Soap Lake

 We went on an RV adventure last year while the kids were at FSY, so when I signed the boys up for FSY, I also looked for an RV vacation Randy and I could take.  About 10 years ago, I took the kids to the water park in Moses Lake and ended up talking to a woman that said they were staying at Soap Lake and loved it.  She told me that Soap Lake is Washington's Bath of Jane Austen's time, that it is filled with healing minerals.  I knew I was going to go there someday as soon as she said Jane Austen!  So, without further ado, I give you my 10-year awaited vacation to Soap Lake.

10:45 am-- All packed up and ready to go.  Randy had an hour's long call with work during the drive, so we pulled into a large parking area and once again felt such love for our RV.

2:30pm.  An hour call and a 30-minute construction stop meant we made it to our spot a touch later than planned, but still enough time to make it down for some serious soak time in the Lake of Healing Dreams.  

I LOVE that this campground has hot tub sites!  It's also the first campsite I had ever heard of that had "Glamping."  They rent out TeePee sites with A/C, and two different styles of canvas tent sites with A/C, all with comfortable beds!!  They also have a cabin and normal tent sites, with a pool, outdoor games, bathrooms, showers, and a little store.  Upon entering and seeing all of the shade trees and well manicured space, I wondered if this could be the next location of our Burrell Family Reunion!  We set up our RV, made a quick meal of sandwiches and chips, and headed down to the lake.  I was near bursting-- Finally, I was at Soap Lake!!!

3:05pm.  There was a white crust on the top off the "sandy beach" area.  Honestly, it was like no other "beach" I had ever seen in person.  The first thing I noticed was the flies buzzing just above the crust.  Millions of flies, as far and as wide as the eye could see.  The next thing I noticed was the sulfur smell.  I had expected it, so it didn't come as a shock.  And, truthfully, it wasn't as "rotten egg" as the hot springs we'd go to in Wyoming.  But the flies and the scent were a little off putting.

And then we stepped on the crust.  It didn't hold our weight, and our feet squished down ankle-deep with a loud GUSH!.  As we pulled our feet out {que the LOUD sucking sound here}, I recoiled in disgust not just because it was warm, but because it was a green color.  Flies, smell, warm squish, and green got it stuck in my head that we were walking through a poop field.  Step after disgusting step, it just kept weighing on my more and more heavily.

And then we made it into the water.  The "poop" was even more saturated, that as it squished through your toes, each step sinking you deeper and deeper to no be calve-deep, that I literally (yes, literally) asked Randy to walk back to me and hold my hand.  We made it hip deep and looked back at the shore, knowing we would eventually need to walk back out.  It was so disgusting, so sensation-intense, that we stayed in for, at most, five minutes.  My hands and arms were aching, I was holding them so tightly to my chest, I couldn't even imagine putting them down in the water.  By the time we made it back to our shoes, I was ready to run.  Anxiety has never felt so intense because of physical sensation!

We made it back to our RV and decided to soak in the hot tub.  But... it was actually a tepid tub.  As we sat there in silence, every once in a while shivering because of our disgust, we both said, "You know-- we're not going back in that water, the hot tub doesn't offer any comfort, we might as well just head home."  So we did.  

Soap Lake is NOT a place I could/would ever recommend.  I'm so glad we went first, otherwise we would have had three families drive from Utah and one from Western Washington that potentially would have wanted to leave less than an hour after arriving!  It may be a lake of "healing minerals," but I'd rather be sick than soak in that ever again!!!