Lush Resort

club off Red Bird Road on the east side of Possum Kingdom Lake, and the location has a rich history dating back to the 1960s.

In 2014, Bo and Gelasia “G” Bennett bought the property, which has gone through major renovations and expansion sincethen.

TheBennettshaveknowneachothersince1992.BoBennett and his family used to fly a plane to the lake from West Texas. They would land at the old airstrip that runs parallel with La Villa Road, then would grab their bags and walk down La Villa to G’s grandparents’ house to the end of the dock,wherehisgrandmotherwouldpickthemupintheboat and take them across the lake to her house directly across thelakeinGainesBend

Long before they married, the couple became fast friends as teenagers spending their summers at the lake and exchangedtheirfirstkissonBoBennett’sboat.

Life took the couple in different directions for a while, though; G Bennett headed off to Tulane University in New Orleans, while her future husband found employment in Ballinger, Texas, working for a welding supply company, traveling all across the southwestern United States for his job

Their paths didn’t cross again until 2012, when G Bennett and her family made plans to spread her father’s ashes at PK SheranintoanoldlakefriendandaskedhimtoseeifBo would want to attend the ceremony, since he had been a closefriendofherdad

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Bo Bennett attended the memorial service, and the two subsequentlyrekindledtheirromance

The couple married just over a year later One day when they went for a walk they saw that the old Scuba Point property was for sale The property had been turned into an RV park by Don and Ruth Zahn, who had purchased the historic property from the Burns family, which had run Scuba Point since the 1960s. It’s a premier location that encompassesaspecialpieceoflakehistory.

The Bennetts said their plan was to run the property as an RV park, reasoning that if they hated running a business on thesite,theywouldbuildahousethereinstead

The ideas and vision for the property came from their honeymoon travels in the Bahamas, as well as “ a little tequila,”BoBennettadmitted.

Thus began the renaissance at the lakefront resort, with the namechangeto“Lush”inspiredbythecouple’sbeloveddog Atimelineofchangesinthepastdecadeincludes:

·Winter 2014: The Bennetts added a five-slip floating courtesy dock with five jet ski ports, remodeled the lakefront pool, added a beach and new landscaping, and opened a beerandwinebaroverlookingthelakewith“PooLiveCrew” performing at the grand opening party. Their timing could not have been better, either, as the lake filled up that year afterseveralyearsofdrought

·Winter 2015: The couple oversaw the building of the new LakefrontSuiteHotel.

·Winter 2016: The Bennetts opened a glass-enclosed lakefrontbarandgrillwithafullliquorlicense,expandedthe docktoeightboatslipsandaddedfouryachtslips

·Winter 2017: The couple added 12 hotel rooms, four bungalows,andtwomorepoolstotheirproperty.

·Winter 2020: The Bennetts had to remove the RV sites to expandtheon-sitesepticfield “Nowwehavealargegrassy area, ” Bo Bennett said. “We also concreted the entire parkinglotanddriveway,andaddedanewentrance”

The COVID-19 pandemic made 2020 a year of upheaval in the hospitality industry, and for Lush Resort the pandemic prompted a change in operations The crowds to the lake kept coming and never stopped, forcing the Bennetts to make adjustments to their business model, as they couldn’t accommodate all their hotel guests and the public lake traffic Theyeventuallyshiftedtoamembershipmodel,which allowed them to service their hotel guests and still have the capacity to serve their members, too. The resort still offers a coupleofeventseveryyearthatareopentothepublic.