Lake Powell

Last week was a blissful, fantastic and much-needed vacation for Husband and me.  Some friends invited us to join a couples-only trip to Lake Powell on their houseboat.  So we arranged with the grandparents to watch our kids (each set of grandparents taking two nights) and we made our escape.

(this is the short version.  the long version would include the amazing conversations, billions of photos and countless jokes and small moments that made up for an amazing trip.)

We drove down Tuesday evening, carpooling with another couple from our ward.  Our casual acquaintance with them was quickly developed as we chatted away the miles.  We arrived close to midnight, were eagerly met by our friends who shuttled us away onto the houseboat and after a brief introduction to the couples we didn't' know, we quickly settled in for the evening.

I didn't sleep particularly well but I got to enjoy the spectacular sunrise and then got up early to help with breakfast.  We had a fantastic day!  "The Captain", our host, had deemed it to be our excursion day so we packed a lunch and loaded into the speedboat where he whisked us away to explore canyons, hike the "Hole in the Rock" trail, view the arch and hunt for ancient ruins.  All along the way, we talked with our new friends and swapped stories.  We arrived back at the houseboat just in time for dinner and we quickly joined by the sixth and final couple couple that would be sharing our vacation adventure.  That night, we built a campfire on the beach and Husband demonstrated his pyrotechnic skills with his infamous "sobe bombs".  Then "Mrs. Captain" brought out her guitar and we had an impromptu singalong/talent show.

after a sunrise waking of bagpipes by one of our talented crew members, we spent most of Thursday morning on the lake.  Husband and I both tried wake boarding (he was much more successful than me, but he's had a few more chances than I've had too).  I managed to get up and had a few mildly spectacular crashed without hurting myself.  Husband did great, cutting across the wake and even doing some jumps.  In the afternoon, we went on another short excursion to find the ancient ruins and hieroglyphs and then we hiked "the Crack".  It was challenging and fun and reminded me of canyoneering as we scrambled and climbed over rocks.  That evening, we had another fantastic dinner and fun evening.  Husband and I went for a little walk (okay, I wanted to go skinny dipping.  I never have and it's one of those bucket list kind of things so we went.  It was fun. :) and cold.) and then we spent the evening sitting on the upper deck talking for hours.

Friday morning kicked off with more water sports.  I got to try water surfing and loved it!  It was still challenging but not as discouraging as wake boarding (and the crashes weren't as intense!)  I got up on my first try and laughed every time I fell over, it was simply so fun.  The rest of the group headed out for an afternoon excursion but it was something Husband had already seen several times and didn't sound as interesting to me, so we stayed at the houseboat.  He took care of a few pressing work needs while I read.  We swam and lounged in the sun together.  we rejoined the group for more water sports, dinner and a late evening of playing games like Mafia or simply laughing at the comedy routines of some of our fellow sailors.

We spent Saturday morning on the lake, squeezing in a few more rounds of watersports.  I went wake surfing again, Husband went wake boarding and wake surfing.  He even managed to jump the entire wake on one of this runs.  I went for a ride on the tube with some of the other ladies, getting bounced and tossed and eventually thrown into the water.  But eventually, and reluctantly, we packed our things, cleaned the boat and headed for shore.  As we drove the boat in, we observed our amazing luck: no accidents, injuries or mishaps. But someone forgot to knock on wood and the "mishaps" began piling in. They started slow, we had some trouble dumping the boat's tanks and trouble refilling the propane.  Then we drove the speedboats to the ramp and sent husband to fetch the boat and trailer.  We waited over an hour as he discovered the car had been booted and we had to be escorted by a sheriff to the decontamination station where we were lectured and ticketed for an illegal launch (they had the wrong forms, an honest mistake but illegal nevertheless).  Eventually we got underway but then one of our cars were stopped for speeding and another stopped for a flat tire.  Lesson? be grateful and don't tempt fate.  We stopped for dinner as the final moment to celebrate our trip with friends and it was with much reluctance that we left.  In such a short time, we felt like we had gotten to know each other so well and even though we all missed our kids and such, it was sad to see our perfect vacation come to an end.