Excursion

I didn't hike the Centennial Trail today. It took me a while to find the trailhead (uh, not anywhere near the war memorial, though once I found it I realized I'd seen the marker before). So I wandered around Lava Hot Springs instead. Some very nice houses and yards there. I especially like the ones on the hillside, built directly into it. By the time I found the trailhead, I was already tired. That on its own wouldn't have sotpped me. The increasing number of mosquitoes the further up I got did. I hadn't thought to bring any repellent, and was not dressed appropriately. Which would have been difficult, as anything that covered enough skin to be effective would have had me parbroiling.

So I made it partway up, and turned around. I wandered through the shops for a bit, but wasn't in the mood for buying anything. At all. I did make a new discovery. The Sunken Gardens. It's next to the hot-pools. As the name suggests, it's in a sort of chasm. Gravel paths and rock stairways lead through a very nicely done flower garden. I was especially pleased to see a lot of wild species represented. There were also some cultivated/tame ones. They even had some cacti (hen-and-chicks, prickly pear). Only bad spot was that there were more mosquitoes down there than in the rest of town. Still not as many as up on the hillside, though.

Then I headed to the Thai restaurant to wait. It's not as good as Sri Thai in Fort Collins, but it's still quite good. At the very least, they know how to make Thai Iced Tea. Chang's has something called Thai Iced Tea that's not the real deal. Unfortunately, the Thai restaurant has fallen prey to the soy sauce ploy. However, after a bit of argument, I was able to get them to leave it out of my dish. Very good. Just not as good as Sri Thai. *sighs*