I recently had the wonderful opportunity to travel with my sister to El Paso, Texas to visit my niece and her husband. While there my wonderful niece treated us to an overnight stay at a hot springs spa in (get this) Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.
Only about an hour and a half from El Paso, the drive was fairly quick and very beautiful. Mountains all around! Our destination in T or C (as the locals call it) was the Riverbend Hot Springs. The website for Riverbend touts the facility as “lodging and mineral baths on the Rio Grande”.
Having never been to a spa (even here in Michigan) I was about as excited as could be. We found the Riverbend pretty easily, only had to do one or two passes through town to find it. When we pulled in we were someone taken aback. I couldn’t truthfully call Riverbend a “hotel”, “motel” or anything else in that vein. It was just too unique to be lumped into a category like that. The courtyard outside our room was calming and beautifully landscaped. I loved the lantana “shrubs” they had. Here in Michigan they never get that big! Picnic tables and wooden swings were available for the guests, they even had a barbeque if you felt like using it. And they also had a Riverbend mascot kitty whose name was Minnow!
We were greeted warmly and Jenny got the keys to our room…which turned out to be a suite with three bedrooms! Decorated in a gorgeous southwest style with tile abounding it was a truly wonderful living area. Suite exploration aside we were anxious to see what the mineral baths were all about. We popped on our bathing suits and headed down to the baths (which look out onto the Rio Grande). The staff gave us a tour, letting us know the temperatures in each of the spas. They ranged from about 100° to 108°F.
Being the wimp that I am I settled into the “coolest” of the hot tubs. Oh my, I can’t even begin to tell you how wonderful it was. The minerals in the water made me feel weightless (which I certainly am not). We ventured into the next warmest stone pool and stayed there quite some time. I learned quickly that a good long soak in those mineral baths will allow for a really, really good nap!
Later that evening my sweet niece had another treat for us. She booked a private spa (The Tierra) for us at sunset. The Tierra was huge and beautiful, with a waterfall feature right in the pool. Being a wimp, I was unable to tolerate long stretches in this spa as it was a few degrees warmer than the other pools. However, we used the “mister” to cool us as we sat on pool side. Wonderful stuff! After our time in the private spa was up we vegetated in the cooler tubs before heading in for the night.
Our stay at Riverbend was unfortunately only one night. However, we soaked again in the morning before checking out. I would most definitely recommend the Riverbend to anyone heading to that area of the country. I’d go back again in a heartbeat and I’d soak in those wonderful baths even longer!
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