Stacy and I both absorbed 10 minutes worth of exposure in the stand-up booth. 

Don't smoke in the booths. The tobacco smoke may cause cancer, and the cigarettes are really overpriced at the salon. 

Due to time constraints, we took a break in our tanning schedule.

Again we heard reports on television about tanning. This time, the reports were that tanning may be addictive. A group led by Mandeep Kaur, M.D. had found that tanning releases endorphins, contributing to a sense of well-being.

Almost ten days later, we went tanning again, and got lucky with a vacant express bed.

While I was tanning, the salon owner told Stacy that she had owned the place for a couple of years, and that she had gotten some advice when she opened: Don't put trash cans in the rooms, people will pee in them. She pushed this vision from her mind.

Sure enough, she found it to be awful and true: occasionally people would pee in the garbage cans rather than get dressed and visit the bathroom mid-tan. The trash cans were removed.

Stacy and I each took 10 minutes in the express bed.

That session turned out to be our final tanning session. Our families arranged an intervention, and we were coerced into canceling our membership. Joke!

Actually, our landlord gave us 30 days notice to move out. Our free time evaporated and the experiment was over.

The photos we had been painstakingly snapping were not compelling. The lighting in each shot is a little different, so it is hard to really see our changing skin tones.

Here is a photo taken after the final session. Stacy appears to be just back from St. Tropez.

Tanning was a great experience. In the tanning clamshell, one is almost forced to meditate. It feels good, takes your mind off of your troubles, and, despite the health risks, leaves you looking happy and healthy.

Three months of tanning for $87. It was the cheapest vacation we ever had.