Hot Springs and Introducing Sarah Beal

Saturday morning ministry with the Beals.. Jeff, Sarah and Little Lilly. We all pile into the truck and head out on return visits. Aaron does one of his first as he only gets to go out at weekends and he takes Jeff. Sarah and I end up sitting in the truck with wiggle worm Lilly for 45 minutes. We do another one of Aaron's calls and its about a 15 min drive to see Clem an 80 yr old bachelor who farms his own land. Half an hour later Aaron gets back into the truck and its a potty break for Lilly and Coffee break for us.. We head for Starbucks were i have a non-fat latte with sugar free Valina syrup, this is my new drink, for my new healthy life style but that's for an another blog.!
We do another half hour of ministry and finish..A typical Saturday morning ministry.

Now to play!! Ideas anyone? Kristian suggests a hot spring in the mountains about 2 hours away...Finally a few hours later, after trying to get everyone together. The three of us are only ones that can actually make it..
that does not deter us.. we head up the hill and hit the snowy peaks in the car.. i cant believe that its thick snow just a few minutes up the hill.. its a like a different country. white capped peaks and rain... we stop and throw a few snowballs.!!

it takes us about 3 hours to get there as there are several roads closed due to snow fall and we have to back track on ourselves. Finally we get there, its in the middle of nowhere but there are people there. In fact its quite packed so much so that we are told that we might not get to go in.. sad faced and doey eyed i plead that we have driven 3 hours for this. She takes pity on us and let is in.. adding that they were probably gonna have to close in about 15 mins.. as the pool was over
chlorinating itself. We rushed in changed in record time and got into what i can only describe as a HOT bath.

ok imagine ..its a pitch black night sky.. the moon is full and in this clearing surrounded by large pine trees, in the middle of nowhere, at the end of a dirt rd is a wooden fence about 5ft high, rising from the middle of it is steam... as you approach is a cubicle were you pay $5, we got in for free! to your left is a swimming pool and then round the corner is large square pool... slightly yellow in colour, partly due to the underwater lighting but also due to collection of minerals from the hot spring.. steam rises into the air as cool rain falls... the air is crisp and damp.. the hot water and cool rain feel amazing on your skin..! if only it wasn't for the other 30 pple around you this would be perfect.

I cant help thinking what are all these pple doing in the middle of a forest in the dark in the rain... !!! bu there i am with them..so who am i to talk!

After about 20 mins the heat from the spring becomes uncomfortable and i see the need for the cold pool. The ranger comes out and asks everyone to leave for health and safety reasons.. suddenly 30 people want to get changed all at one in a changing room no bigger than a cleaning closet! Well we are already wet, so we put or towels round us find a dark corner and amid lots of shuffling and hopping around we mangage to get our clothes on and dry of even tho its still raining!

Spirits high we head of toward Tahoe to find some comfort food..ahh perfect end to a perfect evening lol.