Seated in the bubbling co-ed grotto in the open air of the Scottsdale Fairmont Princess Well & Being Spa, I scooch forward and lean in to catch a thin, warm, waterfall on the back of my neck as it filters through some 15 feet of stonework from the negative edge pool one storey above. Steam rises around me, slightly obscuring a neat row of palms that line the walkway connecting nearby treatment rooms—each tree illuminated from below in the 9. p.m. darkness of an early February evening. The spa is empty, almost surreally so given the amount of Super Bowl party-goers and PGA Tour Waste Management Open players and guests that currently populate this enchanting, sprawling Arizona resort. And so I savour the solitude as the waterfall tumbles before me.

It was just an impulse to stop here on my way back to my suite at the conclusion of the Big Game. A wonderful, inspired impulse.