Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Driving To Las Vegas: First Stop, Glenwood Springs!

Hello, hello, I'm back!!!!  Wow! It seems like I've been gone a long time.  Some of you may have thought I dropped off the face of the earth and others are probably scratching their heads thinking "What, you've been gone?"

For those wondering where I've been, my husband and I traveled over 3500 miles by car over a ten day period from Wisconsin to Las Vegas and back.  We had a lot of fun and saw and experienced so many new things.  I think I will have so many adventures to share on my Wednesday Travel Posts that I will never be able to finish them all before my next vacation.

Your probably wondering "What was it like driving that far by car?  Did you get bored? We're you nervous about car trouble or safety?  How far did you travel in a day?"  I will answer all these questions and more in my weekly Wednesday Travel Posts.

My husband planned the trip very well so we were very rarely bored in the car.  The first day was the longest car ride because he thought that would be the drive we were the freshest and could handle a long day in the car.  We drove ten hours from Wisconsin to North Platte,  Nebraska.

The worst part of the entire drive was driving through the states of Iowa and Nebraska.  Iowa isn't too bad, but Nebraska is quite the snore fest as far as scenery goes.  I did fall in love with this adorable rest stop in Iowa.  Could this be any cuter?  They even had a coffee shop upstairs!


Driving west is so much easier than driving east because there is so little traffic, although you do still have to deal with a lot of trucks.  But in answer to the question "Do I get nervous about car trouble or safety?"  Yes, of course I do.  In fact, I really struggle with anxiety before a big trip.  I lay in bed at night worrying about everything that could wrong.  I try really hard through prayer to not let my anxiety prevent me from traveling.  We also plan ahead by getting a maintenance check on our vehicle before we leave, and using satellite views of areas were going through so we're not surprised when we get there.  But even with the best laid plans things can go wrong, and they did on this trip.  But I will share more on that when I reach that day of our adventure.

We made really good time and arrived at our first hotel at 5:00 p.m. We enjoyed a nice dinner, walked around a bit at the local mall to stretch our legs, then sat in the hot tub to soothe our aching joints from the car travel.


The next morning we headed out to Fuita, Colorado but planned to stop in Glenwood Springs on the way there.  This drive was only under eight hours, but we wanted time to explore Glenwood Springs so we got up at the crack of dawn.

The drive from North Platte to Denver was still a bit dull, but once you hit Denver, it is nothing but jaw-dropping beautiful scenery and the time just flies by. 

Glenwood Springs is known for it's hot springs.  There are private hot springs located on hotel grounds that cost anywhere between $300-400 per night to stay depending on the time of the year, but there is also a public hot spring pool for the rest of us poor folk to enjoy.  These springs cost only $19.50 per person, but we got in for only $15.75 because it was the off-season.


There are several hot spring pools at the public pool.  They vary in size and temperature.  We started in the main therapy pool which has a temperature of about 104 F.  It was a nice spring day, with a cool breeze, so it felt oh, so good, especially after a long car drive.

Below is my husband standing in the pool.  It is only about waist deep for it's meant for soaking, not swimming.  There is another hot spring pool for diving and swimming laps.  They also have seats that have power jets in this pool, but you have to pay 25 cents for a few minutes to use those.  They even have a water slide...do you see it in the distance?

Don't you just love the mountain view at this pool too?


We didn't stay too long in this pool, for it got too warm for us quickly.  They only advise spending ten or fifteen minutes in this pool, and then moving over to one of the cooler pools to cool off.

Here I am standing in front of the cooler pool which was kept at about 90 degrees Fahrenheit.


I can't even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed this experience.  I usually don't like swimming in pools because the water is always too cold for me, but this was like swimming in a bathtub.  It was awesome!  It's so fascinating to me that this water is naturally heated.  In fact, they actually have to cool the water or it would be too hot to swim in, for when it rises from underground it is 122 degrees!


After our swim, we just lounged in the sun to dry off.  Oh, it felt so good to soak up some rays!  I could have laid there all afternoon, but we wanted to explore more of Glenwood Springs, plus we wanted to make our next hotel stop before dark, so off we went!


It was late Sunday afternoon by the time we were done at the hot springs, so all the stores in the historic district were closed.  So we just walked around and enjoyed looking at the buildings and window displays.


 I loved all the brick store fronts.


The city is nestled in the mountains, so there was a gorgeous mountain view every where you looked.



By now, I was ready for some tea, I always have a cup of tea late in the afternoon as a pick me up.  This sweet lady was actually locking up her store as we were entering, but she still graciously got me a cup of tea.  Isn't this coffee shop so fun?


I loved this fun candy shop!  My husband and I love to explore all the chocolate shops when we travel.


We kept seeing an Amtrak train riding along the mountain base near the expressway while we drove and thought that would be a nice way to travel.  Then when we stopped in Glenwood Springs we discovered this cute train station.  I asked an employee about the trains that come here and she said it was the California Zephyr train.  It picks passengers up in Chicago or Denver and takes them on a scenic route all the way to California.  My husband and I thought that would be a fun trip for us to take some day, and a lot less stressful.


I had to have my husband take a picture of this house sandwiched in-between two commercial buildings.  Isn't it too funny?


 After this picture was taken, we headed back to our vehicle for our next pit stop....Fuita, Colorado.  We had more adventures there...which I will share in my next travel post!



Until then, Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE and Travel Tuesday!


6 comments:

  1. Welcome back!

    What an adventure you've been on! I LOVE hot springs, but haven't been in about 15 years...

    Loved following you along on this part of the journey and am looking forward to the next.

    Andrea
    Andrea’s Wellness Notes

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  2. Welcome back!! Looks like you had a wonderful first vacation stop in Glenwood Springs! We wanted to go there last year to visit the hanging lake trail, but changed my mind because I wasn't sure the kids could have handled the hike (or maybe it was my nerves LOL). Now I wish we had went anyway, because the hot springs pool looks like so much fun and it would have been something I had planned to do on the afternoon after the hike! But since I fell in love with Colorado I am sure I'll go back there someday!
    I agree, driving through Iowa and Nebraska are so boring...but the little rest stop is too cute!

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  3. Hello !!
    So fab shot, you had fun time wow !!!! Fabulous !
    xxx

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  4. I have loved following along on your trip via Insta and now your first travel blog entry! My hubby and I love to travel too and and can't help to to thing we would have a ball traveling or at least meeting up together sometime at some point... We went to Colorado Springs in 2012 and loved it. We are headed to Coeur D'Alaine Idaho in couple of weeks, but we will be flying from Connecticut so maybe not quite the same adventure you had. We are planning to rent a car while there to hit up Montana! We have a goal to visit all 50 states. Looking forward to your next travel post :)

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  5. I think your right Karen! We would have a ball meeting up or traveling together!

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  6. Great photos, Amy. I enjoyed being a virtual co-passenger and look forward to more of your pix!
    Thanks for participating in the Travel Tuesday meme.

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