208 - Vacation, Wednesday, Day 5, May 31st

Today, we drove west on I-70 to Glenwood Springs. I think Glenwood Springs boast the largest above ground hot springs pool. Our first activity was to take a gondola ride up the mountain to a place that is called Adventure Park. Adventure Park is pretty new and it was quite fun. We first took a guide cave tour that lasted about 70 minutes. One of the caves that we toured was recently opened to the public in 1999. We learned that a high school student studied this natural pool of water that was isolated form all other water for a science project. She sent a sample out to the lab and they discovered seven new life forms…one of which can live in human blood and fight cancer. Scientists only come out to study when grant money is available and right now there is none.

After the cave, we had some “The Amazing Race” fun. First we rode the Alpine Rail. It’s like an alpine sled crossed with a rollercoaster. You have your own person car with a lever that controls the speed. The rail has dips and bumps and goes slithering down the mountain for a good ride. At the end of the ride you car get pulled up by a cable much like a rollercoaster does at the beginning before that first drop.

Next, we rode the zip line. The set up had two seats that we buckled into. They pulled us back and let us go. We picked up some good speed as we were nearing the bottom before we hit this spring loaded mechanism that snapped us back and forth slowly until we came to a stop.

After that was the big swing. This ride had four seats – two in the front and two in the back. We chose the back. The scary or cool thing about this ride was that the center of the pendulum was right on the edge of a cliff – a big drop off – to the valley below. It was a long way down and we were pretty close to the top of this mountain. The cars looked like ants on the highway. Verna was a little nervous and I was excited. The ride was great – quite a rush and the views were spectacular. When the ride was over the operator asked if we’d like to ride in the front now. Sure…she’s giving us a free ride. I like the front view better. The way you swing along the ground and then go flying past the cliff. Wow! (Check out the pictures above.)

After we took the gondola back down the mountain, we headed over to the hot springs pool. It was a warm day…maybe in the low ‘80’s upper 70’s, but the pools felt so good. It made our legs turn to jelly. They have three pools of different temperatures. The largest pool was only slightly warm…not hot tub temps. The pool was so relaxing I can’t begin to describe how nice it felt. The Springs also had two waterslides that we each had 4 passes to ride. I forgot how fun waterslides are. We had figure 8 inner tubes and rode together. We eventually made our way over the next pool that felt like a hot tube. Evening was coming and the air was getting cooler, so the hot water felt great.

We were also getting hungry, so we got dressed and walked their little downtown and found a big brew pub restaurant. That sounded perfect. I got a bacon cheddar burger with onion rings that we shared as appetizers. Oh that was good. After dinner we walked over to this small café that served gelato and shared a bit of sweetness before we headed home.

I must say that the drive in and out of Glenwood Springs is amazingly beautiful.