Everybody should go and soak in a hot spring at least once in their lives. The proof is that folks who do it once usually want to do it again. Colorado has more hot springs than most states, but Glenwood Springs is the place to go. Here are ten reasons why you should go if you haven’t already been:
- Tourism. It’s the biggest and arguably the best hot springs pool in the world. Living in Colorado and not visiting Glenwood is like living in San Diego and never going to the zoo. Or living in the Springs and never going to the top of Pikes Peak. Just do it already. You’ll thank me.
- Money. It’s a relatively cheap but relaxing vacation. You can get rid of a lot of stress for your vacation dollar. For every hour you soak in the warm mineral waters, you lose a day’s worth of frustration. I can’t prove that but I can guarantee that the masseuses at the athletic club (part of the pool complex) will finish the job of total relaxation.
- Health. Everyone needs to relax for their health. There’s a reason why people have sought out mineral waters as far back in history as we can ascertain. Anyone with arthritis, joint pain, or who has suffered broken bones or some other traumatic injury will find relief. You will feel physically better, even if just for just a little while.
- Romance. A clear, star-filled Colorado night sky plus warm water, ambient lighting, and nearby hotel will raise your snogging game to a higher level. Great for us veteran married couples.
- Family. Glenwood is a great place for families. We took our first trip to Glenwood with Christopher when he was only one. We all had a great time. There is plenty for kids to do and there are quiet places for the adults. Every kid should learn how to swim and huge pool with bath temperature water that has extra buoyancy is a great place to drown-proof them.
- Nostalgia. Even if you don’t take the train to Glenwood (another great option), you will hear and see it as it pulls up to the station and adjacent hotel. Glenwood is one of the oldest towns in Colorado and one can get a feel for a different time when trains were the best way to travel. There’s also Doc Holiday’s grave to visit as well as 19th century architecture to see.
- Variety. Glenwood is not a one trick pony. There are many things to see and do besides soak in the hot springs. Although I can never drag myself out the pool to do any of them, fishing, hiking, biking, golfing, and rafting are all available activities. There is also decent amusement park that requires a spectacular gondola ride to get to.
- Food. There are plenty of food options from cheap fast food, expensive-but-worth-it (Juicy Lucy’s is quite the treat in spite of the name), and even room service in the better hotels. The pool itself has decent food offerings as well as snacks.
- Scenery. The scenery in Glenwood is great. The mountains aren’t too bad either. The trip through Glenwood Canyon is geologically stunning. The contrast between the incredible human engineering feat of I-70 and the tens of thousands of layers of rock that surround the road and river must be seen to be believed. To live in Colorado, and not see nature’s handiwork that took millions and millions of years to fashion is a terrible waste.
- Humanity. Tribalism is one of the major issues of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. People spend way too much time magnifying differences between groups, races, cultures, and nationalities. Conflict inevitably results. Glenwood Springs is world famous and people from almost every nation can be found there enjoying themselves. As one watches families from all over, it becomes apparent, to all but the most rigid ideologue, that people have much more in common than their outward differences. Recognition that we are all members of the same tribe, called Homo Sapiens, may be the ultimate benefit of all.
