials, hand and foot therapies await in a relaxed, award-winning environment. Even the steam rooms seem exotic in the middle of winter. And if you want to make it an overnight, your room awaits.

If it’s still heat you’re after, make your dinner plans at the Red Lantern Restaurant & Lounge at nearby Foxwoods Resort & Casino. You can order your Asian appetizers, noodles and wok dishes as hot as you’d like. Afterward, head over to the nightclub at Shrine, where the dance floor will supply all the heat you need.