So this summer we have decided that we want to enjoy our time as a married couple and take advantage of having the weekends off so for our first adventure Kris staked out LAVA HOT SPRINGS in Idaho. He made reservations at the Home Hotel just .2 miles away from the Hot Springs and the next day we were off.
I was expecting a little bit bigger town, and open lava pools around the springs but Lava Hot Springs is what it is. A small town with a state run facility that has several nice pools that are somehow heated by lava underground and then the water comes up and is filtered into the different pools, I guess. (I am not a geologist.) The pools have no chemicals, only minerals that are healing. In the area are lava rock covered in mineral deposits, which I thought was cool. There was also one small natural pool that they had gated off. There are five man made pools but one is so hot people dont stay in it long. Some of the pools have small pebbles, instead of flagstone bottons and bubbles come up through the bottom, which is kind of cool. I enjoyed the pools the most in the evening after it had cooled down and I am sure it would be a fun place to visit in the winter when its really cold.
Most of our time was spent in the Hot Springs but we also spent time eating and at the indoor pool in town that was a normal temperature. The first place we ate for dinner was a pizza joint in town that had a big room filled with old style boxes and cans for various popular food products, a frame filled with various types of barbwire and a name for each type and mirrors with different beer adds. There was one waitress and only a couple of customers during dinner time and we were told to sit anywhere we wanted. The food was good, although a bit expensive for just being good.
The next morning we ate at Johnnys Cafe, formerly know as Silver Line Grill, (or something close to that) but after burning down and having to move the restraunt several times they changed the name, maybe to have better luck. When we came in we were again told to sit anywhere we pleased, but this time there were two waitresses, a cook and another girl that just seemed to talk behind the bar but still just a few customers. Again the food was good, although my belgium waffle was a little flat to be called a really good, thick and fluffy belgium waffle, and once again kind of expensive. I guess that is what happens in a small tourist town.
At the pool we played in the water and Kris climbed the rock was on the edge of the pool. It seemed that the pool is the one thing kids in the small town had to do since there were many there that day.
At the end of the day it all came down to the HOME HOTEL, an old hotel probably built in the 1940's or earlier that had since been remodled and had some extra rooms added onto the property in the 90's. The room Kris picked out had a nice king size bed, smallish oval tub that filled with mineral water from a well right behind the hotel and some art work by a famouse Architect of the late 1800's. It was comfortable and cozy and because it had been remodled it didnt have the smell of an old building, like the hallways and lobby did.
Overall we enjoyed ourselves a lot, got some sunburns and would like to return again with family or friends. But if you ever go watch out for the small snakes. One almost scared me to death near the river!
