Road Trip 2012 - Day Eight (Part Two) and Nine
So, after the super-fantastic burro race (in which I converted Cody to be another ass-lover, so to speak), we made a decision: we were going to stay on the road one more day. Thrilled at the prospect, we called Valley View Hot Springs and made a camping reservation.
On the way there, we stopped in Salida, my new favorite town in Colorado. It is like the Taos of CO, liberal, funky and very, very fun. We went shopping, found an art show, and basically just chilled for a few hours. Honestly, I could see ourselves living there at some point if everything worked out.
Cody loves Buffalo and, along with kitsch, Willie, and Walt, finding bison-oriented photographic opportunities was a motif of the trip.
And we found this cool little art shop called Bungled Jungle.
Valley View Hot Springs, though physically gorgeous, turned out to be a very different experience that what we'd expected. First off, there are myriad rules some of which were very odd and invasive. For example, technology (cell phones, iPads, etc.) is forbidden everywhere - even in your own campsite, and they even try to tell you how to speak and interact with others. We'd read THIS before we came, but we totally unprepared by the rather oppressive list of additional rules and the manner in which they were carried out. Consequently, we spent a lot of time getting in trouble.
As it was raining when we got there, we opted not to set-up our tent immediately and to use our cooler to mark our spot instead. Yes, there were bear warnings, but it was the middle of the day and the place was crawling with semi-naked people (Valley View is clothing optional), loud families, moving vehicles and other non-bear-friendly environs. Still, when we returned to our site after soaking, we found a passive-aggressive little note from the management threatening to confiscate our cooler should we leave it there after dark.
The staff, in general, was gloriously unhelpful and Cody pointed out that it seemed as if they'd never been to their own hot springs. For example, nobody could tell us even an approximate temperature of the pools nor how they were organized. Worse yet, it was raining and beginning to storm, and, not wishing to be struck be lightening, we inquired as to the safety of the upper pools.
Cody: "So, it looks like we might possibly get lightening, would you say it's safe to use the upper pools."
Staff member: "I'd never go in the water if there's lightening, but we never give danger advisories or suggest that people not use the pools. They can do what they want."
Me: "Do you think the storm will actually hit us?"
Staff member: "The lightening might be miles away."
Cody: "So, do you think it's safe?"
Utter silence.
For the record, we opted to use the pools but leave at the first sign of lightening. Nothing happened.
Later, though, we got into real trouble. There was a fire ban (no open flame, only smoking in your car, etc.) and, unlike anywhere else on earth, the staff seemed to include propane stoves in that. Other guests (who were all super cool) advised us to just go out the gates and find a spot down the mountain to cook dinner. As the skies are huge and valley is known as the "UFO Highway" we decided to do just that - and it was glorious. Dinner was delicious (albeit it very, very spicy), and the stars were amazing. And, yes, we did see a few odd things in the sky.
On our way out a staff member gave us a gate token that we could use on the gate upon our return. He said absolutely NOTHING about a curfew. However, after re-entering the gate shortly before midnight, we looked back to see a very angry older woman storming towards us clutching a lantern. Cody was driving (which I thought to be an advantage as he's super cute and charming), so he unrolled the window and spoke to her first. Unfortunately, she beat him to the proverbial punch with one of the most passive-aggressive statement on each, "Can I help you?"
She then proceeded to loudly and vociferously chastise us for coming in after 10:00PM. Cody futilely tried to explain that no one had informed us of the curfew, but his words fell on angry, deaf ears. "IT'S IN THE RULES, YOU KNOW!!!" she screeched, adding that she ought to make us turn the car around and park outside the gate because we were waking everyone up with our headlights. Cody was extremely sweet and apologetic, but Andrew pointed out that her yelling was probably waking people up as much as our headlights (which, incidentally, were turned off during this conversation). It should also be noted that turning around would require like a ten-point turn resulting in us shining our headlights into virtually everyone's campsite. She was not pleased at that, but finally stalked away muttering and swearing.
We then returned to our campsite, shed our clothes, and took a midnight soak. If you stay there, the pools are opened all night, but, as in a true summer-camp that is when all the rule-breaking takes place. There was smoking, there was sex, there were inappropriate conversations with people holding glass bottles, there was food, there was (gasp!) a woman using an iPhone. We may or may not have broken a few rules ourselves, but that's another story.
It was physically lovely, though, and they had great showers - a plus considering I had to all but go straight to work that next day.
I mentioned the UFO highway thing, here is how serious people are about it. The UFO Watchtower. Much like Roswell, people really capitalize on the UFO phenomenon. Much like Andrew, the woman who owns this place is pretty serious, though.
All in all, it was perhaps the best road trip I've ever been on. We never fought or had moments of not getting along and it was all about love and adventure. Who can beat that?