In Search for a Hot Springs...

So this is a real funny story, but if you don't agree, please just promise not to turn
us into Family Services for being bad parents.

One of our favorite mountain areas is Garden Valley, by the North Payette River. Almost every time we have taken a drive up there, we see several cars parked in this one area, and it is a natural hot springs. So today, we decided to hike up to see the hot springs. It was a very difficult hike,
because of the incline. Josh and Rachel were just quickly making their way up,
and were trying to be patient with their mom, as I was having a very
hard time and needed to stop so many times to catch me breath.

Here is the funny part.....So, after hiking about 30 minutes or more, we saw this sign:

We couldn't believe it!!! Why wasn't there a sign at the beginning of the trail???? So we turned right around and made our way down.

We were disappointed, but we didn't give up.

 Right at the beginning of the trail, is a pretty waterfall. Rachel took this picture, but we actually were covering up the waterfall. You can see it in the next picture, even though Rachel isn't looking up....

The kids really wanted to find a hot springs, so Dad stopped and asked a local if there was another one close by--and wallah!!! we found a "family friendly one! We were the only ones there, too, and best of all besides no skinny dippers, is that we didn't have to hike to get to it!

The water was so warm!!!

Dad enjoying the sound of the river, reading a paper.

Rachel tested how cold the river water was. She quickly jumped back into the hot springs. It was quite an adventure! Who knew that there was even such a thing, as a skinny dipping hot springs????And, again, I ask that you not think of us as bad parents, we really didn't expose our children to nudist, but we did have to explain the whole concept, which I wasn't prepared to do.