Colorado Day 5

Welcome to Colorado vacation, day number five.  I hope you aren't too sick of hearing about our travels, really if you are, just come back when I'm done with my Colorado posts.  If I don't write about them now, I may forget everything!

After spending most of our time in the car the day before, we decided to just relax and enjoy the hot springs along the river in Pagosa Springs, the town where we were staying.  I must say I had NO idea what the springs were all about.  I think I had told you that we had walked along the river in Pagosa a few nights before...trying to convince the kiddos that the water was only slightly above freezing (truth).  Every now and then along the river, you would see a grouping of rocks and this discoloration and maybe smell the wonderful sulfur smell...if you stuck your toe into that water in the middle of those rocks, it was HOT.  It was crazy how hot it was...only feet from 40-45 degree river water.  Amazing. 

To really soak up the experience of the hot springs though, you have to pay..of course.  And because we are all about soaking up the full experience of things...haha...we paid for an all-day pass at the Hot Springs Spa along the river.  It was so cool.  This picture may be too far away for you to see, but this is a view of the spa from the other side of the river.  I thought it kinda looked like an area at a water park or something.  Jay and I spent a lot of time in those blue lounge chairs, which may be why we were burnt so badly! It was very relaxing.  There were places you could walk down from the spa into the river, and the kids spent a lot of time in there.

They had a regular swimming pool there that the kids also played in, and the pool water was fed from a spring too, but it was cooled to about 91 degrees...which to me is still awesome.  There were 18 spring 'hot tubs' at this spa that we could enjoy.  For an extra five bucks and no children, we could have explored five more, but those pesky children were with us...ha.  (In this picture at the top right is the 'restricted area' for those who aren't strapped down with offspring.)  Really, we were fine with the 18.  How many different hot tubs can you sit in?! 

I know that the discoloration might look gross and there are times where you touched something slimy, but it is supposedly all natural and so the sulfur really came through.  We can still smell that smell on our swimsuits!  The hot tubs ranged in temperatures from 95 to about 111 degrees (113 at night).  They were all labeled with the name and the temperature.  There was one called the "Lobster Pot" that only the tip of my toe enjoyed.  It was flaming.  I think it was maybe 108 degrees.  Insane!  I can't remember the name of the hottest one, but it was ridiculous and we actually saw an older gentleman in it, but I told the kids it may actually feel really good on some older joints, you know.  I did some reading on the hot springs and it says that the water underground is actually around 160 degrees!  They do a lot of heating with the hot water in the downtown area.  Gobs of Geothermal action going on down there.

I thought this was really cool, the sidewalk through the water.  This area had lots of goldfish in it and you couldn't get in the water, other than walking across the concrete sidewalk.  I told Jay we need one of those across our pond.  We both agreed that Hank the Tank II would never leave it.  He would just sprawl out across it and lounge all day!

They allowed us to come and go as we pleased since we bought the day pass.  I left and got us Subway for lunch, but we left the place for supper.  By the time we left, as I said above, we were absolutely fried...like we had been in a lobster pot, only we hadn't.  It was about that time, Jay gave me the tidbit I wish he would've mentioned beforehand...we are 7,000 feet closer to the sun...because honestly, that never crossed my mind.  I don't even get that burnt sitting on a beach for two days!  The kids had put on sunscreen, thank goodness, but the adults, you know, we didn't need any...ouch!  A week later, Jay & I are still peeling :)

We went back and relaxed a little (actually the kids and I went and bought Aloe gel), got cleaned up and headed out for a game of putt-putt golf.  Lane had been begging to play and it was free where we stayed.  If you know me, you know that I can barely tolerate two games:  bowling and putt-putt.  Ugh.  But I managed to survive it.  We ate supper at a Mexican restaurant that was directly across the river from the Hot Springs Spa (actually it's where we took the first picture from).  They had outside patio seating AND the hottest salsa I have ever had in my life.

Our bellies full, we headed back to the spa to sooth our sunburns...ha.  I actually thought the 100 degree pools felt great.  The rest of the family disagreed.  You could pick our group out of a crowd though, we were the bright red ones!  Finally, at 10:00 p.m. Colorado time, we got our towels and dried off to get in the car and head back to bed.  I really enjoyed day five and the hot springs...it was a nice day of rest and relaxation but maybe a little too much sun :)