COLORADO -- Columnist Philip Potempa is reporting from Vail this week.

Taking a dip

Sandwiched just 45 minutes from Aspen and less than an hour from Vail is the small, fabled town of Glenwood Springs, Colo., population a little shy of 9,000 people.

Because of its unique location and advantage of having both the Colorado River and Roaring Fox River running within such a close distance and also being a well-traveled railroad stop, Glenwood Springs became a popular stop for commerce dating to the late 1800s.

But this destination's real claim to fame, which remains today, are the boasting rights of having the world's largest natural hot spring pools. This is the reason guests traveled from around the world for a visit and dip in the steaming, bubbling waters, including President Teddy Roosevelt, who spent an entire summer vacation living in one of the historic hotels.

Legendary gunfighter Doc Holliday (played by Val Kilmer in the 1993 film "Tombstone"), fresh from the O.K. Corral stand-off, spent the final months of his life fighting tuberculosis there before his death in 1887. He's buried in a marked grave in a small cemetery in the mountains just outside of town.

While visiting Vail, my friend Jim Rusnak, a former Times sports writers who is now the editor of USA Swimming's Splash magazine, insisted we visit the hot springs. I now understand the popularity and the draw.

Recent celeb visitors have included Goldie Hawn, singer John Oates of Hall & Oates fame and actress Natalie Portman. The springs' most-famous regular visitor for years was Lucille Ball, who loved to ski and had a condo in Snowmass, Colo., just outside Aspen.

Home sweet home

Most of the homes located right off the slopes of resorts in Vail offer the luxury to ski right on to the runs from their (heated) stone patios. However, while Aspen is celeb heavy, Vail attracts the business elite. Two famous business families that have large weekend homes priced between $30 and $40 million include the Firestone Family and the Anheuser-Busch Family. Many of the homes feature more than $100,000 in shiny copper-trim, alone, for the windows and roofs.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at ppotempa@nwitimes.com or 219.852.4327.

celebBirthdays

Actress-dancer Cyd Charisse ("Singing in the Rain") is 84. Actress Sue Ane Langdon is 71. Actress Lynn Redgrave is 64. Musician-actor Micky Dolenz of the Monkees is 62. Bassist Randy Meisner (The Eagles, Poco) is 61. Singer Peggy March is 59. Singer Gary Numan is 49. Actor Aidan Quinn is 48. Country guitarist Jimmy Dormire of Confederate Railroad is 47. Actress Camryn Mannheim ("The Practice") is 46. Fashion model Kathy Ireland is 44. Singer Shawn Mullins is 39. Actress Andrea Parker ("The Pretender") is 38. Actor Freddie Prinze Jr. is 31. Actor James Van Der Beek ("Dawson's Creek") is 30. Singer Kameelah Williams of 702 is 29. Singer Tom Chaplin of Keane is 28.