Our son, a skier, finds time every year to visit Western Colorado’s powdery slopes and endless mountains.

We hear place names like Telluride, Steamboat, Aspen, Crested Butte and Breckenridge, but since I’m not a snow person, those resorts ring up “no sale” for this traveler.

That all changed a month ago.

We took a mid-August visit to Pagosa Springs in Southwest Colorado, in the heart of the San Juan Mountains, and couldn’t get enough. Western Colorado in the summer is an eye-popping place.

Mountains? Well, Washington has a serious peak in Mt. Rainier at 14,410 feet. Coloradans yawn. They have nearly 20 peaks in the 14,000-foot or more range. As for mountain passes, our Snoqualmie and Stevens passes cut through the Cascades at 3,000 and 4,000 feet above sea level. We drove Colorado’s passes, which top 10,000 feet and more.

With big blue skies, endless emerald meadows and mountain streams that end up in Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean, Colorado is mother to much of America’s best scenery. But mountain majesty wasn’t our main lure on this trip. Colorado also boasts world-class natural, thermal hot springs, and we visited two of the best in the United States — in the towns of Pagosa Springs and Glenwood Springs — for our special getaway of “taking the waters.”

Pagosa Springs, near New Mexico in Southern Colorado, is clearly cowboy country, and those cow-pokes have been resting their saddle sores in Pagosa’s springs for over 100 years. The waters bubble up next to the headwaters of the ancient San Juan River, and the village of 5,000 developed around the springs.

In Pagosa’s case, the thermal pools number about 20, each with slightly differing temperatures, waterfall elements and exposures to the sun and the river. The daily use fee of just under $20 for adults includes a locker room, showers, towels and lots of lounge chairs and tables. All-day visitors, like this one, enjoy the variety of the pools, a decent café and refreshment stand, and lots of pretty cowgirls.

Along with the smaller pools for soaking, serious swimmers will enjoy the lap pool with pleasantly warm, but not too hot, waters in the mid-90s. With so many separate pools, there’s something for everyone, with lots of room for intimacy, especially at night under the bright Western stars.

As good as the soaks are, Pagosa Springs is lucky to have one of the best bed and breakfasts at the best price we’ve ever stayed in — Elkwood Manor Luxury Bed and Breakfast — and we’ve enjoyed over 200 bed and breakfasts in 20 years of traveling and writing.

Darlene and Dan Gonzales, the amiable Elkwood innkeepers, have thought of everything when it comes to relaxing overnights and lingering mornings. Wine get-togethers in their “keller”; three-course breakfasts served before floor-to-ceiling picture windows of meadows that go for miles; comfortable, roomy two-room suites; rustic, hewn log walls and ceilings; and a video library that rivals the county library are all part of the Elkwood experience. The hand-ironed sheets on the beds, the stone and tile bathrooms, the warm in the winter and cool in the summer ceiling fans — this is a meticulously thought-out place. Best of all, the room rates are $100 or more under what comparable bed and breakfasts in Western Washington, California or other Colorado mountain ski resorts charge. This is an extremely good value.

Besides river running, dude ranching, mountain biking and hiking, Pagosa Springs features one very worthwhile cultural activity: the Fred Harman Art Museum. Fred Harman was the creator of the much beloved cowboy adventure comic strip and TV show, “Red Ryder.” Harman grew up in Southern Colorado, was a respected friend of the local Ute Indians, and started his art and commercial cartoon career with Roy and Walt Disney in St. Louis.

As a kid who grew up with Red Ryder, Davy Crockett and Little Beaver, I loved this museum. The museum’s curator is the amiable storytelling son of Fred Harman, Fred III. Their Indian artifacts, photos of the likes of Dale Evens, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Walt Disney, along with the very high-quality serious Western art of Harman, made this visit a wonderful hour or two down memory lane.

Colorado’s other impressive thermal hot springs are located 100 feet from Interstate 70, two hours due west of Denver in the town of Glenwood Springs. The two big boasts of this Western town of 10,000 include the mammoth size of its hot springs pool and a famous American president.

As for pools, size can make a difference. Glenwood’s pool is the largest outdoor natural heated pool in the hemisphere. Luxurious long soaks in its pools in the heart of the old west is what drew President Teddy Roosevelt to Glenwood Springs most every summer during his years in office. In fact, the venerable Hotel Colorado, just across the street from the pools, became the Western White House for a month every summer just after the turn of the last century. No president enjoyed physical activity, horse riding, shooting wild game, climbing mountains and swimming quite like Teddy, America’s youngest president. He came for the clear mountain air, the sunshine and the camaraderie of his fellows in nature, and Western Colorado fit the bill.

We stayed at the very affordable Hotel Colorado with its large, high-ceiling rooms and suites. The hotel acts as an informal museum of Teddy Roosevelt photos and memorabilia, especially the top floor, where the gallery of photos and history sheds light on a president’s life and leisure 100 years ago.

If you go

Elkwood Manor Luxury Bed and Breakfast in Pagosa Springs: e-mail gonzada03@yahoo.com, call (970) 264-9166 or go online to www.elkwoodmanor.com.

Fred Harman Art Museum: e-mail fharman@centurytel.net or call (970) 731-5785.

For other Pagosa Springs visitor information, go to www.townofpagosasprings.com.

For information about the Glenwood Hot Springs, go to www.hotspringspool.com.

For Hotel Colorado, go to www.hotelcolorado.com or call (970) 945-6511.