Riverbend, a Review

Many years ago, there was a town in New Mexico, a little more than an hour north of Las Cruces, called Hot Springs. That town was renamed Truth or Consequences. Wiki explains: “Truth or Consequences is a spa city and the county seat of Sierra County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 6,475. It is commonly known within New Mexico as T or C. Originally named Hot Springs, the city changed its name to Truth or Consequences, the title of a popular NBC radio program. In 1950, Ralph Edwards, the host of the radio quiz show Truth or Consequences, announced that he would air the program from the first town that renamed itself after the show. Hot Springs won the honor. Edwards visited the town during the first weekend of May for the
next fifty years. This event was called "Fiesta" and included a beauty contest, a parade, and a stage show. The city still celebrates Fiesta each year on the first weekend of May. The parade generally features area celebrities such as the Hatch Chile Queen. Fiesta also features a dance in Ralph Edwards Park.”

A spa city. Again, Wiki explains: “There are several local hot springs. The combined flow of the hot springs complex in Truth or Consequences is estimated at 99 liters/second. Before World War II, there were about 40 hot springs spas in Truth or Consequences. By 2008, the Hot Springs Association in Truth or Consequences had 10 spa facilities as members. Five of those obtained their water from wells, and La Paloma Hot Springs & Spa (formerly Marshall Hot Springs), Indian Springs Bath House and Hay-Yo-Kay Hot Springs are from free flowing hot springs. The New Mexico State Energy and Minerals Department created two demonstration projects using geothermal energy in Truth or Consequences in the 1980s. The Carrie Tingley Hospital for children with physical disabilities, which has since moved to Albuquerque, used the state money to create a physical therapy program. The local Senior Citizen's Center benefits from a geothermal space heating system.”

Our friends, Annie and Pete went there when they were visiting us and made it sound like a great, fun getaway. So for Christmas I made a reservation for Mrsfabp and I to go for a weekend visit. After much anticipation, the weekend arrived and we headed out to T or C  for our adventure. After we arrived in town and  drove a bit to get the lay of the land, we went to the Happy Belly Deli on  the main street in town, for  an excellent lunch with soup, sandwiches and  nice bagels, soda and coffee. Then we went out to Riverbend to check in and have our first “soak.”

Riverbend is on the end of a road that features several natural springs. However it looks a lot nicer than any of the others, more like a resort. Well manicured xeriscape front area, tall fence for privacy, very inviting looking over all. The staff were friendly, courteous and efficient. The room we were in was basic but met our needs as we were not planning to spend much time there.

Deck overlooking the Rio Grande

Entrance to one of the pools

Garden sculpture

We got changed and off to the pools we went. There are various sizes and temperatures and all, both public and private, have great views of the mountains, Rio Grande (with water in it!) and the beautiful New Mexico blue skies. The tubs are fairly accessible for someone with ambulation difficulties and so we climbed right in. The temperature range was great, the water had a nice feel to it and we planned to stay about a half hour but ended up closer to 75 minutes. We then left to go to dinner at Cafe BellaLuca which had some of the best Italian food that I have had in a restaurant, and included a house made pomegranate sangria which was wonderful. You could see the chef and staff working in the kitchen and the chef made the rounds of the tables talking to guests.

After dinner it was back to a private spa that had a wonderful view of the sky and the mountains, which were lit up by the moon. After an hour of this, we returned to our room to collapse in bed and fall asleep. The nect morning we were into the public spas again for a couple of hours before we checked out. The people who were also visiting the spa were very friendly and we ended up chatting with an NMSU professor (more about him in another post) and a couple who were storytellers (more about them later too).

Riverbend is a wonderful place for a couple of hours of relaxing or a couple of days, soaking up the warm waters. On the Penguin scale, Riverbend gets the highest recommendation, 5 Happy Penguins !