Glenwood Springs, Aspen and Maroon Bells

Glenwood Springs. The name conjures up images of soaking in the natural hot springs, steam billowing about – even on the hottest day of the year. As many of us take vacations in the summer months, you can rest assured that there is more to do in the Glenwood Springs area than soaking in the hot pool. While there is science behind drinking a warm drink on a hot day, I’m not likely to sit in a hot pool on a hot day. However I’m jumping ahead of the adventure.

This one started in Denver, Union Station to be exact. We took the California Zephyr from Denver to Glenwood Springs (it’s interesting to note, that this train also stops in Winter Park and Grandby – but if you get off, you’re not getting back on to go to Glenwood.) We departed at 8:05 am with all our worldly possessions, and absolutely bare necessities when traveling with a youngster. Luckily for us, there are/were not limitations on bags for baby “paraphernalia” – ie: stroller (not the umbrella stroller that is positively useless for any person taller than 5 feet tall – of which I am much taller than that), play pen, car seat, etc. This sure beats traveling by plane in which you are restricted to taking less than the bare essentials. Thankfully, we were traveling with the whole fam again (Gigi, and Poppie, my brother and his wife, and my youngest brother. Of course my husband and son were there too!) so all hands were on deck, so to speak, to help out with a tuckered out little boy, or all of the things that MUST be carried.
We arrived in Glenwood at a little before 2 pm.
WHAT?! 6 hours for a 2 hour trip – yes! NO traffic, we weren’t driving, we could r-e-l-a-x and truly enjoy the scenery, read a book, take a nap, chat with other travelers, or my favorite: get up and stretch your legs (you can’t do that in a moving vehicle). We left on a Saturday, which members of a Colorado train history group will share stories of the whos and the whats. Many apologies, I don’t know which group was on this train. Someone please let me know!
Back to my story. We got off the train, and on to the rest of our adventure.
Glenwood Springs has a great transit system, which delivered us practically to our hotel. Sidenote: I promised to give the good and the bad, exactly what we did on our trip so, I’m not ‘making for a good story’ – this is the truth. I would not recommend the hotel we stayed in – it was cheap (in more ways than one), and a safe place to stay, but it was waaaaay out of town, the hot breakfast they claimed to have was nothing more than hot water provided for instant oatmeal. If I did this trip again, I would prefer to stay at either the Hotel Colorado, the Ramada Inn, or the Holiday Inn Express – these are also on the bus line and very easy to get to.
Once we set foot in Glenwood, my dad called Enterprise to confirm our cars, which had been reserved before the trip. Yep, they had them. He let them know we’d be there with in the hour. We took our bags to the hotel, and called Enterprise to “pick us up”. They let us down. With a thunk. The cars that we had confirmed just minutes before had been rented!!! Kid you not. 8 people stranded with out a car. They quipped that they, “didn’t think we were coming,” so they rented them out to the next people to walk through the door. They were kind enough to ‘find’ other cars for us in Aspen. The deal was that we had to return them to Aspen…then find our way back to Glenwood – so much for a courtesy shuttle service. While Poppie and my husband fetched the cars (literally), the rest of us grabbed dinner (this part has been erased from my memory). Unfortunately because of this blip, this was the end of day 1.


After a restful night’s sleep, and a warm shower, we were ready to take advantage of the day! We hiked Hanging Lake, which took a few hours, but was well worth it! Be sure to take your time, and listen to your body. If it’s telling you to stop and rest, do so. Make sure you take lots of water. Most importantly, if you are coming from sea level, be sure to give your body time to acclimate to the elevation – a day or so. After having a baby nearly two years prior to this trip, I was VERY out of shape. People coming down from the hidden lake were very encouraging: “Keep going! It’s worth the hike.” Step by step. It WAS so worth it!
After basking in the glory of the lake – pictures don’t do it justice – we headed back to the hotel for a nap for my little boy, followed by a quick cache in Carbondale, then dinner at Nepal Restaurant.
I am salivating just thinking about the wonderful food – my taste buds are dancing! I always have lamb something. This time was Lamb Korma. YUM! This was the second time I ate here, and the third for my parents. We decided it is a MUST when going to Glenwood Springs.
Day 2. Trip to Aspen and Maroon Bells. By the time we got to Maroon Bells, Ethan was tired and my mom and I wandered around the lake, while my husband and the rest of the gang hiked up closer to the mountains.
After the Bells, we had a picnic lunch in Aspen at a park. Picnics are a must when traveling, especially with a little one. There is nothing quite like an al fresco lunch to clear the mind, and renew the spirit. Try it, I think you'll like it!
Brian and I really like wandering around mountain towns with a cup of Starbucks coffee in our hands…So that is exactly what we did in Aspen. There was a little gallery (there are several) that was exhibiting their art outside the gallery. I’m naturally drawn to art, so we lolly gagged there for a little while. If you go in the summer, there are water fountains in the street for kids to play in. According to a local mom I met up there, it’s a hot spot for the other mommies to take their kiddos to hang out. Of course my parents went off to geo cache, while the rest of us wandered.
We called the day short as we had to return the cars to the Enterprise in Aspen. The saga continued. I’ll spare you the details, but tell you that we had to haul all the baby paraphernalia back on the bus (sans-AC) to Glenwood Springs. I sincerely hope that Enterprise will learn from our mistake and not rent out other family’s cars. But we didn’t die, it just made for a long day.

Day 3. Head home. After a dramatic, but very fun trip, we headed home. We all napped on the train ride home. Watched a beautiful sunset. My brother and sister in law met some young people, associated with Al Gore somehow, who were going to Berry Patch Farms (not far from where we live) to pick organic berries. We played cards with some of the train crew.

Thanks for the great memories Glenwood! Of course we’ll come again!