The train makes a stop here, but it is a quick one.  As through passengers, we were not allowed to get out here.  But from the windows, it looked like a wonderful destination.  Hope to come back here someday.

My first day in Glenwood Springs was not so great. 

I didn't really have a plan of what to do (do we see the problem?), but thought I would just walk around a little and explore the shops and maybe go on a gentle hike.  The first problem being it was a Monday, so half the shops were closed.  Second problem being that Glenwood Springs is surrounded by mountains and canyons - so the idea of a 'gentle' hike disappeared fairly quickly.  So this all resulted in me wandering around aimlessly in the bright sun for most of the day - hardly surprising that I ended up feeling despondent & headachey & generally crap. 

My second day in Glenwood Springs was much much better.

I'd thought through more of a plan for the day, and for the rest of the week and where I was going next, so I felt a little better about life.  And then I went white-water rafting!  I've never been white-water rafting before, but it's the thing to do around here.  There ended up being just two other girls on the trip, so we had a small boat & a much more personal experience, which was awesome. 

We put-in just above the Shoshone Rapids - class III-IV rapids - and so the first 20 mins or so of the trip was straight into the rapids and HEAPS of fun!!  After that we pretty much just floated down the river listening to our guide Bob's stories for a couple of hours - it was very pleasant, although I would've actually liked some more rapids (I can see how people get addicted to this stuff). 

Towards the end of the trip we stopped off at a secretive little hot springs pool - usually trips stop at a larger/crappier hot springs spot in the river, but since there were only 3 of us & Bob liked us, we got the nice spot.  It was so cool to be just on the edge of the river, relaxing in a pool of hot water - awesome. 

After the morning excitement, I wandered around the shops - Glenwood is not really a shopping mecca, though there were a few cute shops.  And then I spent the rest of the afternoon floating in the Hot Springs Pool.  The water bubbles out of the ground at about 122°F (50°C), but they cool it a little to 104°F (40°C) for the therapy pool, and then in the larger pool it's at about 90°F (32°C).  So I soaked in the therapy and then walked & floated & swam along the big pool, and then repeated this sequence multiple times.  I really didn't want to leave, except that I was kind of turning into a serious prune. 

On the way back to Denver, we stopped in Glenwood Canyon to hike up to Hanging Lake.  The hike is actually several miles East of Glenwood Springs.  Once you get off the highway, you're completely in the canyon, which is a gorgeous area.  The hike is about 1.25 miles each way and goes up a little over 1,000 ft.  Altogether, our little detour took about 3 hours.  The hike is fairly easy most of the time, but can still be tiring with the elevation.  Then, there's areas that are really steep and rocky.  I'm not much of an outdoor girl, so I was pretty exhausted most of the time, but the hike was well worth it.

The lake itself takes your breath away.  The colors are amazing.  There's a couple little waterfalls.  You can walk around the lake to walk right up to the waterfalls.  Swimming in the lake is prohibited.  I don't remember the details, but there's something about the minerals from the mountain that gives the lake it's beautiful green colors that they don't want contaminated with human oils or something.  It looked fairly shallow, so I doubt I'd want to get in anyway.  So if you're ever in the area, this hike is definitely worth a quick afternoon detour.

This place is the place to come once you have hiked Hanging Lake. The pool is really a large contained hot spring. The lodge is just up the hill overlooking the pool. The rooms are nice and clean and they have a very friendly staff. If you stay in the hotel you get a pool pass. That in itself is a good deal. I am not sure if we spent more time in the hot spring or the hotel. Since it is connected, you will want to spend as much time as you can at both. The hot springs are the real draw. During the day there are a lot of kids because they have a slide and a putt putt golf course. In the evening more of the adults come out and just hang out talking and having a good time. They have these jet chairs that you can sit in. You have to have some quarters to make them work, but it is worth it. The restrooms and locker rooms are very clean and safe. You do have to pay for the lockers, but again, that little cost is worth it. They have a nice gift shop and deli at the pool as well. If you stay at the hotel you can use your free continental breakfast that is included with the stay. The even have a snack bar facing out to the pool. The sports shop has a lot of cool swimwear and souvenirs. You can bring in all the fun stuff you like but they made us leave our super squirt gun in the room. The rates change and vary by day, so if you don't stay at the lodge, check before you go. The price goes cheaper as the evening hours go later. You can get a stamp and return all day long. So, go early and come back late.

