Noted for its therapeutic mineral waters, Sagewater Spa‘s pools are best at night. Filled by nearby mineral springs that steam at a steady 90°F, walking into the pool feels like melting into the desert air. The sky is as black as the desert valley rolling below the resort’s windowed walls, and the air and sand blend together, one lit by galaxies’ lightbulbs, the other by electric stars marking the personal universe of a kitchen. With just a dry breeze to whisper at me, I feel like I’m in the middle of an ocean of nowhere, the pool the prow of my ship.

Plus, Sagewater Spa greeted me with home-baked coffee cake that even The Los Angeles Times raves about…

Wanting.

Hope Springs is a midcentury modern spa in the Desert Hot Springs, the sister town to Palm Springs, CA. Their 10 rooms are filled with Jetson arm chairs, their three pools are filled with mineral water…

Using.

The only hotel in the area to be in Travel + Leisure‘s hotel issue and Taschen’s The Spa Book,  Sagewater Spa is simple: billion-count-thread sheets, home-baked coffee cake when you arrive, and a hot tub and pool gurgling mineral water from a nearby well. A steady 90° F, Sagewater Spa water is like walking into air, only better…

Hating.

Living Water Spa is a “European-style, clothing-optional mineral water spa.” Seeing that I barely enjoy the average person clothed, how is sharing a pool with naked strangers a getaway? If anything, that’s some nightmare version of public life… ]]> http://www.kristopherdukes.com/2009/03/26/desert-hot-springs-mineral-water-spas-k-is/feed 2