Lava Hot Springs Birthday Getaway

All I knew was that Derek had some kind of big Birthday celebration planned. He told me to pack a swim suit and clothes for over night. We left at about 9am.

Started the day off with Birthday kisses from Tundra 

And of course, my all time fave

My first three presents from Derek. Tasty treats for the road

We drove for a couple hours out into the middle of nowhere. It was quite beautiful, but also quite boring.  Finally Derek said we were getting close, but we were still driving through pastures and such. There was no way there could be anything super cool out here. 

Well I was wrong.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, we happened upon this...

We were staying at Lava Hot Springs in Idaho! I had never even heard of it. It is this cute, old town that has all these natural hot springs. Each hotel has about 4 or 5 springs at different temperatures that you can go in. There was a water park, a river to float down, and all kinds of cute antique shops. 

This train would go by about 5 times a day. I swear they set it up to go back and forth all day for ambiance 

Our little old fashioned room. No air conditioner, no TV, no bathroom. We had to use a shared bathroom. I thought it was fun! Derek was not too happy about the air conditioning situation though. 

Getting water from the shared sink

Shared Bathroom. Look at the cute tub feet

My last two gifts! Excited!

Bronze pinky ring, and the one with the orange stone

Derek knew I was in need of some cute rings

The drive over to Baker Ranch for our Carriage ride and Cowboy dinner. My favorite part of the trip!

Gump and Duke

The people on our wagon were so awesome. There were these five truck driver ladies celebrating a birthday. The coolest, spunkiest ladies ever! 

It was about an hour ride up through the canyon. We had to stop and let the horses rest half way through.

There were tee-pees, games, and hiking trails up
at the pavilion

It was a huge cowboy meal! They made this raspberry lemonade from scratch. So freakin good!

They had four different homemade desserts!
Unfortunately I didn't get pictures because I was too busy stuffing my face. 

On the way back I got to sit up front with Cowboy Jack because I was the youngest Birthday girl! He  told me all about Duke and Gump, and even let me pull the reigns. 

I thought it was funny they put an L on the mountain for Lava 

Fun to try, but never again. Tasted like drinking syrup. 

We drove to the sad little town of Soda Springs, Idaho to see the only geyser in the world that is controlled by a man-made valve

These pools were 106 - 109 degrees. Burnt my tootsies

Our room - Top left corner

Kitties walking around

Last stop on our way out. Square scoops! Bubble gum for Derek and Superman for Kristen. I was so excited to find Superman ice cream. I used to love it from K-mart but they don't have it anymore. 


We had a ton of fun. Derek is the cutest little planner. I love surprises and I love Derek!

We actually didn't go straight home from Lava Hot Springs, but you will have to read about that in my next post.