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| Teddy Roosevelt Bedroom |
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| Jim reading Grisham |
I love the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs. I just spent a three-day weekend there in the Teddy Roosevelt suite overlooking the garden, which was covered in golden elm leaves. TR’s last visit was in 1903, and his room has been preserved to honor him. the hotel itself was built in 1893 and retains a quality of service predating World War I in its luxurious furniture, carpeting, and fixtures, but also in the personal attention guests receive from the well-trained and conscientious staff. There is a comfortable bar and beautiful restaurant both filled with beautiful things from La Belle Epoque (1890-1914), like Art Nouveau statue lamps by Moreau and comfortable, period dining furniture. The front lobby is enormous and filled with large, over-stuffed chairs and sofas placed upon oriental carpets, and where one is warmed by two huge fireplaces which in cold weather are always aglow with crackling cedar logs burning in the high-ceiling rooms, where Victorian draperies swirl over very tall windows in an atmosphere of great comfort, where anyone would feel at home. There is also a beautiful grand piano in the lobby, where one can often hear soft music being played during the evening. A few steps from the hotel is the largest natural hot spring spa in the world, where there are two very large pools fed by the hot spring and by another natural spring to cool the water in one pool down to 104 degrees and the other down to 90 degrees. The spa water is filled with healthy minerals and is wonderfully invigorating almost any time, except for the four days a year the spa is not open. I spent hours lounging in the 90-degree pool and only a few minutes in the 104-degree pool. Muscular aches disappear in the waters, and during WWII, the hotel was filled with wounded soldiers who were sent there to enjoy the spa during rehabilitation.
I’ll include photos of the room where I stayed (Teddy Roosevelt’s old room), the spa, and some pictures I took on the way home (back to Centennial, Colorado). While there this past weekend, my partner, Jim Richardson, beat me at Scrabble three out of four games! I’m demanding a re-match.
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me, losing at Scrabble  Room at Hotel Colorado  |
