Soaking it All In, Keough’s Hot Springs, Bishop, CA 5/19

Hard to believe it’s finally the first day of our vacation! I didn’t think it would EVER get here. Actually, it was more like poor Ned who was suffering the effects of me wishing it would get here. Between the organizing and event planning it’s a wonder I didn’t drive the poor guy nuts. (Well maybe I did just a bit). When we left at about 9:30 this morning it was still a bit overcast and chilly. It was gorgeous driving over the Sierras, glimpsing the last bit of snow for the season, seeing the South Yuba in full force and driving along the shores of Lake Tahoe. A little outside of Gardnerville we stopped for a picnic on the side of the road. It‘s been a couple of years since we’ve driven 395 and seen the Eastern Sierras. I forgot how spectacular and majestic they are from this side of the mountain. We were going to explore Bodie, but felt uncomfortable with the sketchy guys following us down the dirt road, so we flipped a u-turn and continued down the road to Mono Lake. We had a really interesting walk on the boardwalk path and were able to get up close to the tufas, read about the history of the disappearing lake and see the water boundary of the lake over the years. We also made another stop at Lee Vining to check out the Mobil Gas Station. Several years ago, Ned’s sister Nancy told us about this gas station that was well known for it’s upscale restaurant. It’s now somewhat of a cultural icon known simply as “The Mobil”. We poked around the place for a while and took several pics of the Sierras and Mono Lake. For the most part, the weather had been in the mid 70’s and overcast. Once we reached the town of Tom’s Place, the sky turned blue and the temperature rose by 15 degrees. Yeah!! Our final destination for the night was Keough’s Hot Springs Resort – and I use the term “resort” loosely. It’s located about 9 miles south of Bishop up against the stark eastern wall of the Sierra foothills. The main attraction is a somewhat dilapidated sea foam green, paint peeling building, built perhaps in the 1930’s, which houses the spring fed pool. Actually there are two open air pools within this structure. The larger pool is kept at about a 90 deg temp and the smaller soaking pool is about 104. We set-up camp, which consisted of parking on a lawn next to the pool house and quickly took advantage of the medicinal properties of the healing baths. The resort provided foam “noodles” and kick boards for the enjoyment of the patrons – which seemed to be predominantly locals. It was great because the water didn’t smell of either chlorine or rotten eggs. As our meal was cooking on the grill we took a walk around the grounds and enjoyed the rock garden trail, historic bath house and sunset views of the mountains. Today’s pic is Ned seated in front of the 1920’s stone bath house We ended the evening by sharing half a bottle of wine and playing a rousing game of Skip-bo. Perfect first day of vacation.