The Chico Hot Springs resort goes back to 1897 and has been a resort and a sanitarium (of the healing type, not the nut-house type) over the decades. The old hotel resort building still offers simple rooms, some with private bath others with shared bathrooms just down the hall. There are two hot springs pools; the covered small pool runs 103-105 degrees for serious hot soaking, while the open-air large pool currently runs around 102 degrees, but in years past was as cool as 94 degrees. The pools are open from early morning until 11pm to both hotel guests and day users. Day users 63 and older can soak all day for $3.50! In addition to the rooms in the old building, and the pools, there is a poolside grill with burgers, pizza, etc. served there and in the saloon, as well as the saloon itself (we had to learn to use that word instead of "bar"). The dining room serves excellent find dining. There is a "lounge" at the back of the dining room where you can sit at the bar (see why we had to say saloon?) and eat from the the dining room menu. There are also some newer motel type units, some cabins & houses on the property for a wide range of styles and prices of lodging. There is also a day spa, gift shop, horses, dog sled rides, hay rides, and more.
While many places claim to be "pet friendly", they really are only pet tolerant. Chico Hot Springs really is pet friendly. They keep biscuits at the front desk. 80%+ of staff & guests actively welcome, greet, pet and enjoy dogs. It was hard sometimes to get through the lobby or grounds as everyone seemed to want to stop and pet Marley. He'd roll over for a belly rub almost as soon as the hand would come toward him. We even took him back inside one last time so one of the housekeeping staff could meet him. As we were leaving the room she commented that she knew we had a puppy but she hadn't had a chance to meet him. For him, it's the best place in the world. Everybody is his friend. When I asked about leaving him in the room versus in the car while we dined, soaked, etc. Their biggest concerns were whether it was still cool enough in the car and whether he would bark when people walked by our room or dig at the carpet by the door to try to escape. Other places just say don't leave pets unattended in your room, period. Sitting at an outside table near the bar, one of the staff checked to make sure Marley had water available - he didn't, so the staff member went and got him some.
The rooms in the old building are simple. Most have a bed, or two, and a sink and some kind of chest or armoire. No closets. Some have a private bath. There are bathrooms down the hall and a couple of toilet-only rooms. The toilets are something I've never seen before - when you flush, a faucet runs water into a small sink built into the tank lid, from which it flows into the tank for the next flush.
The star of the dining room is their Beef Wellington for two. It's the only dish that does not arrive plated. Instead, the meal is brought out on a big platter and carved and served tableside. The Wellington is a generous tenderloin covered in a pistachio and duck liver pate and wrapped in puff pastry, then baked. They serve it with Duchesse potatoes, grilled or roasted & mushrooms asparagus and tomato topped with cheese and baked or grilled. We eat the inside slices at the restaurant and have the leftovers for the following night's dinner. This time, with no motorhome refrigerator to go back to, we took an ice chest full of blue ice and a container to protect the leftovers. That will be tonight's dinner, back at home.
Before the day of cell phones, one of the draws, besides the hot mineral pools, was how quiet it is at Chico. There is a television in the bar. There are two telephones in the lobby. For those who need more night life, or need a television, this is not the place to be. The first time I stayed, three of us from the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park were attending a training session on the software I worked with and taught. (The government shut-down that sent us home without attending the training is a whole other touchy story.) The senior member of our group asked to make our reservations at Chico. After the first night the other guy moved to a Best Western in Gardiner because Chico was too quiet for him. He was then able to hang out with the guys from the east side of Rocky, who were also attending (actually none of us were allowed to attend so we drove 2 days up and 2 days back for nothing). These days there is some cell service and there is limited WIFI in the bar and some other areas of the resort.
This trip we explored side roads in the Paradise Valley
