Lake Powell! A Trip of Firsts

For Labor Day weekend me, Jordan, my parents, my sis and her hubby, my brother and his wife and their three kids all went to Lake Powell! We rented a houseboat, and recently Jeff and Brit went in together to buy a boat, so we brought that as well.
We didn't want to waste the first day we had our houseboat in just driving down there, so we camped the first night, and picked the houseboat up first thing in the morning. We launched the speed boat, and then loaded up the houseboat and launched that. We then met up with the speed boat, hooked it up to the back of the boat and took off. We stopped the boat for lunch, and after that we took off to find a place to just park the boat so we could play. It was so nice to be able to sit back and relax and read while we were cruising. Eventually we got to the canyons where we thought we might want to park the boat. Because the houseboat doesn't go that fast, and it was so large that we didn't want it stuck in some small canyon we couldn't turn around in, we decided to launch the speedboat for a reconnaissance mission.

Jordan and I rode with Jeff on said mission. We cruised up one canyon, and took all the different ways that canyon branched out on, but because it was Labor Day weekend, everything was packed. Beyond packed. We left that canyon, and headed on to another. By this time we were well ahead of the houseboat, and Jordan had been eyeing the kneeboard we had in the boat with us. He kept eyeing it for a while and said, "Can we do that?" I was surprised 'cause I had never seen Jordan on a boat before, and he never wanted to go out boating with the fam before so I didn't really peg him as one that would want to hop out and try the kneeboard. We borrowed the kneeboard from a neighbor so none of us had tried it before, and we weren't sure how to really get up on it. So Jeff, said why not, we're ahead of the boat by a long shot, so we might as well play a little. So Jordan-who didn't even have a swimming suit on that point-hopped in the water clothes and all and gave it a go. The houseboat radioed in for our position and the conversation went as follows:

Jeff: "Guess who's breaking in the kneeboard?"

Dad: "Of course you."

Jeff: "Um, that's impossible since I'm on the radio with you, and I can't talk on the radio while I'm in the water."

Dad: "Not Bre?!" (Thanks for your confidence Dad!)

Jeff: "Guess again."

Dad: "You're kidding-Jordan?!"

I guess my whole fam, like me, assumed he was not all about the water sports. It was great that Jordan was such a shocker.

After we let the house boat get ahead of us a bit we decided to get back to our reconnaissance and it was looking pretty grim. Never again will I go on a holiday 'cause it was ridiculously crowded. We hit a dead end in one canyon called Hansen's Creek I believe and as we were turning around we noticed that both boats that were on the beach looked like they were leaving. We didn't know if they were just going off to play, or if they were leaving and not coming back. We asked one boat, and they said they were leaving, and they said that the other boat was leaving as well. Hallelujah. We waiting for them to leave and claimed our beach. We were really lucky 'cause it was sandy, so it wouldn't hurt the boats to beach there and the kiddies could play in the sand. It was also very secluded, so we had the canyon to ourselves, and we still had a large area in front of us where we could practice skiing, kneeboarding, and just tube off the main channel, with no one around to laugh at us, and with no wake other than our own. It was perfect.

So we got the houseboat all anchored down and it was time to play. We were all excited about the waterslide off the back of the boat, but then we saw that it was about a good five foot drop from the slide to the water, so that made us slightly wary. All of a sudden before we could realize what just happened Jordan went down the slide. Which was another surprise. He just has to be the first to do everything! In fact I think he was the first to water ski too.

I think the best part was the fact that we had nothing planned, no schedule pressing in on us. We could go out on the speedboat, go fishing, sit and read, nap, or jump off the back of the boat and play there. We played it all by ear and it was very relaxing. I am desperate to go back, and can't wait until next summer 'cause we are already planning a trip. I'd live there if I could.