This is a great day adventure for anyone who likes to be outdoors. You actually drive up through the canyon to get to Hanging Lake. The canyon runs for about 15 miles, with the town of Glenwood Springs at its western end. Interstate 70 runs through the canyon; it was the most expensive stretch of interstate highway ever built. The highway project was completed with minimal environmental damage and makes many places within the dramatic canyon easily accessible. A smooth, paved bike path, the Glenwood Canyon Recreational Trail, also runs 16 miles through the canyon with several access points off the interstate and various rafting companies run this stretch of the Colorado. You can park your car at the trailhead, but you will have to walk a bit to get to it. Beware of all the cyclist and in-line skaters. They believe they own the road. I would suggest to bring a lunch. There are picnic tables at the bottom as well as facilities. If you look to your south or upriver you will see a massive amphitheater that was carved by the river. It will take about an hour or more to climb up and about the same amount of time to go down. Pace yourself and drink lots of water as you go. You will see people out of breath all along the way. It is quite funny. There are a few benches along the way to rest if you need to. The Hanging Lake trail itself is steep (1000' elevation gain in 1.2 miles), with lots of turns and rocky. However, it is very popular owing to the spectacular views and can be fairly crowded on weekends. As with many Colorado hikes, starting early in the morning in summer is a good idea to avoid the possibility of afternoon thunderstorms (and heat, and bigger crowds on weekends). The stretch of trail after the 1 mile mark is particularly steep but fortunately there are steel handrails provided. There is a boardwalk around the precarious outside edge of the lake which the Boy Scouts built, to prevent erosion--it wouldn't take much to drain the lake right out of existence! You can walk nearly around the lake and underneath the falls on the far side. A must-see side trail leads to another falls and Spouting Rock, which needs little additional explanation. On your way down, you will notice that you are using a different group of muscles, so don't try and run, gravity will bring you down, I promise. Many people on their way up will ask, 'how much further?' I always like this question because it makes me feel in control. You can just say like the locals, "You're almost there."

My mom and I hiked to Hanging Lake in August of 07 because I'd heard so many people talk about how beautiful it was, and they were right.  If you ever find yourself traveling along I-70 through Colorado and you have a couple hours to kill, definitely stop and do this hike.  It only takes about 2 hours round trip, going at an easy pace, and you may want to consider how much time you'll want to spend at the actual lake.  It is a climb the whole way up (but mostly shaded!), and if you're not acclimated to the altitude, it could take a little longer, but coming back down is a breeze.  You can only get to the trailhead for the hike from Eastbound I-70, where the exit is clearly marked "Hanging Lake," but if you are heading Westbound on I-70, you'll have to take the Grizzly Creek exit, get back on 70 going eastbound and watch for the marked exit.  A small pain, but worth it.  The hike itself is pretty fun - a little trail, a little scrambling, etc, and has a lot of great views along the way.  After all, you are in Glenwood Canyon.  When you do make it to the lake, you'll be amazed at the crystal turquoise water and the waterfalls.  It's absolutely stunning.  It's a great spot to each lunch and there are some benches, just remember that it can get crowded, especially on the weekends. 

We would end the night back home in Brighton tonight. It’s about 265 miles, roughly 4 ½ driving hours, to home. But there is a lot of beautiful country, 95% of it in the mountains, between Grand Junction and Brighton. So, while we were all looking forward to sleeping in our own beds tonight, we weren’t in a huge hurry. The plan for the day was breakfast and then an hour and a half drive to the very picturesque town of Glenwood Springs. We would spend the rest of the morning and a good part of the afternoon seeing the town. We might take a dip in the hot springs, for which the town was name. I, but probably none of the others, would head over to the old Pioneer Cemetery to visit Doc Holliday’s grave.

