Acklin's Bring Bad Weather (Again!)

Glenn and Julie were nice enough to come for yet another visit, and although they brought the first real snow and cold of the season, we were still able to enjoy ourselves. This was supposed to be Glenn's fishing and hunting trip, unfortunately, the temp was in the upper 20's with about 4" of snow falling in Sheridan, so we nixed that idea.

We opted to brave the trek over to Thermopolis WY to soak in the hot springs which turned out to be a lotta fun. We hit up Star Plunge, one of 3 options for hot spring experiences in Thermop.

This turned out to be the same place where my family and I visited during a family vacation to Yellowstone...I don't think anything had changed, except for the hi-tech crash detection system which had since been "installed" on the tubular waterslide, consisting of an old tower affixed to a rope, which you would pull once you got to the bottom of the slide to signal all clear (or in Glenn's case, signalling that the slide was still intact)...as rudimentary as this was, it was a great improvement. I can still remember how scared I was on our family vacation when I tried the same waterslide for the first time...no one told me that you needed to arch your back to move, so as I slowly inched my way down the slide, pushing for dear life, I clearly remember the gung-ho screams of the person coming down the slide after me....I started pushing even more frantically, after I realized that he was somehow going about 5x my speed. My claustraphobia didn't help the situaion either. I did not have fun on the waterslide on the family vacation.

16 years later, I was the slide master. Who am I kidding, Glenn was the real slide master, and he let everyone at the pool know this by barreling down the 4-story waterslide causing the entire structure to wobble and make other sounds of general instabilty. He realized that there was a posted weight limit after the first run, and we were all suprised that the pool authorities did not require him to "weigh-in" immediately after. He figured if it could hold him once, it could hold him again, and he definitely got his money's worth on the slide. I think the owner was probably wincing everytime he saw Glenn go back up for another trip down. Glenn also earned Eskimo honors by sunbathing the longest on a snow-covered recliner. Julie didn't quite make it out of the hot springs for this challenge.

However, Julie deserves an honorable mention for her watersliding. She tried the slide without really understanding the full details of the enclosed, dark, sulfurous, and bumpy tubular ride which gave you quite a jolt at the end if you were going fast enough (lawsuit-scale spine twisting) Emily was the lucky one at the bottom who got to hear Julie's screams and see her face when she finally came out down below. Glenn and I cheered when we saw the white towel of the crash detection system move, signifying that she had safely made it down...or at the very least, Emily had pull the rope thinking that if Julie was stuck, Glenn would be able to "help" her down.

We all seemed to have a lot of fun over the 4-day visit, and all learned a thing or two about each other, as we usually do on these family get-togethers. Julie learned that Wyoming hot springs smell absolutely horrible. Emily learned how to drive in the winter without the aid of windshield wipers. Glenn learned that weight limits for waterslides are not necessarily accurate, and I learned that no matter how much fun I think it is, pulling into Sheridan with a gas tank as close to empty as possible after a snowy drive over the mountains is not fun for anyone but me.

If anyone else is interested in visiting, let us know!

First big snow of the season...I heard 24" at 12,000 ft. It melted about 3 days later...

Julie, Emily, and Glenn checking out the new stream improvements in the park.


Tensleep Canyon on the way to Thermopolis...although you couldn't see the mountains, there was still plenty to see...sorry, no pictures of the hot springs...