J and I finally took a trip that we had been talking about for a while. Instead of heading to Scottsdale for Spring Training this year we decided to book a shorter, less expensive Colorado stay-cation: we headed to Glenwood Springs on the Amtrak to enjoy vapor caves, hot springs, a historic hotel, great beer, and a great meal.
We departed Denver on the
Amtrak and made our way through Winter Park and over to
Glenwood Springs. We were a little late but not terribly. The Amtrak station is on the south side of the Colorado River. The hot springs, vapor caves, and our hotel were a super short walk to the north side. We checked in to our
Hotel Colorado and immediately headed to the
vapor caves at Yampah Spa. In the caves the temps can reach 112 degrees Fahrenheit. There is a whole ceremony to vapor caving it...you throw on a swim suit, wrap in a towel, and head down the cool hall to a small, unassuming staircase. By the time you've walked to the bottom you are already in 90+ degrees of steam and hot air. At the point you hang up your towel and chill in this area for a while, or one can venture farther back where the temperatures rise. There is a little relief in a cold water faucet where you can quickly rinse or fill a tub to take with you as you sit in a semi private cave. The general rule is that you leave at least every 15 minutes and go upstairs to drink some water. We made it over an hour, coming in and out.
After the vapor caves we were decently hungry, and we decided to start with a brew at the
Glenwood Canyon Brew Pub back on the south side of the river. Good, solid beer. We headed one building down to
The Pullman for dinner. I would have loved to try everything on this menu! We had an appetizer that was a Salmon Melt Crostini: smoked salmon on small, crusty bread bites with tomato and preserved lemon (we left the fontina off). After that the main course was eggplant cannelloni filled with mushroom risotto and coriander tomato sauce. Perfect!
We walked our way back to the
hot springs to end our evening there. There was a therapy pool that was heated via the hot springs to about 104 degrees. The larger pool was in the 90s. We couldn't spend a whole lot of time in the therapy pool all at once. We would switch back and forth, moving as carefully but quickly as we could in the cold evening.
The next day we did morning at the Daily Bread. Gigantic portions, super reasonable prices, and wonderful food. Very accommodating. They had a rosemary sourdough bread, homemade jam, and substituted without question. J's coffee was never close to empty and everyone was so sweet.
After that we checked out, spent some time finding some snack for the train ride back, and then went and waited. Homeward bound!
Side story: The Australians. When you go to the dining car for lunch on the Amtrak you are paired off in groups of 4. So J and I sat across from an Australian couple. The best part of the conversation was when Vegemite was brought up and I asked if there was anything that was an American staple that Australians despised. Turns out: root beer. So hypothetically, I asked, if I am traveling in Australia and ask for a root beer..."They'll know what you're on about," our friend responded. :P Who knew?!
Here are some pictures below. Of course the pictures from the vapor cave and the hot springs were on J's waterproof GoPro so I will need to obtain a picture and maybe some footage!
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| Union Station, off we go! |
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| Heading into the foothills (this is just west of Denver) |
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| This train has an observation car which has windows above as well as larger views along the side. Here is J enjoying his way through a gorge! |
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| At one point the train proceeds through Moffitt Tunnel. It spits out right in Winter Park! I didn't even have time to react and grab a picture until we were past a lot of the slopes. |
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| Our snack...a French baguette with strawberry limoncello jam (with a bit of black pepper)...fabulous! |
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| Making out way closer! |
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| Glenwood Springs! I took this from the pedestrian overpass. That is our train. |
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| The Glenwood Hot Springs! |
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| Hotel Colorado. This is where we stayed... |
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| ...lots of Teddy Roosevelt history, and we all know how much J loves Teddy. |
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| A sunroom-type hallway at the Hotel Colorado. |
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| We first headed next door to the Glenwood Canyon Brewing Company where, apparently, the beer I ordered only came in keg-size. Needless to say we did not have any alcoholic beverages by the time we headed to The Pullman. The food there: fantastic. |
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| I have to have at least two pics of Teddy and J. |
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| On our way Denver-bound...heading through Glenwood Canyon. |
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| Glenwood Canyon. |
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| Another view from the observation car. |
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| Glenwood. |
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| Heading back over the high country. |
