Monday, February 21, 2011

Hot springs Part 1 or How We Didn't Die Numerous Times

What I though was going to be a quiet Sunday turned into a far more exciting day. In the afternoon, Tiff drove into Caldwell to pick me up and we went wine tasting with Christine, another alum, and her husband Tim. We went to the Fujishin's place and then up to the Bitner's, who I believe have the most gorgeous view of the Snake River Valley ever. I love it up there. Yummy wine, good chat, laughter, it was great. Tiff came back to Caldwell with me, we went to the Acapulco for dinner and then went to go pick up her friends Tim and Jen to go to Snively Hot springs.

We had googled the directions and I had a fairly good idea of how to get there so we took off towards Roswell and church. Tim and Jen were in the back, I was navigating and Tiff was driving. A tad bit too fast. There were several turns that released a stream of cursing from most mouthes in the car which led to Jen becoming maybe the greatest backseat driver I have ever met. Someone we made it across the border to Adrian and attempted to find Snively Gulch Road. Turns out it was a tiny little dirt road. Nothing the Solara was ready to take on so Jen pulled out her GPS which told us to turn down Washington Street in Adrian. That was just a lie because really, it was sending us on one big U-turn. We redirected and headed through Adrian to take the northern route. Again, nearly dying during some fast turns which only prompted Jen to be an ever bigger back-seat driver. You must realize that it was super dark, no lights except the stars (which were amazing, FYI) and tiny little backcountry roads. It didn't help that there were signs for both prancing deer and cows on the road, as well as a suicidal bunny, huge sewer pipe, what we were concerned may have been a prison (it was a really heavy-duty fence...) and massive rocks on the road. But finally, our lives intact, we made it to Snively Gulch Hot springs.

Only to find that the water was like five inches deep. This was no jacuzzi, folks. It was bloody hot though. When we finally decided to get in and kind of lay back against some rocks, we found that one side of the pool was hell and the other side was cold from the river. We attempted to find a happy medium in what we eventually dubbed purgatory, poured ourselves some wine and settled back to relax. The location was gorgeous, for being so dark. There was a lone tree up by the car whose illusion was ruined when Tiff asked: What would you do if you looked up there and saw Death standing there with a sickle? Awesome, Tiff, thanks for that. The stars were so bright and gorgeous, we saw a satellite, some shooting stars but for the most part relaxed, enjoyed the hot water and freaked out whenever we'd get a rush of boiling water coming towards us.

We eventually decided that we had been boiled enough so we awkwardly attempted to dry off, put on warm socks, get redressed and back up to the car. There was a pee break in the bushes and then it was back off down the tiny little roads with all its obstacles. We missed a turn and ended up a little farther north than expected but passed the time by story-telling, including one that Tim told about when he was in a hot spring with some friends naked and a Girl Scout troop showed up to also enjoy the hot springs. We decided to grab a drink at the Mirage, the only thing open in the bustling metropolis of Adrian but it turned out to smell of desperation so we turned around and headed home. We took a different route home which, after a lot of twists and turns and shouts to Tiff to slow down again, spat us out in the middle of Wilder, which is totally my home turf. Jen, Tim and Tiff decided they wanted French toast at Denny's but it was at this moment when I discovered my watch was no longer either on my wrist or in my bag. Most of you know how much I love my Fossil watch that I bought at Cabazon on the way to Palm Springs and I was really upset. I decided that I may have to go back the next day and get an early start to they dropped me off and after taking a quick shower to get all the hot springs water off of me, fell straight into bed. (It was about 1 am at this point and I was knackered!)

Other than the watch situation, it was an awesome night. SO beautiful and relaxing and now I know where the heck I'm going so I'll definitely go again. Maybe when there's more water, next time.





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