In early August I hit my 2 year mark here. I am not positive, but it appears I joined steemit on our 37th anniversary. Very near it, to be sure. My husband often works on "holidays" and we just roll with it. This year, he had the whole week off! So we went and played in eastern Idaho.
I plan trips, but the plans are very loose and subject to change at any moment. Like, "TURN THERE!!!" if a road looks very inviting! We planned to spend a couple days in Lava Hot Springs, an adorable little town that will be the subject of another post. We were going to have our anniversary dinner at a nice restaurant in nearby Soda Springs. About four hours into the trip I realized I left our "fancy clothes" at home. Perfect! We prefer "casual mode" anyway.
We got to Lava Hot Springs the day before our anniversary. Our room had a private tub in it, so we were not in a huge rush to get to the public pools. We checked in and walked from one end of town to the other and decided to go grab dinner. Rather than do the fancy dinner, we had decided we would just hang out in Lava all the next day, and go check out Soda Springs that evening.
Soda Springs was a little frontier town that wanted some of the hot water that was everywhere in the area. They had their own unique water feature - the area is dotted with bubbling mineral springs - like "Club Soda" right out of the ground - but in the dark days of winter that Club Soda does not warm your tootsies.
You Do Like A Head On Your Beer, Don't You?
The water was not really hot, just warm. It was also very hard, full of minerals that do not make for nice hot soaks. They made lemonade of their lemon but allowing it to be a park, and I believe the only geyser in the world where you can play in the spray. The minerals have built up a lovely travertine mound. The way the water ripples become embedded in stone fascinates me.
The water has cut itself a little creek out of the travertine it made. All this in less than 100 years! Not from volcanoes or earthquakes, just a steady stream of highly mineralized water.
We hit town at about fifteen after the hour, so we had some tiome to kill. The fancy-ish restaurant where we originally planned to dine at the next day had a little bar next door, so we went in for a beer. The waitress offered a menu which I expected to give me a choice of frozen pizza or corn dogs, but I was very, very wrong. The place had a full kitchen and a very diverse menu of home cooked goodies. I had chicken Alfredo and it was delicious. In a bar, where I got to sit on the back patio and watch the geyser - it was a great find. If you find yourself in Soda Springs, do give the Porter Pub a try!
This little gazebo at Octagon Springs (same spring as in the video at top) was built by the people who settled this area. This was one of the first springs developed for use by the pioneers. This is the "charming" angle.
A little wider shot reveals the trailer park in the background. Not that trailer parks do not have a certain attractiveness - just ask a tornado lol!
It was an interesting adventure. There are a couple more tales to tell from our vacation, but this closes the "Soda Springs" leg of the journey. Thanks for reading along! Thanks also to my sweet husband for the trip, and for the decades long adventure! And thanks to all the steemit folks who have been trippin' with me here for the past two years!
PS - Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong in formatting? I use the