April 30, 2021 Day 13: Silt, Colorado 科罗拉多温泉

The best RV site so far, please see pictures at RV Site week 2 April 30.

Very nice hot spring with beautiful views

Very special store, and the movie : Tombstone based on it.

We drove 1.5 hours to the Iron Mountain Hot Springs. Here were little pools in several levels with paths and grass winding between them. Each was labeled a name of a gem, like “Jade” or “Jasper.” Apparently, each pool contained a different mineral. Each was a bit hotter than the last - the pool at a luke-warm bath ranging to a pool several degrees hotter than the average hot tub.

An old woman with sunglasses and a wavering voice shared the Pearl pool with us and shared how her husband and son were climbing a nearby mountain. The shower heads in the locker rooms were unique; they stuck down completely vertically from the ceiling and sprayed spring water directly down. While showering, the woman and her daughter next to me were having across-stall-doors conversation.

“I know it’s all natural but it sure doesn’t taste good,” said the girl.

“Well it’s sulfur. It’s not supposed to taste good.”

“Yeah I know. I put my head under it and let it trickle into my mouth.”

For lunch, we had pierogi, a polish dumpling, from a food truck and japanese-american food at air-conditioned, decorated restaurant. Good food, picnic benches in the sun; mediocre food, fancy building. We parked the RV parallel on the street, and a woman waved to us. We had a short conversation about nearby restaurants and her tulip garden (“too much work”). A shop revolved around Doc Holliday, from the movie Tombstone. Apparently, the real life Doc Holliday was killed in a hotel nearby. A life-size tombstone stood in the middle of the shop among cowboy boots and leather jackets.

At our camp, we walked in the blistering sun to the strip of land beyond the river running along the RV park. The path led down to a stretch of beach along the river covered with rocks shaped like dinosaur eggs of different sizes. Later, we made a campfire and tried roasting some vegetarian sausages on it. While a couple of days ago we were in hailstorms, now the sun is beating down and the air is dry.