An adults-only dose of healing and tranquility without the kids.

Byline: Toni Stroud

WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. _ It began as soon as I turned off Canyon Road. The winding drive through the forest was brief, but long enough to transport body and soul from the gyrating jamboree of Wisconsin Dells to a tranquil woodland retreat worlds away.

Before I knew it, the doorman had taken charge of my bags, the spa staff had ushered me into robe and slippers, and I found myself lounging on a chaise in a peaceful solarium, peeling an orange and watching the breeze stir the tree tops beyond the infinity-edge swimming pool. Soon, my therapists would lead me to one of the spa's 14 candlelit treatment rooms for a therapy unheard of only two years ago in the child-centric Dells.

But this is the other Wisconsin Dells, the one for work-weary grown-ups. This Dells cherishes in-suite whirlpool tubs above go-karts, prefers organic facials to video arcades and smells of essential oils instead of grape soda. This is Sundara Inn & Spa. And though Sundara is unique as the Dells' only destination spa, it's not alone. Full-service day spas have opened at three of the top water park resorts here: Aveda Spa at Great Wolf Lodge, the Oasis Experience Day Spa & Salon at the Kalahari Waterpark Resort & Convention Center and Spa del Sol at Chula Vista Resort.

As spas associated with resorts, they're part of what the International Spa Association calls the fastest-growing segment in the hospitality industry. Their treatment menus are no less extensive than those of spas in Chicago, New York or Los Angeles. And the prices of their services keep pace with, or exceed, national averages _ all in all, quite unexpected for a pair of villages, Wisconsin Dells and Lake Delton, that together cover only 18 square…