Views on views on views on...... — Lung Story Short...

As I'm writing this I'm sitting in a dome home at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. I have the best view outside of the window and it's blowing my mind!! Last week Dennis suggested getting away during his two days off of work. So the three of us started to discuss where we would like to adventure too. A few places were mulled about. Going up into mountains would be a bit to chilly and of course the altitude for Rima. So instead we decided to try out some magical hot springs and some sand dunes.

Hassan told us about Valley View Hot springs about 3.5 hours away from Denver. So we decided to kill two birds with one stone. Hot springs on Wednesday and then Sand Dunes National Park on Thursday. We would find a place to stay for the night. I went on trusty Airbnb and found a pretty cool place in between both locations in a small town at the foot hills of the Rocky mountains called Crestone.

So, the three of us set off at around 9am on Wednesday to drive about 3.5 hours to the hot springs. The drive was majestic of course driving through mountains and hills and woods. Living in cities for the past 10 years...were washed away within the first hour. How did I ever do that when mountains where here the whole time?! Things change as you grow up a little I guess. The mountain views were jaw dropping driving south through the Rockies. Someone slap me...! There is no way in hell these people out here in the mountains can still get Amazon Prime...right?!?

We got to the hot springs around 1:30pm. Checked in at the front gate and got a run down of the facilities and location. This place was "clothing optional" meaning we would be privy to some not so pretty private parts shortly. I say this because of the location we were at. This place was popular with the "older" crowd and "hippy" scene. Bring on the nudists! We drove through the gates parked and changed into our swim suits...we would fall into the minority of clothed people. There are about 5 natural hot springs to pick from at the site. One is about a 1/4 mile hike up hill and I mean vertically. It's not an easy hike for a normal person. Rima of course being the stubborn hard headed human she is, wanted to go to the top hot spring. She wanted to hike up this vertical hill. Ahhhh, yes....yes....she is crazy. We got about 1/4 of the way there but even Superheroes have their limits.

We then submitted to three of the lower pools. The first one we went to was a bit shallow but boy was the view phenomenal. We sat in the pool for a while. I entertained myself by collecting rocks. I have one of my best friends to thank for this "hobby". Thanks Emily, Rima and Dennis think I've lost my rocks....haha...see what I did there....?! Maybe I have... After a bit we decided to check out a deeper hot spring. We then moved on to another pool. Nudists came with this new pool. About 5 men...in between late 40's to late 60's. I use to say that I would have no problem joining a nudist colony or being part of a clothing optional cult. Well, I take that back. Nope....no thank you......!

We enjoyed the pools for a couple hours and then decided to head to the Airbnb which was about a 25 minute drive. It was located at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in a tiny secluded town, or so it looked like from Google earth when we investigated on Tuesday night. We got into town and picked up some food at the local "market" . Very small, very quaint. The people were incredibly nice. The Airbnb itself was the only house on the street. The closest house was probably about a 1/4 of a mile. Full on privacy! The house was incredible. Something out of Star Wars...seriously. A dome shaped home with circular windows. The views...is this heaven?!?

We had a field day with photos and snap chats. We must show everyone what they are missing and make them jealous...I believe was the name of our game. Sorry not sorry. The sunset....worst thing I've ever seen, gross! The stars...where does one begin and one end? We hung out on the back of Dennis's flatbed of his truck for a couple hours star gazing and sipping on vodka drinks...yes...we are on vacation...thank you! Rima brought her fancy camera and set it up to take some nighttime sky shots. Thankfully with the assistance of our brother Paul, he was able to set her up for success after 20 minutes on the phone. The pictures were incredible. Heavy eyes eventually took over and urged us to get some shut eye. Tomorrow would be another full day of giggles, laughs, random animal facts and views.