Chena Hot Springs

Last night Laura and I went out to Chena Hot Springs with some friends. It was actually a somewhat difficult decision to go, because unfortunately a drag show was on Saturday night as well. Most of our friends were going to that show and then going out, which would be a very fun night. However, we also really wanted to check out the hot springs and since I'm leaving in a couple of weeks, this might've been my last chance to go! I've never been to a hot springs, but I've been to multiple drag shows... Therefore I decided to go regardless of what Laura did, but in the end she decided to come too!

Anyway, the reason that this was extra fun was of course the weather. It was -5 or -10 out, and even though we've gotten pretty used to that when dressed, it provides a nice contrast when in a bathing suit!

The drive is about an hour and a half out there, but we couldn't see it that well because sunset is around 3 or 4 these days, and we couldn't leave that early. We ended up staying in the water for a couple hours, which was great because any less wouldn't have been enough.

It was fun to stand and then get back into the water. Not sure how good the freezing and burning is on the body, but thats ok. The water is the perfect temperature, in my opinion. It wasn't too hot when we first got into it, and it kept us warm perfectly the entire time.

The funnest part is the freezing that happens when you're not in the water. You have to warm up your ears pretty often, and clear the ice off your eyelashes and eyebrows if you want to be able to see. On purpose, they didn't clear off their hair so that they could have some fun hairdos. I didn't do my hair up that fun, because its too long to stick up crazy, and because I couldn't help but get in the water too often.

It was all amazing (and I can't wait to go back), but possibly my favorite part was that it was really windy (windchill to -25 I think), which meant that the wind cleared the steam away and gave us a clear view of the sky. By coincidence, there was a meteor shower going on so we saw a handful of shooting stars. There is nothing better then floating on your back in extremely buoyant hot water with a clear view of a sky full of stars. Seriously. I can't wait to go back.

Look at how fun their hair is!

They made me pose with them, even though it was the awkward "I'm holding the camera so I'm way closer than you guys are, and therefore my head is twice as big as it should be" pose.