Lava Hot Springs

This past weekend, Bruce and I went to Lava Hot Springs with a few friends.  I had never been to the hot springs, but have heard about them before and was naturally intrigued, so I was glad of the opportunity to experience them first-hand.

We got there around 7:30 or so, changed into our suits, and ventured out into the frigid night air.  Seriously...freezing outside.  Okay, not literally, but it was really really cold.  But having it be cold outside was actually really nice once we got into the water, which was really hot.

There were something like 4 different pools, each with varying temperatures ranging from "Boiling your skin off" to "Nice, normal hot tub temperature".  We started out in the second hottest pool.  Well, rather, we girls started in that pool, and the boys found us after a bit, since they went to the hottest pool first.

We jumped around pools for a bit, then some of us decided to venture into the town in search of ice cream, because really, why wouldn't you go eat ice cream when it's frigid out?  It actually was an awesome idea when we were roasting in the pools.  Luckily, the ice cream parlor was still open...kind of, so we were able to get water and treats before heading back to the group and going to Jared's for pizza and a movie.

The movie was...weird.  Have you ever watched "The Fountain"?  It's weird.  And not just because I was sleeping through most of it either.  Pretty sure it's just bizarre.  Some people left after the movie to head back to Idaho Falls, but the rest of us were staying over for the night, so more movies followed.  "Gatsby" and some documentary about a sushi restaurant in Japan.  "Gatsby" seemed interesting, I'll have to actually watch the whole thing one of these days.  Though my favorite moment was when the phone rang on screen, and Bruce sat bolt upright and started frantically searching for the phone.  Priceless!  Sorry Bruce, but it was funny.

I decided to head to my sleeping bag somewhere around 4:30am or so, and pretty much fell right to sleep.  Until about 7:00 or 7:30 anyway and then I was wide awake, albeit a bit tired.  Jared made us pancakes for breakfast, and shortly thereafter, Bruce and I headed out for the day.

We stopped in Pocatello and went bowling and played some pool at the ISU campus.  It was a lot of fun, and true to form, my bowling game was atrocious.  I was, however, pretty decent (lucky) at pool.  We've played a couple times now, and I actually really enjoy it, even if I have virtually no clue what I'm doing.

All in all, it was a fun weekend.  Some of us want to go to Lava again, and are thinking of going near the end of January, so that will be something to look forward to, though without the overnight antics.  I value my sleep too much.