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| Words are inadequate to describe these...……... |
By design we've stayed on Eastern Standard Time during this trip. That's really not too hard for us, we've never been creatures of the night. It's allowed us to make the most of the daylight hours, which are shortened even more here in Glenwood Springs by the mountains. Currently sunrise is around 6:50 and sunset is a few minutes before 5:00.
Yesterday morning we were out the door and on a quest before the sun came up. Our mission, doughnuts from a place that Beth had read about online, Sweet Coloradough. The hype for these tasty morsels of sugar coated dough was tremendous. We've had a few doughnuts around the world in our travels, some really good and some not so good. We were both a little skeptical that they would live up to the praise that had been heaped on them. We were wrong! The doughnuts at Sweet Coloradough may not be the best doughnuts in the galaxy, but Beth and I were in 100% agreement that we had never tasted better ones.
Sweet Coloradough
We arrived shortly after their 6:00 AM opening. The display case was full of all types of doughnuts and on top of the counter were complimentary doughnut holes. We each grabbed one of the samples and bit in...……..it was love at first bite! The very witty and funny young man working behind the counter patiently guided us through the large selection. We narrowed our selection down to four, then added one more and then added one more before getting to the register.
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| If you're within a thousand miles of Glenwood Springs make your way here and look for this sign! |
We enjoyed our treasures in the store. First dividing each of the six huge doughnuts into half and then into quarters. This allowed us to compare and contrast our selection. After careful consideration the winner of the top doughnut award was...…..all of them!
While we were chowing down we enjoyed watching a steady stream of regular customers coming in. Each one was greeted by our doughnut hero behind the counter with a smile and funny comment or two, such as, "you want 100 dozen today" or "would you like tequila in your mocha". The smiling customers were soon walking out with boxes that were sure to make them the hero in their office, school or home in just a few minutes.
We packed up our leftovers and instead of heading back to the hotel decided to drive the 40 miles down Colorado 82 and check in on the fur coat and leather pants crowd in Aspen. It was around 8:00 when we got there, the ski slopes don't open for another two weeks so the town was still pretty much asleep. We did enjoy walking several miles of the 42 mile long, multiuse, Rio Grande Trail that connects Aspen to Glenwood Springs. We spent a little time walking through the downtown area, window shopping the latest fashion trends which were mainly more fur and leather. Aspen remains the playground of the rich and famous!
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| Along the Rio Grand Trail in Aspen |
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| Snowmass Ski Area...…..along the drive from Glenwood Springs to Aspen |
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| Ran into this bear in downtown Aspen. He's actually made of nails. |
Rio Grand Trail
The afternoon was a wet one...…...literally. In 2015 a new hot springs opened in Glenwood Springs, Iron Mountain Hot Springs. It's less than a mile from the historic Glenwood Hot Springs Pools, quite different but equally soothing. Instead of a large pool, Iron Mountain Hot Springs consists of 16 small pools with temperatures from the mid-90's up to 107 degrees. Over a three hour period, with smiles on our faces we bounced from pool to pool, sampling different temperatures. Like the doughnuts from earlier in the day, they were all winners. As the sun was setting behind the mountain we left the hot springs for another adventure.
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| One of the sixteen hot springs pools at Iron Mountain Hot Springs. This was our favorite at a comfortable 99 degrees. |
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| This map at the entrance to the hot springs shows the current temperature of every pool. It is monitored and changed throughout the day. |
Iron Mountain Hot Springs
Just a short distance from the hot springs is the entrance to the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. The actual park is located at the top of the mountain and is accessible by a five minute gondola ride from the base. On Fridays after 4:00 the gondola ride up the mountain is free with a coupon from the local paper. We took advantage of the offer and enjoyed the Christmas decorations which included a tree lighting. We also enjoyed watching the sunset for a second time from our higher elevation while listening to live music in the cozy restaurant.
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| It's about a five minute gondola ride up to Glenwood Caverns Amusement Park |
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| A selfie from 7100 feet |
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| Our second sunset of the day. |
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| The view of Mount Sopris (12,965 feet) from the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. The two mountains on the left are much further away and are actually taller than Mount Sopris. |
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| Pat and Dan, a couple of very talented local musicians |
Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park
Not wanting to miss out on anything, we stopped back by Iron Mountain Hot Springs for a evening soak under the stars before heading back to the hotel. It was a sweet day from beginning to end!
