Indian Springs at Calistoga

I'm uploading these pics for a friend who is travelling to Calistoga.  I thought it might be of interest to others. We were wandering from Mendocino sometime in December (2006), trying to find our way into Napa when we hit the small town of Calistoga. I'd heard that mud baths were all the rage here, and so we pulled into this huge resort (on the main drag). It didn't look impressive from the outside, but what interested me was the 19th century-like proportions and architecture. First, one notices the geyser in the background. Then, when you approach, you see the massive pool paviliion, which actually has an Olympic size pool that is heated really hot. (So hot, that I couldn't do any laps - and this was in December, when temperature is extremely cold). When you jump into the pool at night, you can hardly see more than two feet away - the steam is that thick! One can actually swim naked in the pool (at night) and no one will notice because (1) it's just so massive and (2) the steam is so thick and (3) there aren't that many lights turned on at night. So this was real bliss, especially after a day of wine tasting. The mud baths are $75 apiece, but they had a winter promo where we could get a hotel room for $200 and we got two mud baths for free. So this was a no-brainer: we went for the room.