oh the adventures we have

as many of you know, sunday was easter, and a rare thing happened that day: jarrod and i both had the day off!!! :O so to celebrate such a rare occasion, we decided to go somewhere new: Bagby Hot Springs (http://www.bagbyhotsprings.org/). jarrod had heard about the hot springs from a friend at work back in november and december, and he's been dying to go there since, so this was the perfect chance! AND it turns out it's a really cheap getaway- you only have to pay $5 for parking, so you can't really go wrong there! unless.....
you don't dress appropriately.
when we left portland, it was 68 (which is actually quite warm in sunlight. on saturday it was only 55-56 when i was in the backyard in shorts and a tshirt. i love that i'm becoming acclimated to the weather here, now that it's not freezing and snowing all the freaking time) and i was wearing a skirt, tank top, and flip flops. once we made the hour trip to bagby hot springs, which happens to be up a mountain, it was 52 and cloudy. now, back to a conversation jarrod and i had while still driving through the sunshine- jarrod said lanberto (his friend from work, the one who told us about the hot springs AND slappy cakes.) had said that he and a group of friends had been trying to get to the hot springs recently, but had to turn around bc the roads were snowed in. as we were making our way up the mountain, we hadn't really seen any snow, so we weren't too worried, until we started getting closer to the parking lot for the hot springs...there was snow beside the road, but there was a worn path in the middle of the road, so the snow wasn't really a problem. once we parked though, everything changed. the parking lot was free of snow until you made your way to the trail that takes you to the hot springs, which is where you leave an envelope with $5 in it for parking. i almost bit it right then, but luckily, i caught my balance just in time. alright, so we payed and then headed back to the car to grab our orange backpack with our extra clothes (underwear) and towels and then we headed out on the trail.
sooooo....to say we weren't prepared (me more than jarrod who was wearing jeans, a tshirt, a long sleeve overshirt, and a light jacket...though, he also had flip flops on. he was in luck though, bc they're under armour flip flops and they actually have traction) is an understatement.

as you can tell, we are prepared, especially me.

happy camper. haha

so we're walking along, or jarrod is walking and i'm slipping and sliding everywhere, almost face planting or falling on my butt with every step, and yet, the scenery made the cold and loss of balance completely worth it. 

i'm not sure what happened to the origianal tree, but somehow two separate trees grew out of its stump, which is pretty freakin cool, i think.

closer to the end of the hike, i was starting to get impatient bc i was frozen and tired of trying to keep my balance, but finally, probably 30 minutes after leaving the car, we had made it!!!

 but of course, the place was packed so we had to wait around for a bit, probably another 20-30 minutes. while waiting we saw a chubby man in his late 30s, nude....a guy with tattoos ON his face, and the naked woman he was with. just so you are aware, the rules at the beginning of the trail stated no nudity, alcohol or smoking. all three of those were broken, not by us, but within the first 10 minutes of us being there, we saw plenty of people breaking those rules. oh well. haha. anywho, the naked chick decided to go look through the other bathhouse (there were 2 separate bathhouses) and found a tub she wanted to move to, which opened up the tub she had been using. once her and tattoo-face left, we got in the tub, which was wooden and probably 7 feet long by 3 and a half feet deep with the water about 6inches lower than the very top. it was a relief to be warm, or hot, as it was in the beginning. as i had mentioned earlier, we were in flip flops, so our toes screamed in pain for a few minutes while they defrosted and then, all was relaxed. we stayed in the tub for probably an hour, maybe an hour and a half until we saw a group of people (3 to be exact) waiting and by that time, we knew it was time to get going, the only problem was i REALLY didn't want to get out of the heated water to go walking through the snow in flip flops. we had to get going sometime though, so it was then, or never. haha. so i jumped out of the tub and froze to death in 2 seconds. not really, but it felt like it. haha. jarrod and i dried off with our towels then went in search of a place to change. we ended up at the second bathhouse (or first, bc it's the first one you walk up to) and noticed some of the stalls were empty, so we decided to change in there.

 

it turns out there are troughs as well as tubs.

so we got dressed and then headed back to the trail where i continued to almost fall either flat on my face or flat on my bum. but once again, the beauty of the scenery was enough to distract me for most of the hike.

 

this time it probably only took 20 minutes to get back to the car, bc i think i was walking faster. i NEVER fell, not ONCE! but there were quite a few close calls. i cannot be more grateful that i made it back without a single bruise and nothing frozen, except for my toes. haha. and in the end, with all the close calls, frozen feet, and people i would never have wanted to see nude, the trip was still worth it. we had a relaxing time in the tubs, and we learned a new lesson: always come prepared with warm clothes and shoes that have traction. haha. so, lesson learned, and fun times had by all.
we have nothing planned this weekend nor next week, except maybe relaxing in the sun as it's supposed to be sunny and in the 60s again this weekend! back to the point BUT in 2 weeks, evan, brittnye, and avery will be here!!! an i already have an loose outline of what we will be doing and let me tell you, it's going to be a good time!!! :D
alright, i believe that is truly all for now.
ttyl!
-sarah-