Breakfast was at the Village Inn, by the hotel, and we were on our way by 8:15 AM. We didn’t know it yet, but this was fortunate timing. I-70 is not the ideal way to take in the Colorado scenery, but you do make good time. So as there are few alternates, and none of them realistic, that is the route we took. Even so, it is still a pretty drive, with various plateaus and mesas, early on, and evergreens as you climbed out of the valley. We arrived in Glenwood Springs, and drove into town. It was quickly evident that something was going on in town today. I wondered out loud if this could be the weekend for Strawberry Days, an annual festival in Glenwood. I had read about the festival years before when we took another vacation that had us stop in Glenwood. We quickly found out that we had lucked into the celebration. That changed our plans somewhat.

They were blocking off Grand Ave, the main north-south street of the city for a parade, so we did our best, and made our way south and parked in a supermarket lot. We went inside and bought some bottled water and then made our way to find a spot to watch the parade. It started at 10 AM, which was now, so it should be working its way towards us soon. It was your basic standard parade with floats, a band or two, horses, some politicians and other clowns. After the parade we were all invited down to Sayre Park for free ice cream.

Sayre Park was not very far from where we were watching the parade so we walked on down. The park turned out to be the location of all the day’s main activities. They had a stage set up for various performers and speeches (mostly performers) that would take place through out the day, and then there were a ton (several tons, actually) of vendors set up selling a wide variety of crafts and products. But, as it was getting warm the ice cream was what had our attention. We found both the ice cream and a shady spot to eat it in.

After we were done, it was decided that we would split up. It was a pretty easy decision. I said “I’m going to walk over to the cemetery and see Doc Holliday’s grave” and the girls said “Have a good time” You might think this a bit cruel of them. I mean why couldn’t everyone just go for a few minutes?  He was a famous Old West character and should at least be superficially interesting. And after all the vendors and their booths weren’t going anywhere. The cemetery wasn’t that far away and while it was getting warm, it was far from sweltering. Why not? Well Margo and Jessi had been there before. “So what” you say. They couldn’t go with you for a few minutes and Patty hadn’t been there before and was even interested. The answer is like so many mountain towns they could not afford to waste valuable flatland on cemeteries. Any flatland would be farmed or developed. Dead people got buried on top of a mountain. The old Pioneer Cemetery was at the top of a small mountain that was accessed by a dirt road, and cars were not welcomed. Patty was not up to the trek and as her daughter and granddaughter had already been drug up that mountain once before, they were not interested in repeat performance.

So, I made the walk to where the cemetery road starts and headed up the road. It’s not a difficult climb and I think it took me about 10 minutes. The cemetery, originally called Linwood Cemetery, is pretty small so finding his grave is not difficult. Doc Holliday died broke and some citizens took up a collection to pay for his funeral. I never found out if that included his tombstone, but it’s a nice one. I snapped a few pictures and wandered around the cemetery for a few minutes. I like the history that any cemetery represents, but this one held little appeal after Holliday’s grave. So I left and headed back to Sayre Park to find the three generations of shoppers I had left behind.

It didn’t take too long, but not right away to find them. They had bought some and looked at a lot. Margo took me back over to a few of the highlights. I think she ended up buying some beef jerky and dry soup. Jessi got some sort of sign. We decided as downtown was not too far away that we would walk down there and explore the shops there too. They had a bookstore, “The Book Train” maybe, that I liked. I spent probably close to an hour browsing before I made a selection. After being on our feet for most of this time we decided to grab a snack, some water, and sit for awhile. There was a place called “The Moose” that sold ice cream. So we were back to the Ice Cream on a Hot Day equation. It still worked out, mathematically, so we ordered a cone. Margo and Jessi both got some sort of bubble gum or blueberry concoction that turned their tongues blue. They were both very proud of that and posed for a picture for me.

