Sam's Birthday in the USA!

Sam has discovered that he has two birthdays this year...the one day we celebrated in NZ and since the US is a day behind, he reckons he can celebrate again today!  Let's go with that.....In the spirit of celebrations, we opt to visit some thermal pools nearby at Lake Tekapo and do pretty much nothing else of consequence today.  We have a leisurely breakfast and/or brunch and then hit the road to head north to the lake.  When we arrive, we park the car and get our day passes to the pools and tubing area.  We change and slide into the thermal pools.  They have three pools here with different temperatures and we while away the day talking and soaking, alternating between being in the beautiful sunlight and under the canopy shade.  All the while, the gorgeous backdrop of snow-covered mountains looms in the distance with the turquoise blue lake at its base.  Pretty nice day if I do say so myself.  After a hour or so of soaking, Sam and I decide to try out the tubing park.  We take the conveyer belt to the top of the run and whizzzz down the 150 steep track to the bottom.  It is a blast!  We do this for another hour before returning to the warm pools to relax.  We leave around 6:30 and return home for a restful evening and early bedtime.