Lava Hot Springs

 Our family camping trip was at Lava Hot Springs this year. We invited grandma and grandpa to join us too because we wanted to do something fun with the kids, but camping is really hard when you have an infant and a toddler, so grandma and grandpa came to help us out with the kids. They also brought their trailer which made it that much more comfortable especially for Stephen’s sake. 

The day we got there we set up camp, ate dinner, then headed out to tour the Sunken Garden which was situated right above the hot pools. This place was SO cool! It was a lot smaller than I had hoped, but whomever the designer is did an amazing job. There were little caves all over in the rock walls and I just loved all the different levels and variety of flowers that were used. After the tour we went to playground across the street and even got grandma and grandpa to play! I haven’t seen a merry-go-round since my childhood so that was a real treat. That night was a struggle to get the kids to go and stay in bed in their tent, and we ended up with Lucas sleeping in the trailer because there was a mosquito in his tent. 

The next day we packed in as much fun as we could. We made pancakes and sausage for breakfast, and then headed to the hot pools. We brought the kids’ life jackets so they’d feel comfortable swimming in the pools. The hot pools were...hot. The coolest one was between 102-105 degrees. The other three were 105 all the way up to 112 degrees! That’s way too hot, even for me. 

On our way back we watched some people float the river from the bridge. We had lunch back at camp, then me, Stephen, The two boys, and grandpa left to float the river. We were all pretty eager for this part of our trip. We rented two tubes—one two person and one three person tube. We got to float down the river three times. I had to be in the front which meant I got the most wet. That water was cold! It was a really nice, relaxing ride with a lot of little rapids and two bigger rapids. It was a lot fun. Stephen and Lucas ended up getting thrown from their tube which scared Lucas and he hurt his leg, but boy did he have fun! Zander was a little more timid and scared to get on the tube at first, but after his first ride he couldn’t get enough. The only disappointing thing was all the trash that littered the banks of the river. It was all over the place. I also didn’t get any pictures of us on the river or the swimming pools; we were having too much fun.

After the river we took the kids to the swimming pools. They had an indoor pool and a kiddie splash pad where I took Hannah and Grayson for a while. Everyone loved the swimming pool. Outside they had an even bigger pool and some water slides. It took some convincing to get the boys to go down the slides, but those ended up being their favorite part of the whole trip. Everyone slept really well that night...except for the passing trains that ran across the street from our campsite. 

The next morning We had breakfast and packed up camp while grandma took the kids exploring around the campground. They tried catching grasshoppers and found a tire swing to play on. They also found some animal bones they thought were really cool. 

It was a great trip, and one that we couldn’t have done without help from grandma and grandpa, so we were so grateful for them coming and spending time with us and the kids. Lava Hot Springs is one place we will revisit in the future for sure.