We still had about three hours of driving in front of us, plus we planned to stop and eat dinner before we got home. So sometime around 3:00 PM we pulled out of Glenwood Springs and headed east on I-70. This part of I-70 has you solidly in the pretty part of the mountains. Again, while I-70 is not the place to sightsee from, it is still pretty. And Glenwood Canyon, and the way they have redone I-70 there, is particularly nice. Two hours later, we arrived at another springs, Idaho Springs. Idaho Springs is the last mountain town (on I-70) before you leave the mountains and descend into Denver. You still have another 10 or 15 miles before you reach the foothills, but the point is the town has a way of pulling tourists off the highway.

Margo and I had been here many times before. Our favorite place to eat here is the Buffalo Restaurant and Bar. It has an American menu that features buffalo steaks and buffalo burgers. The décor is vintage 19^th century, including an original newspaper telling of President Lincoln’s assassination. We were coming into Idaho Springs on a Saturday, which is OK. But any Sunday summer night and Idaho Springs becomes a great place to spend several hours. That is because all of the weekenders from the Denver area are on their way home, and they turn I-70 East into Colorado’s largest parking lot. It’s the same for ski traffic on Saturday mornings in the winter, or any long weekend. But that wasn’t our concern today. Traffic was not a problem. So we stopped, parked, and went inside for dinner. We had a very relaxed meal and afterwards went outside and walked around a little. The views around town are pretty. The mountains rise up all around you, and right near the downtown area is a water wheel and water fall that makes for nice viewing and pictures (which I neglected, I’m sorry to say)

But all things, good and bad, come to an end. This had definitely been good, and unfortunately, if was almost over. We had about an hour’s drive left from Idaho Springs to home, and then we were done. What had started out as a potential disaster with Jessi turning up sick hours before we left, had materialized into a really great trip. But, it was still going to be nice to sleep in my own bed tonight.

Strawberry Days is held every June (3rd weekend, I believe, but don’t hold me to it) in Glenwood Springs. It is the oldest civic festival in Colorado, with the first Strawberry Days being conducted in 1898. Ground Zero for most of the events is Sayre Park, which is called Strawberry Park of the duration of the festival. The main events begin Friday night with a carnival and rodeo. Saturday is the main event, featuring a parade, and then a free Strawberry Ice Cream social. There are many exhibitors selling a variety of crafts and foods at the park. There are various performers and events going on at the park all afternoon and evening. The conclusion of the rodeo is Saturday night. Sunday begins with a pancake breakfast and the Strawberry Shortcut Race. The carnival is here all day as well. If you come from out of town arrive early and park your car near Sayre Park. You will end up spending most of your day there. Glenwood Springs is a pretty easy place to walk, and the distance from downtown to Sayre Park is a bit over a mile. Sayre Park is on Grand Ave (the main drag) south of I-70. We had a great time watching the parade and then checking out all of the vendors in the Park. We parked our car and didn’t touch it again until it was time to leave. I walked to downtown and walked around some of the shops there too. We were only there for Saturday afternoon, but even without seeing any event except the parade we didn’t feel like we missed anything.

As laid back a place as any, with a cool collection of classic vinyl for your perusal n playing. And - hey! - why not play along to your fave tracks with one of the instruments provided?! The owner - Gary (if I remember rightly...) - is an old school hippy raconteur. Why bother with the bars when the highlights are in the hostel? Great value. No bull. No curfew. Private rooms available. Why pay thru the Coloradan nose?

If you've never been to any caverns, or depending on where you've been, the caverns at Glenwood Springs might be really interesting. However, if you've been somewhere like Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, it just does not compare! The only thing that I did enjoy about these caves was the fact that they were high in the Rocky Mountains. Other than that, I was very unimpressed. The caves were fairly small. I'm sure they're much bigger than what's included in the tour, but you don't see too much. And what you do see doesn't include too much of a variety. I think the worst part about the entire experience was our guide. I can't really explain, but he was so incredibly annoying. He was catering to the children way too much - and there were only 3 children in a tour of 30 people! He was so long winded and boring. He also kept making so many jokes that absolutely no one found humorous. By the end, so many of us were making comments under our breath at his expense and we were all racing to the exit once the tour was over - which was a half hour late because of our excessively talkative tour guide. All I can say is that if you do decide to check out Glenwood Caverns, I hope you don't get our guide!

