After an appearance at work, I met Sean and we loaded up on camping-friendly food. (Rice, lots of it.) We drive over the Bay Bridge and on up toward Napa. We really enjoyed driving through Vallejo, which appears to be stuck in 1957.
See what I mean?
Napa is beautiful - brown, rolling hills covered with grape vines and huge winery estates. We also drove through St. Helena which, made Napa look, well, ghetto.
The hot springs we headed to is located in a little po-dunk town, Middleton. Their grocery store was impressive (CA grocery stores are a thing of beauty and delight).
We rolled into the resort and set-up camp along a mostly non-existent creek. There were deer and wild turkey everywhere (gobblers, not the bourbon). By this time we realized we were camping on the sun: it was easily 100F and there was no cold water to be had, anywhere.
After a nap we explored and found the hub of the resort, a 10 minute walk away via a deer-laden dirt trail. The main area includes several buildings and cabins, a communal kitchen and a co-ed changing room. Most importantly, this is where the pools were. Six of them, to be exact: a cool one for swimming, a lukewarm heart-shaped one, a small cool square one, a warm pool (100F), and a scalding square box of lava with it's ice bath counterpart nearby. We slept well that night after an hour in the warm pool
Day 2 (Friday)105F. I didn't leave the tent much. At the bathroom I discussed the weather with a random naked guy and eventually Sean and I headed toward the action. Harbin had an impressive general store stocked with the sort of shit we generally eat, so we foraged there for breakfast and then pickled ourselves for a while in the warm pool. Sean did attend a yoga class, but I stayed behind and listened to finance podcasts on my iPod. (Nature sure is relaxing when you know how the Dow closed.) That night we braved the dreaded communal kitchen that has a cheerful, busy dungeon feel to it. I thoroughly disgusted a couple seated next to us at the family-style tables by eating almost an entire box of Golden Grahams. They were eating a homegrown heirloom tomato and greens salad. That night the moon was almost full and the sky up there is clear - that may have been the highlight of the whole trip.
Day 3 (Saturday)
By this time, the communal, hippie quality of the hot springs were starting to wear thin. The co-ed changing room and clothing optional atmosphere was refreshing, but also kept people from socializing much: it felt like a big party we hadn't been invited to. We also found ourselves lusting after ice cubes and missing home, so on lark we decided to head home that night, instead of Sunday morning. We broke camp in record time and raced home. I was never so happy to see the fog.
Overall, it was a great trip, I'd go back in a heartbeat, but probably on the off-season.
So, now we're back, facing a pretty busy time. Our hunt for a new house will start in September and we have several vacations lined up this autumn to work around. My job is busy - I'm trying to get an online application system implemented before October. In the end it will make my life easier (software vs. mounds of paper applications), but right now it's sucking up all my time. And the new crop of Fellows are arriving fast and furious with their kids and spouses in tow - today one of the Knight kids told me I looked pretty with my nose ring.
And, oh yeah, last week before heading out to go camping, my boss Jim told me that I have been given a 3.6% raise and a bonus! Not a bad way to start a weekend.
High five.
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