Road Trip!

Family vacation time is here! We loaded up the CRV and were on the road for the first part of our adventure. We managed to fit my mom and I's overly large suitcases into the car with everything else. I take after her in the packing sense. Quote from her this morning, "you never know when you might need something!" I completely agree. I'd rather be prepared than not have what you need. My sister and father on the other hand are pretty good at packing pajamas and a tooth brush to get them by. Our first stop was Fields, Oregon which was about the half way mark between home and Lake Tahoe where we are headed for the week. It is a tiny town pretty much smack dab in the middle of the desert with a population of 8 people. Kinda crazy! We arrive and head into the little store with a rather quaint restaurant off of one side. They are famous for their burgers and milk shakes. My dad said we all had to get a milkshake and try to eat the whole thing. They only come in one size which is size huge! A giant chicken burger, fries and an oreo milkshake was soon before my eyes. It was without a doubt delicious but left my stomach feeling stuffed to the hilt. Next on the agenda was the 6 mile hike up in the mountains. We took a little detour and hit up the Playa first. If you don't know what that is, it's dried crusted mud. Quite amazing to look at. Just miles of dried mud. The hike was pretty intense and we all came out with scrapes covering our legs but it was so worth it. Traveling the 3 miles back down the mountain all I could think about was the hot springs we were about to visit. It was a little box tub of hot water just in the middle of a field. Upon arriving there was another family already enjoying the natural mineral water. The man was quite the talker. He made up a story about how we were all geologists camping out to study the land when another older man came to fill up a bucket of water from the springs. My dad said you'll always find interesting characters when you visit such a place. Once it got dark and I was covered in mosquito bites we headed for our little motel which was right off the side of the restaurant we ate lunch at. There were only 2 rooms in the whole motel. We had one of them. It was a cute little place though and it was just perfect for the first day of our vacation.