Living Like Hippies

Ever want to live like a hippie? Traveling from town to town in a bus, making family at every stop, growing long, unkempt hair, and making pants out of old blankets? Me neither. But I knew Mike would find it appealing so for his 32nd birthday we took a trip to Mystic Hot Springs in middle-of-nowhere Monroe, Utah.

2 hours south and 1 hour east of Salt Lake is a very small town. And in that small town is a hot spring owned by Mystic Mike. You can stay in a tent, pioneer-style cabin or for a real hippie experience, you can stay in a converted school bus. Which, of course, is what we did.

Groovy, man

 

 

On the property are two pools into which the hot water flows but most impressive are the Victorian bathtubs.

 

Sometimes the water was very hot

 

Most of the time we had the place to ourselves. But the other people there were some of the most, um, unique people we have met. First, there was Mystic Mike, the owner. A very laid back dude who lives in the only house on the property with his girlfriend and her daughter. He used to do some kind of work in the music production business and has bands come out to perform as often as he can. Here is a picture of the stage in his living room.

He records the bands on some fancy cameras and puts them on his you tube page. Here's a video (this is the band we saw) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6N13CFDaBA.

Speaking of the band... Rising Appalachia performed for us. They were so gracious to perform in this small living room in front of an audience of 12. They are very talented and it was a fun, cozy concert.

Another local worth mentioning is Tammy. The cleaner/masseuse/occasional cook. My favorite story with her was I asked her what is the best place to eat in town. She said she "highly recommended" Sage Grill, Bully's and the Mexican place. We drove into town and checked out all the restaurants, which were Sage Grill, Bully's and a Mexican place.

Finally, there was Apostrophe. I probably don't need to say more but I would be remiss not to relay some of his words of wisdom. Quotes from Apostrophe:

"I don't know what's strange, but I know what's real."

"A family of 3 is harmony. Then you have 6 then 9 and then you have everything."

Apostrophe was at Mystic cleansing his spirit for "my brother and his twin." Are they not both his brothers?

Those are just a handful of the characters we met. There was also the girl who came here at the suggestion of a rest stop man, the sometime chef who was living "off the grid" and the guy who made his own pants out of blankets.

Lainey loved staying in the bus. And we can add it to our list of strange places we have stayed. The current list is
1. An old elementary school (slept in a classroom)
2. A haunted hotel (complete with creepy dumbwaiter in the room)
3. An old school bus

Those are the places we have stayed on purpose. It does not include the accidental strange places, like the bathroom floor of a Disneyland hotel. But that's a list for another day.

Righteous.

Peace!

Lainey trying the peace sign again...looks more like "live long and prosper."