Glenwood Springs Staycation 2020 | What The Hot Springs Pool Was Like During Covid-19
If you’re a travel & adventure lover like our family, the stay at home order was super difficult. We had several vacations canceled due to Covid-19, which I understand is a minor problem compared to the deaths related to Covid, or even businesses being shut down, but for this blog post we’re going to talk about travel in relation to what’s been going on in the world. Travel is one of the largest industries in the world, so for it to essentially get shut down for a period of time was shocking to everyone. In June of 2020 things slowly started reopening here in Colorado and we were able to consider the option of a “staycation” style vacation. However one of the biggest questions in my head was, will it be worth it? We had our Disney World trip get canceled in April due to Covid and we were considering re-booking our Disney trip since they just reopened (in June), but after reading the rules and regulations we decided it wouldn’t be worth it. It just wouldn’t be the same to be at Disney World having to wear a mask the whole time, the parades and firework shows are canceled, and you can’t take photos with the characters. It just wouldn’t be the magical Disney we all love and it wouldn’t be the magical first experience bringing our son to Disney that we’ve eagerly anticipated.
So when we were considering booking a “staycation” to Glenwood Springs to enjoy the hot springs pool, the same thoughts went through our head, would the masks and regulations take the fun out of a place we love so much? Would it be worth our time and money to book this?
I’m so beyond grateful we did!! I’m going to share all that we experienced with you all so you know what it was truly like, but overall we made memories that we’ll never forget, the regulations didn’t ruin our fun and we had an absolute blast.
So to start, we booked the Glenwood Hot Springs Lodge for our hotel. We considered an Airbnb but we are so glad we didn’t take that route for one main reason - entrance into the pool. First, if you stay at The Lodge, your pool entrance fees are included with your hotel stay. Without staying at the lodge the pool entrance fees for our family would have been about $80 per day. The other thing that was really nice about staying at The Lodge is that you can go in and out of the hot springs pool as you please. Normally, you can do this and they will stamp your hand and let you back in. Now, because of Covid the rules have changed, they were only allowing people who were staying at the Lodge hotel to reenter after leaving. This allowed us to leave, go have lunch, and come back if needed. The pool stays open late so being able to swim a bit early in the day, head back to the hotel and take a nap, and head back for some night swimming is such a fun option.
What felt different?
There were a few rules regarding masks and social distancing that you were forced to follow. The first is that you could not enter without a mask. To wait in line to check in and get your ticket you had to have a mask on. You also had to stand 6 feet apart on labeled stickers on the floor. You had to keep the mask on until you were out in the pool area. Honestly once you entered the outdoor pool area it felt super normal. The entire staff including lifeguards wore masks at all times.
They have a new splash pad area that is amazing for kids, Giulian had such a blast. They only allowed a certain number of people in this area at a time and if it was full they would make everyone leave and sign up on the list to enter. This wasn’t a huge inconvenience and we were only forced to leave the area once, but if we wanted to reenter we could just sign up on the list for a time slot and wait. To be honest it was nice that the splash pad area wasn’t too crowded. Sometimes those areas can be so crowded and hectic that it’s difficult to keep a good eye on your kid. I personally think it’d be smart of them to keep that rule with this kid area.
They still had the food area open, you just needed to wear your mask while standing in line and ordering. Also, all of the slides were open. They didn’t seem to have anything shut down due to Covid which was wonderful. We felt like we got the full experience and it was worth our money. I’d absolutely recommend this trip to anyone whether you live in Colorado or out of state, it’s worth the trip even during Covid.
This will be so interesting to look back on. Everything going on in the world right now with the virus, the new rules, etc. is so unexpected and something we never thought we’d live through. It will be so interesting to tell our kids when they’re older what day to day life was like during this time, but also what traveling was like during this time. I pray this all ends soon and things will go back to “normal”, and when they do I hope we all cherish traveling more than ever. Take a peek at our photos below and our IGTV video to get a feel for how fun our trip was!
