Does “taking the waters” like a Victorian invalid cure malaise? It absolutely does. Doc had taken our anniversary off work to make sure he wasn’t scheduled for the night shift in case I wanted to go to dinner, so I took the day off too and we checked out a hot spring 30 minutes away.
I’d seen this interactive map of thermal springs in the US earlier in the week and zoomed and clicked around Utah and was kind of shocked how many were along the Wasatch Front that I hadn’t heard of. Many of them don’t get any search results but one did: Saratoga Hot Spring, on the northwest side of Utah Lake.
It’s literally a pond at the end of a walking path, so expect silty water and a dirt bottom, but it was great–there’s development all around and then boom, a hot springs and a lake to the south. We saw a pair of cranes flying and grebes along the shore! The bottom of the spring has one really hot and soft spot that might suck you into the center of the earth!
Because it’s accessible and in a metro area, it’s popular: We were there at 1:30 on a Thursday and there were six other adults and five kids, and two more groups showed up in our hour there. But it’s free and it’s clean–people are obviously fond of it, a couple groups were rubbing the mud on their face and arms–and, again, it’s 30 minutes from the front door.
I’ll have to remember this cure for spring malaise! Google reviews mention it’s great in the winter, too.