Lava Hot Springs

A long time ago, like WAAAAAAY back before school started, we took Mickey and Dahlia to Lava Hot Springs for a weekend adventure. We loved the hot springs and the water slides. We also loved camping - and Mickey proved me wrong by actually sleeping all night by himself in his own 2-man tent. (I thought he'd last about 12 minutes.) But mostly we loved floating the river, which we did not once, or twice, but three times. Note: the 4-people tubes were a lot sturdier and less nerve wracking for the kids than the 2-people tubes we tried on our last run. I'd stick with the bigger tubes if we were doing it again.

Another note. Something I've been meaning to research is what in the world the trains are hauling through Lava. Is Lava a hotbed for train travel? Every 20 minutes or so, all through the night (just ask Jason) there are trains passing through the area, horns blaring every single time. Where are they going? And why can't they invest in a flashing traffic arm rather than using their horns all the time? There simply HAS to be a better way.

Anyway... The other great find on this trip was the Lava Museum. You walk by the museum on the main street when you're walking from the hot springs on one end of town to the huge swimming pool on the other side of town. (It's also close to the ice cream/fudge store - so I've seen it a lot.) But I had no idea what wonders would await inside.

First, this pump organ, which the volunteers at the museum are more than happy to let you play if you actually seem to have some knowledge of what a pump organ might be. I got a real kick out of this.

What I couldn't believe was that, in addition to the organ, the museum housed a White House switchboard like the ones my Dad operated when he was in the army back in the day. An organ and a presidential switchboard? What are the odds?

To complete the Thomas Family History Museum Tour, was this display about the nearby Swan Lake community ("community" may be a bit of a stretch given the size of Swan Lake).

But the Thomas Brothers saddle-making business that they mention? And The Thomas Merc? That's totally my Grandpa Thomas's family. So we're pretty much famous. In Swan Lake.