Lava Hot Springs

The long anticipated trip to Lava Hot Springs came and went. I don't think I'll stamp a judgment on it like "it was fun" or "it was awful" but I will say, it reminded me of a game I learned in my social recreation class at BYU called "Fortunately, Unfortunately." In this game, you go around the circle and make up a story. The first person starts with something like, "Fortunately, we got to go to Lava Hot Springs for a mini-vacation/camping trip." Then the next person continues the story with something like "Unfortunately, it was stormy and raining most of the time we were there." And then everyone alternates back and forth around the circle making up the story as you go.

Fortunately it stopped raining long enough so Landon and Emma could make a delicious dinner of dutch oven potatoes and chicken/gravy.

Unfortunately, I forgot a tablecloth so we had to eat on a rain poncho (notice the hood as our centerpiece).

Fortunately, Oliviana became obsessed with Landon's shovel and informed us that she was making mushrooms for dessert as she shoveled piles of dirt and patted it down with her shovel (we had s'mores on huge homemade cookies for a back up dessert).

Unfortunately, Kristen was cold most of the time and huddled close to her magazine to keep warm.

Fortunately, we had huge tent to keep us dry and comfortable, but unfortunately, the KOA is located about 30 yards away from some very busy railroad tracks and a very busy highway. We heard trains and trucks all night long. The trains were so loud that our tent and the ground we were sleeping on vibrated with the noise.Fortunately, the swimming was fun! We were encouraged to swim in the Olympic-sized outside pool, first, because they were expecting lightning and then they'd have to close it. The water was heated about as warm as a bathtub, so it was comfortable even outside. Landon, Emma, Lauren and I all tried out some of the water slides, but Kristen and Oliviana were just fine playing in the shallow water. At the end of the day, just before closing, we returned to the outside pool for Emma and Lauren to swim a little bit longer. Unfortunately, the lifeguards were about to leave for the day, but technically they still had to stay open another hour. The girls were the only ones in the pool. Awkward, but a treat at the same time.

Fortunately, the hot pools were fantastic! Each pool was a different temperature by a few degrees. We quickly found the coolest of the hot pools, so we could actually enjoy the soak, instead of feeling like we were being boiled alive. Unfortunately, we chose to go to the hot pools at the same time as a bus load of Asian tourists. One man in particular was sitting on the steps near us, with his legs crossed and his eyes closed in a meditation position. Every so often he would raise a leg and fart loudly. Entertaining, yet pretty off-putting.

Landon and I decided that if we ever get a night away from the girls, we'd like to return to Lava, rent a hotel room, skip the water slides, and just enjoy relaxing in the hot pools. We liked the hot pools the best.

Fortunately, it was dry enough to cook hot dogs over the fire after swimming all day, unfortunately I saw those hot dogs return when Emma got sick later that night. We had all taken a Benedryl to help us sleep soundly through the noise of the trucks and trains, and just as I was beginning to fall asleep, Emma informed me that she urgently needed to get to the bathroom. She and I took the truck to the KOA bathroom where she (fortunately!) made it to the toilet to have some serious diarrhea, but (unfortunately!) also threw up all over the floor in front of her, as well as on her jacket, nightgown and underwear. It was 10:00pm, I was in a drug-induced state, cleaning up hot dog vomit all over the floor of the bathroom on my hands and knees. I forced Emma to stay in the bathroom for over an hour, just to ensure she had purged as much as possible before returning to the tent. She went to sleep in about 10 seconds as I rummaged through our camping equipment in the dark to locate a clean pot for her to use as a barf bowl just in case. Fortunately, I don't camp without a pee bucket in the tent, so I thought she could use that if she had to poop again.

Unfortunately, it began to rain harder than ever throughout the night to the point of debris falling onto our tent because of the hard rain and wind. Fortunately, in the morning Landon got out of bed and brought the 5 of us girls, breakfast in bed in the form of muffins and cold cereal.

We made it home, Emma's not sick anymore, and looking back I think we had more fun than we had problems. I feel bloated, tired, and achy, but (fortunately) I don't have to go anywhere! It's summer break and we're still alive to plan another camping trip.