In August, Greg and I had planned a fun weekend to Lake Powell with some friends of ours. This would be our last 'Hoorah!' of the summer. I love Lake Powell! I was blessed with wonderful parents who were consistent and persistent on going to Lake Powell every summer, when all of us kids lived at home. It was The summer vacation we all looked forward too. In recent years, its has been increasingly difficult to get all of us kids up there for vacay with all of our "other activities or obligations". I'd say it has been about 4 or 5 years since I have been to Lake Powell. (Oh, it hurts me to admit that. That's so sad!) Anyway...Our kids needed to experience Lake Powell, and Greg and I really needed to getaway, so we packed up the toy hauler, invited some friends, prepped the boat and we were off. Let's just say, in this short 4 day weekend, we have plenty of stories.
We camped on the beach in Lone Rock, which we have never done before. We were not expecting really soft sand. So...we got stuck. But luckily, Greg is no dummy. He aired down the tires and we were off to find a camp spot...and then we get stuck again. Luckily some kind men who were watching us, came over to help dig us out. Yay! We were off...again....finally we made it to the spot of our choice and awaited the arrival of our friends. We made sure to let them know exactly where we were, and that they needed to air down their tires, and too not let off the gas. Just go as fast as you can or you will get stuck! After giving this advice, Geoff and Karen made it just fine, but Clint....not so much. He got stuck. Big Time! And a little to close to another camper. It took us (or the men) a long time to get Clints truck and trailer unstuck and once they were able to move forward, unfortunately, he hit the camper he was next too. But the damage was minimal.
Day 2 came along and we took the boat out a little. It was really windy and the waters were choppy. That kind of weather really tosses a little boat around, but it made for good tubing. Geoff and I were the only ones willing to go for a ride. I don't like to toot my own horn, but I am pretty good when it comes to tubing. Greg was taking me thru some rough waters and I held on for dear life. I used muscles I hadn't used in a long time and I definitely paid the price for it later.
Day 3, we had planned to take a trip up the lake to Rainbow Bridge, a must-see when going to Lake Powell. Geoff and Karen had never been so they joined us as well. Now, Greg and I have never had to navigate our way to Rainbow Bridge before. Dad was always in the drivers seat and we always enjoyed the passing canyons. Greg was smart enough to bring a small map of LP and a GPS, so we wouldn't get lost. It didn't work...we got lost anyway, but I will take the blame. I am a poor navigator. I always have been. We managed to figure out where we had gone wrong and made it to Rainbow Bridge. It was beautiful, as always. Then we had our picnic lunch and drove thru a couple more canyons, just for fun. On the way back to camp, we hit another little snag. Although, Greg and I have been to LP many times before, we are still novices at the whole boating thing. We came to a bottleneck marked with buoys as "flat wake". We know what "no wake" means but had never seen 'flat wake' before. So we had a small wake behind us, and then we had the rangers in front of us. We got pulled over! They explained to us that flat wake and no wake mean the same thing, to which Greg decided to argue with the guy. Nonetheless, they did a boat safety check and let us go. Once back at camp, we grabbed our other friends and headed across the bay to the 'Lone Rock' for some cliff jumping. Good Times!
After we got back to camp the wind had picked up. The men decided to take down our shade. In doing so, Greg managed to run into our anchor and scrape up his leg. (for those of you who do not have a strong stomach, you may want to avert your eyes....the following pictures may not be something you want to see)
This is the anchor that Greg hit his leg on. If you look at the top, left corner you will see a lump of skin
A close-up of the skin and hair that came off his leg.To follow with disasters....Clint had brought up his son's dirt bike for riding. It had training wheels. This is something Ethan has been begging us for. He wants his own dirt bike to ride. I have resisted his (and Greg's) request to get one. He just seems to little. However, since there was one there he could ride, I thought, okay, he can try it out. Ethan hopped on that thing and hit the throttle almost running Olie over in the process. He let go and Greg exclaimed to watch out and go slow. Unfortunately, this bike had a twist throttle which Ethan is not used to. He hit it again, going too fast, Ethan got scared and tried to jump off, but for some reason did not let go, and just dragged himself behind it for a short way before riding it into the lake, thus drowning the bike. The men raced after him but could not get to the bike before it went under. The waters were shallow and they were able to recover the bike, but I am not sure how well it works now. Ethan was terrified and no longer wants a dirt bike of his own. I agree.
(He makes a much better passenger than driver)Later that night, after our bellies were full, the sun had gone down, the kids were sleeping,and the full moon had risen, we asked if anyone wanted to go for a night ride around Lone Rock. No one seemed too interested so Greg and I headed out for a romantic night ride under the stars and glowing full moon. (It was beautiful!) Just after leaving the beach (with no wake behind us) I told Greg that something was missing. It just didn't seem like we had enough lights. Greg told me we were fine the red and green lights on the front of the boat were on. He assured me we were good to go. Still, I argued, "are you sure? it just doesn't seem like we have enough lights..." Greg, strongly points out, 'Look upfront Afton, the red and green lights are on'...to which I replied, 'well, now you have red and blue lights behind you!' Yep, we got pulled over...Again! The rangers were friendly and asked us if we had the light for the back of the boat. Greg perks up quickly. (You could almost see that light bulb go on above his head) "Oh yeah! my wife was trying to tell me something was missing." (Ah..ya! Duh! I do have my moments) Once we were 'legal' to ride at night, they let us go. It was quite humiliating and hilarious for us both. Pulled over twice in the same day, on our first trip to Lake Powell with us as the 'experienced' boaters. What will my family say?!
Day 4, it was time to pack up and leave. I woke up that day SORE! My muscles ached so bad from tubing. I couldn't even dress myself. I was so stiff. And riding in my husbands truck over sandy bumps were very painful. At one point, I think I even cried. Once we got home, I soaked in a hot bath for about 20 minutes. It was relaxing but didn't really help. The next day, I was still stiff, but able to move a little better. I was pathetic. But I still rate our Lake Powell getaway as a '10'. It just doesn't get any better than Lake Powell.
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