June 5-7, 2021
We had every intention of getting back to White Sands at the crack of dawn to catch the light for a morning photoshoot but didn’t get there until almost nine. Sunrise was at 6:30 AM so by the time we got on the sand the sun was high in the sky. We still took pictures but none were very good and it started to get hot quite quickly so we left and drove four hours to Albuquerque where we found another Walmart to sleep at.
The next morning we found a place that let us dump our tanks for free so we did that before driving to Pagosa Springs, Colorado. This is a scenic small town in the mountains of Colorado which is quite similar to other small ski towns. The reason we went there though was that it had a fancy hot springs resort that we wanted to try. The weather was overcast with light sprinkles and it was already in the late afternoon by the time we arrived so we decided to wait until the next day to go to the Hot Springs.
The next morning we did some homeschooling at a park next to the river and before going to the Pagosa Springs Hot Springs. Day was sunny and we could smell the distinct rotten egg sulfur smell from the parking lot. The resort was quite expensive at $49 per adult and $25 per child but it was a very nice resort with almost 20 hot springs pools of various temperatures ranging from 90 degrees to 113 degrees. Some of the pools were infinity pools and some were right on the banks of the river that ran alongside the resort. There was a cool submerged bridge too. Olivia’s favorite pool was the largest one which was only 3 feet deep and where most of the kids were hanging out. The pools are fed by the largest and deepest natural hot spring waters in the nation and come out at a blistering 130 degrees before being mixed with cooler waters to achieve the varying temperatures. We spent a lovely day trying out all the pools, eating at the restaurant and just hanging out taking pictures, leaving almost 10 PM. The resort would probably be even lovelier in the winter with snow and steaming pools everywhere.
We spent the whole day there. 
Holly at Pagosa Springs 
Pagosa Springs embodied the ideal of a small mountain town. 
The partially submerged bridge was really cool