My parents came for a little visit over Labor Day to spend the weekend with Mike (the evil ex) and me.  We decided to head up to Vail on Saturday for the afternoon and dinner.  Normally, we wouldn't do too much except just sending time with each other, but we decided to be kind of active during the first boyfriend - parent meeting.  Well, first meeting since we were teenagers and they barely knew him.  Anyway, although Vail is beautiful, we were a little bit bored for the end of the summer.  If you like to bike, there's still a lot to do, but we weren't really feeling it.  So, we knew that Glenwood Springs & the caverns weren't too much further away and decided to go a little bit further into the Rockies.  Glenwood Springs was a cute mountain town, but it really did seem like just another touristy town in the mountains.  Obviously, that's exactly what the caverns are, but oh well.  Waiting for our tour through the caverns was actually kind of interesting.  You have to go up the mountain, above the town, to enter the cave.  So, they've put up some little rides and things to do while waiting for tours to start.  The crazy swing just looked scary.  I'm sorry, but I have too much of a fear of heights to ever give that a chance.  Roller coasters are one things, but that swing was way too terrifying.  Instead, we decided to try out this little roller coaster inspired ride.  Two people sit on this little seat thing and you just go flying down the mountain side.  It was insane.  It's not run on any electricity.  The only thing you have is a manual brake.  I think it could go up to 80 miles per hour.  I was freaking out.  I kept yelling at Mike to break every time we were coming up to a turn, afraid we were going to go flying off, but we didn't.  Although we were never more than 10 feet above the ground, I was completely terrified.  Ok, I did it, and I don't plan on doing it again.  After we were done with the caverns, we headed back to Vail for dinner at some nice German restaurant.  It was good, but I think Cafe Berlin in Denver is so much better!  So, that was our weekend with my parents.

Glenwood Hot Springs Pool offers therapeutic (full of minerals) relaxing waters with 2 pools. (3 if you count the seasonal kiddy pool) One maintained at 104 degrees and the other at 90+ degrees. The large pool offers designated lap lanes and diving boards. There are seasonal water slides and a miniature golf course as well. The Glenwood Springs Hot Springs Pool is the marquee attraction Glenwood Springs, famous for it’s mineral rich waters. H This is a wonderful place to spend the day with the family. Summer or winter, and if you forgot your suit don’t worry, not only do they have a gift shop with everything you could need, but the rent swimsuits and towels. The pool is also open year round until 10pm. One tip, if you want to avoid the masses, you can pay twice as much and use the private "club" which has way-better showers/locker, a full gym, fresh-water whirlpool, sauna and steam rooms.

The brewpub is a local favorite featuring craft-brewed beer, excellent pool tables, and tasty pub fare. They typically have 7-10 fresh-brewed beers, depending what is in season. Sometimes the wait can be long when town is busy. It is family friendly (kids meals, served on frisbees, smiley fries, crayones, etc) and was the original non-smoking bar in town. Good place to watch a game too if you sit at the bar. The IPA is my favorite beer (they don't serve Bud!). All the food is good, I like to try whatever is a special, the Turkey Philly sandwich and the onion rings. Cheeseburgers are solid, the chili is tasty, and the salads are large.

Today we get to drive through an area of Colorado where a special highway was constructed in a manner that would make it as friendly to the environment as possible.  The old two lane road needed to be made into a modern expressway, but the local government didn’t want to upset the beauty of the mountain or the canyon the road passed through.  They set up very strict rules, with heavy fines attached, regarding trees being cut or surfaces changed.  Today, the new highway travels through the Glenwood Springs area nearly invisibly.  It makes for nice ride.