I’ve lived in Colorado for a little over 2 years now (moved here in April 2019) and the geologic beauty of this state never ceases to amaze.
A couple of weeks ago, between installments of out of town visitors (3 sets so far and more coming!), we visited Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
Glenwood Springs is famous for its natural mineral hot springs and this was the primary reason we visited – so I could experience a mineral hot springs for the first time, as well as see the beauty of this region.
The drive was gorgeous, especially when we got to Glenwood Canyon which is before you get to Glenwood Springs. We stopped at a park/rest stop in Glenwood Canyon along the river and wow:
I did not want to leave the park/rest stop area, just wanted to pitch a tent by the water and relax!
Here is a little video I took that I uploaded to YouTube (unfortunately I did not think to film it landscape):
Once we got into Glenwood Springs, we checked into the Hotel Colorado which is one of Colorado’s historic hotels (there is another historic hotel nearby, The Hotel Denver, and these are the famous hotels in Glenwood Springs).
I appreciated that there was a framed quilt inside the hotel!
There was a bridge from the Hotel Colorado side of the town to the shopping/downtown area, which provided a nice view of the area:
Do you see the train tracks in the image above? Well keeps those in mind for what I will mention at the end of this post.
Once we got into downtown, we wandered about – there are lots of shops, eateries and pubs. We stopped at a wonderful brewery tasting room and had pierogis for lunch from the food truck across the street.
After lunch we browed a used bookstore which also had a quilt:
We also visited the famous Glenwood Springs Hot Springs at the Glenwood Hot Springs Resort, and it was an interesting experience.
The hot springs mineral water felt great but it was like taking a bath with a hundred or so other people! We all had our bathing suits on but it still felt a little strange with all those people surrounding us while we soaked in the hot springs!
It was a very fun weekend and I appreciate all the post vaccine travel we are able to do now.
Okay, so I asked you to remember the image earlier in this post with the train tracks. Well in the near future I will be riding on those train tracks! My sister is coming to visit and I am taking her to Glenwood Springs for the weekend via the Amtrak train from Denver to Glenwood Springs.
I am hoping it is as scenic as it looked when we drove to Glenwood Springs and saw the train tracks along the way.
I haven’t traveled by Amtrak train in many years and I am pretty excited about the 5+ hour train ride from Union Station in downtown Denver to Glenwood Springs. My sister and plan to bring a picnic to eat on the train, relax, read and of course catch up.
I did find this article online titled: Prepare to be Blown Away on the Best Train Ride in Colorado! That’s a good sign!
I so enjoy seeing beautiful nature/landscape photos on the blogs I follow and I wanted to share a couple with you!
Near the top of the drive from the car’s altimeter:
I did get a little lightheaded when we were hiking near other people at 12,000 feet and I was wearing a cloth mask I made. We let the crowds get ahead of us so we could take a break from our masks and just use social distancing (we stayed at least 50 feet behind another hiking group).
And of course while taking my standard zillion photographs, once again I attempted to channel my inner 
It must have hiked with us for about a mile to a rock formation at the end of the trail. When we stopped, it stopped and waited for us.
The whole experience with the young elk felt sort of magical and mystical to us. Not to get all “woo-woo” on you but my partner and I both lost our life partners of many years (I am a widow, he is a widower) about 3 months apart. It sort of felt like the spirit of a love one was visiting upon the elk to walk with us.
If you’ve ever seen the movie 
I am proud to say we left with only one caramel apple in hand (and it was incredibly delicious and we wished we’d bought two!)
In case the image above is too unclear – first the child is attempting to feed the bear and then the child is inside the bear!
Thanks for making it through all these photos!
Oh and in case you are wondering (and you remember the movie), no they do not have a labyrinth like the famous one in the film.
Although we did not hike into this specific area (the site of the remains of Castlewood Canyon Dam), 
Yes, Mike is one spoiled miniature schnauzer!
As you can see in the first photo, Mike looked on as lunch was prepared and eaten, wondering why he was not invited to the feast (we did bring dog treats and water for him of course)!
Here is the description of this spectacular park from the 
My partner John, who took the photos, had to precariously hand me Mike once I got myself safely positions on the rocks in the middle of the water.
All I can say is that these images do not do the beauty of this place justice.
And to close out this post, here is me, feeling quite happy and blessed to be a on a beautiful hike, on a beautiful day, in the beautiful state of Colorado!
Well, 2 days ago, I discovered on my walk a whole path of inspirational messages in sidewalk chalk that I want to share with you.
I put an arrow where the female turkey was and she did not seem very interested in any of them (she kept wandering away) while they took turns (or simultaneously) displaying their plumages!
Next post (which is the final one in this series of posts) I will share photos and stories from our Quilt Shop Hopping in Northern California!
Oh yes there we a lot more, but I figure four images is enough to expose you to 🙂
I spent a brief time inside the ferry passenger cabin, which is HUGE! There are plenty of commuters that take the ferry every day. It was outside commuting hours, so the inside the ferry was fairly empty (or most people were sitting in their cars, as it is also a car ferry).
My sister (by the way I have one sister and one brother and we are all very close) is exceptionally fun and we had a blast during her visit.
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