Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times

Republican lawmakers meet with members of the press during their Congress of Tomorrow retreat Friday at The Homestead in Hot Springs. The three-day summit ends today.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (center) chuckles after listening to a question asked by the press at the GOP retreat. About 140 U.S. representatives and other prominent Republican leaders, including Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, attended the retreat.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks with fellow Republicans during a GOP retreat Friday at The Homestead in Hot Springs.

Hot Springs is a small town in Bath County that has no stoplights, one fancy resort and, on Friday, a lot of Republicans.

About 140 U.S. representatives from the party gathered at The Homestead for a weekend retreat, titled Congress of Tomorrow. The GOP may have been ousted from power, but these were the members who still had some.

No celebrities: no Palin, no Schwarzenegger. ("I hoped he would come," one waiter lamented.) The Republican leadership from the House was all there, however, with appearances by Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.

Ten days had passed since a Democrat was sworn into the White House. But in the well-guarded lobbies and ballrooms of The Homestead, the mood was optimistic. The day even felt like a pep rally at times.

"Everybody having a good retreat?" asked Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, as fellow legislators finished their salad course Friday afternoon. And yes, they said, they were.

Republicans, in remarks and meetings with the press, found plenty to fault with the other team -- for failing to win bipartisan support on this week's stimulus bill, one that wouldn't create enough new jobs and cost too much anyway.

Rep. John Boehner, Ohio: We need an economic rescue bill that will work.

Rep. Eric Cantor, Virginia: We have a smarter, simpler stimulus plan.

Rep. Pete Sessions, Texas: When they have ideas, we have our ideas, too.

With plenty of meetings to fill the three-day summit, which ends today, was there time to hit the resort's ski slope?

Rep. Thad McCotter, Michigan: No. Do I look like a skier?

Still, The Homestead's amenities were hard to overlook: the quietly sizzling fireplaces, pictures of foreign royalty on the walls, linens to dry your hands in the bathroom.

In the lobby, Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Roanoke County sounded pleased to have landed the retreat in his home state for the first time. "Now that they've been here, I think they'll be back," Goodlatte said.

Not every visitor was greeted warmly at The Homestead. A pair of newspaper reporters from Roanoke were harried by security officials, who eyed their press badges skeptically, and were carefully watched by Republican staffers.

"If you go past the bathroom, they practically Taser you," one aide warned.

BlackBerries were checked, hands were shaken, panels were held on topics from the media to the war on terrorism.

Meanwhile in town, Sarah Holmes worked the counter of a small restaurant called Lindsay's Roost. The 29-year-old mother was putting off a trip to the doctor because she didn't know how she would pay for it.

Holmes, Bath County: It'd be nice to get some health care for us broke folk.