Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Labor Day-Lava Hot Springs!

For Labor Day this year we were kind of last minute. We had talked about going out of town as a final hooray for Summer, but never planned anything. My mom was having an outdoor party for her friends and their house and I offered to help. It was so much fun helping plan, and spending time with my mom. She has helped me so much over the years so it was nice to help her with something fun for her. She and my dad worked on their yard for weeks and weeks! It looked fantastic- like it should have been in Better Homes and Gardens magazine. ( I cant say that without saying it like Miranda Lambert in that song). A few shots from around their yard that night.
I went over to her house a couple nights before the party and the day before to help make food. It was so fun and I think it turned out SO well! Some of the desserts:
Unfortunately, after all their work, it ended up raining almost the entire time. But her guest still had a great time!
The next morning we drove up to Lava Hot Springs. I had never been there and heard you go float down the river on tubes! I had a busy summer this year with traveling for work so we didnt get to do a ton of water related activities which we love, so we thought it would be perfect! So did the rest of the world because that place was packed!! We got there and rented tubes and started the first float.
We saw so many people get rocked going over that tiny little water fall so we started below it. The water was so chilly but the outside air was nice and warm.
See what I mean by everyone else having the same idea?
The water had little areas where hot springs flowed into little spots. It was nice to hop off the tube and sit in hot water.
We hopped on a little taxi where you pay $1 per person and they load you and your tube back to the top. We got to drive through the tiny little town back to the top.
Back to the top!
I swear the second time down was a lot more cold. Russ said I had the slowest moving tube ever. My tube kept going toward the sides and getting stuck on rocks. I would float over a rock and my butt would hit it and send me spinning with the current. I couldnt stop laughing.
We got out of the river and realized we wouldnt have time to get back up to the top and float to the bottom by the time we needed to return the tubes so we decided to hike back to the top through the town. It was beautiful because the leaves were already starting to change colors.
This is also the time that Russ stopped right in his tracks to let me know his wedding ring was GONE. Super sad day. I dont care about the money aspect of it (that does add another level of suckiness), but it was just so sentimental.
As I was taking his picture to document this sad moment, I couldnt help but laugh at the hotel behind him. Colored TV?! Say it isnt so!
We drove around after looking for a place to stay. Since it was a last minute decision to go, and Labor Day weekend we couldnt find a hotel anywhere! Luckily, we figured that might be the case and had all of our camping gear packed. But, all the camp spots were taken too! We ended up finding a place just right outside of Lava. That night, we went to the hot springs and sat in the hot pools for a couple of hours and went back to our little tent. What we didnt know, was that a train would be going right past our tent on the hour all night long. It was freezing and SO SO loud but we survived. The next morning...

3 comments:

  1. Great job on the party! The food looks amazing and the yard looks gorgeous!

    Sorry about Russell's ring. big bummer. You look awesome!

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  2. Your parents yard is always so well kept and beautiful! That is terrible about Russ's ring!! So sorry. I dropped mine down a heat/air vent a month or so ago. It of course fell down the only one that is directly over the furnace! I didn't think I'd ever see it again but we took it apart and got it. Looks like a fun labor day, minus the ring tragedy and the lovely train! :)

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  3. Your parents yard looked amazing! Good work! And those desserts... fantastic. I want some in my mouth right now. I haven't been to Lava hot springs since I was so young. It looks like so so much fun! Miss you!

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