After a lovely drive through the Cascades and some naps for the kiddos we stopped at the Belknap hot springs. You can see the McKenzie River from the spring.
We bought some water, paid the fee, and got right into the pool.
It had been raining for much of our drive over, but the minute we got there the rain stopped and we hopped into the water.
Karl and the kiddos.
Then one with Uncle Branny.
We took periodic breaks to cool down and drink some water.
Then right back into the pool!
One of our family!!
After about an hour soak we got out and got dressed.
A picture of the group together.
We walked across the bridge and found the source of the spring!
Hello McKenzie River!
There was a little trial into the woods that we followed for a while.
We found this lovely pond. There was moss and skeeters and it was really magical.
Lucas needed an anchor while he did some exploring too.
The green stuff that looks like foam on top of the water was actually green plants with roots.
Plants. Not algae.
Branny and Mirah were fast pals.
Lucas ran and ran but there were lots of places for a little boy to get into trouble. So we had to toss him up onto our shoulders. We actually took turns, but I couldn’t take a picture of that.
As we started out loop back we found this super radical garden.
All the water is from the river and pumps from the river water pressure and gravity.
It was still really wet out there.
It was like Narnia!
We got back to the car, and headed back to Eugene.
Leah and the doggies were waiting for us there. The kids got comfy into PJ’s. Branny made us all a delicious dinner of pasta with a radical meat sauce. The kids were in heaven. Leah had a room all set up for the kids. Lucas and Mirah fell asleep, and so did the rest of us. We were beat from big fun day!