Hot Spring Weekend

Okay, people. If you’ve never visited a hot spring resort…well, what’re you waiting for??? Get thee to one immediately!

Seriously, B. and I went to Orvis Hot Springs this past weekend for a bit of much needed R&R. In between long, relaxing soaks in their various outdoor and indoor pools, we did…uhm…nothing much, really. The “resort” itself isn’t much to write home about; the lodgings are basic and utilitarian, although the huge king-sized sleigh bed was rather nice and cozy. I didn’t care much for the shared bathrooms — not that I minded the sharing part, but for $115/night you’d think that they could provide even a tiny ensuite option, considering that the main building only has six rooms, non?

Anyhoo, we came for the springs, and the springs delivered. My favorite is The Pond, the photo of which I included in Friday’s post. I wish I could upload my own personal photos of the place, but alas, they forbid cameras outside of the guest rooms as the outdoor pools are clothing-optional 24/7. Bummer. In any case, The Pond has a smaller, attached stone pool with clear spring water heated to 112 F (the larger part of the Pond was about 106 F or so), so we spent plenty of time there. As it’s the off-season, only a handful of other guests roamed the property, most of whom we rarely saw the entire weekend. It also snowed on the afternoon of our second day, so after a morning soak we explored the nearby town of Ridgway and its antique shops and the one open coffeehouse.

In one home decor shop/art gallery called Palladin, we met the manager, a fascinating woman named Candida (yup, that’s her real name) whose father once worked for Chiang Kai-shek in 1930′s Shanghai. She herself was born in China, grew up in Hong Kong (her family was one of the last to flee the International Settlement in Shanghai before the Communists took over), and spent much of her adulthood in San Francisco. I told her that she really needed to write all of her stories down, as she had some real doozies to tell, especially those related to her father, who had been tagged as a ne’er-do-well when he was a child but who ended up being a small part of history. Who wouldn’t want to read that?

Back at the resort, we tried just about every pool, including the Lobster Pot (photo at right), which actually was a degree cooler than the attached pool at the Pond. The owners had obviously done a lot of work in landscaping the area, as each pool had gorgeous stonework design and magnificent views of the surrounding San Juan mountain range. (Above photo of San Juans courtesy of photographer Roger Clark.) B. and I have always been huge fans of Japanese onsen (hot springs), and firmly believe that they are keys to good health and well-being. The Orvis pools definitely didn’t disappoint.

The lodge provided us with complimentary hooded bathrobes for our stay, and we pretty much lived in them the whole weekend. Heavenly! We got plenty of rest, lots of delicious sleep, and ate at some decent Ridgway restaurants, including a pizza/sandwich place called Panny’s that had the best veggie Panwich (sort of a cross between a small calzone and a panini). I’d wanted to make it a complete spa weekend and eat nothing but light, spa-like meals (think Rancho la Puerta) and get lots of vigorous outdoor exercise.

Of course, the horizontal snowfall on Saturday afternoon put paid to the whole “vigorous outdoor exercise” plan, and well, winter just brings out the comfort food cravings in me, you know? I know that good Frenchwomen practice strong self-discipline even in the coziest winter afternoons, but surely they’re not always perfect robots, right? Surely they occasionally indulge in moments as rich as the foods they usually accompany?

So yes, B. and I polished off a platefuls of spicy basil fried rice at a Thai restaurant for Saturday dinner and grazed on a few delectable chocolate treats at the aforementioned Palladin gallery. Perhaps the one nod to the theoretical “spa” diet I had originally envisioned was that I also drank cups of herbal and green tea and liters of mineral water rather than coffee (although B. said that the lodge coffee was actually quite good). With our limited budget, we chose to do everything takeout style and ate on proper plates with proper flatware that we borrowed from the community kitchen. Having takeout Chinese food on ceramic plates by dim lamplight while hearing the soft patter of snowfall on the tin roof just outside….mmmm. Could life be any better?

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