I was 17 years old when my parents first brought my brothers and I to Glenwood Springs as new Colorado residents. Even at 17, and "too cool" for my britches, I fell in love with it! I can't remember a year when I haven't come to Glenwood, ever since, and sometimes more than once in the year!
It is like a haven of rest for me, and the hot springs waters have been a soothing balm in the midst of wonderful years, as well as turbulent years.
When my children were born, they fell asleep in water toys in the warm pool. They took their first jumps off the diving boards as toddlers. As they grew up, they ventured into the Glenwood Caverns and didn't come back for hours. That was the summer we ditched them at Rosies and told the server to give them the bill! We took many exciting raft trips down the Colorado River, and baptized my mother-in-law into the joys of the River and the pool and the scrumptious restaurants. Our teenage daughters kept us on our toes during the years they sneaked out of the hotel rooms late at night, but it was all in good fun! For the first time ever, a few years ago we were "shushed" in the courtyard of the Hotel Colorado during a late night family game that got a little rambunctious. At least no ones "wanted" photo ever showed up in the post office!
We bring our bikes and kayaks now to enjoy rides up and down the canyon to watch eagles and big horn sheep and have now introduced our grandchildren to this magical place. The family insists on regular reunions here and the next will see all four generations of us.
Even now, as we approach the town through the canyon our hearts skip a beat and we open the windows to get the first whiff of that wonderful sulphur smell - yes, I said wonderful!
It's been fun to see the changes over the years, but it's also comforting to know that we know the town as though we'd grown up there. Our now adult children feel robbed if they don't get to come along with us and hang out in the sun at the pool.
The memories associated with the happy times we have spent, and continue to spend, in Glenwood Springs may be corny, but to us, it is like coming back to a very special home that is like no other.