A month ago, I went on a girls’ weekend trip to Glenwood Springs, CO. Aside from that group of ladies being delightful, it was just what I needed to get some extra rest and relaxation. Here’s what we did.
California Zephyr Train
We could have driven from Denver to Glenwood Springs through the mountains along I-70, but who wants to do that when you can take a train? The California Zephyr runs from California to Chicago. It takes an incredibly scenic pass through the mountains that, in some places, are so narrow that it’s just you on the train and the Colorado river. There isn’t much room for anything else.
The train trip itself is gorgeous and even better with friends. We typically do a high tea on our trips, but this year there wasn’t one, so Sara brought a whole tea experience to the train. It was delectable!
Glenwood Hot Springs
The thing to do in Glenwood Springs is to visit the actual hot springs. The Glenwood Springs Pools has the world’s largest hot spring pool, plus a lot of smaller pools of various temperatures, all fed from the hot springs themselves. We spent a glorious day jumping from larger pool to smaller, hotter pools, and even into a cold plunge pool! The springs have a spa, some food, and sometimes a food truck as well. My only complaint is that they didn’t have much by way of cocktails and they didn’t let you drink alcohol in the pool. That’ll be one way they can really level up later!
We ultimately were driven out of the pools by a heavy rainstorm with lightening and thunder. It was kind of fun to watch it roll in from down the valley, but I probably could have spent about three more hours there.
Downtown & Food
The town of Glenwood Springs also has a fairly cute downtown area with shops and a lot of good restaurants. We stayed right across from the train station at the Hotel Maxwell Anderson (formerly The Denver Hotel). It had a great coffee shop downstairs called Wild and the Glenwood Canyon Brewpub connected to the property, which came in handy when it was raining hard and we didn’t want to get wet before dinner.
The night before, we tried the Riviera Supper Club, which was also pretty good. The downtown is incredibly walkable. There are also some outfitters available to take you on a white-water rafting trip or will rent you a bike if you want to ride the scenic Glenwood Canyon Recreation Path. I was intrigued by the Hanging Lake hike as well, which has gotten so popular, you need a reservation to hike it. That’ll be something for a future trip.
Wildlife
The city itself is actually quite large, though it doesn’t feel like it. One of my former coworkers who lives near Vail said that Glenwood Springs is their “big city” where they go for car repairs and some real shopping. But it’s not entirely urban. I got up early to take a run in the dark (around 5:30am) and saw an unleashed dog in someone’s front yard. The moonlight caught the dog’s silhouette a second later and that’s when I realized that the thing running away from me was, in fact, a black bear. That was incredible and I walked away from that area as fast as I could.
I would definitely come back to Glenwood Springs. My husband has already requested we go to the pools together. I look forward to trying out more food and really enjoying this scenic part of Colorado! Our next family trip is to New Zealand in a couple of months. Can’t wait to experience that beautiful country again!
