Sunday, July 8
Page, Arizona, Lake Powell
Driving to the Grand Canyon

Today we are renting a boat for the day on Lake Powell. We got a preview of the dam and lake yesterday evening, as we drove into Page.

Lake Powell was as exciting as a day at Cedar Point!

Tom stopped at Wal-Mart this morning, while the boys and I showered and got dressed, to pick up food, beverages, and other things we needed for a day on the boat. Amazingly, Tom was the morning person this morning!!

We picked up the boat rental shortly after 10 a.m. this morning. It had to be filled up, and back, by 5 p.m. I was surprised that we used $70 worth of gas. The boat must have had a huge gas tank because the gauge showed that it was 3/4 full before filling it up.

Lake Powell is a huge, man-made lake that was created when the Glen Canyon Dam was built to stop the water from the Colorado River in the 1960's. We decided to explore the area of the Lake known as Navajo Canyon.

The boat was a 19 foot power boat, with a small, blue awning. The sun was unbelievably strong, with virtually no shade anywhere. The temperature was well over 100 degrees. We sprayed on SPF30, and hoped we wouldn't burn, taking turns under the awning.

Tom did most of the driving, with me doing some on the way back. When we went a certain speed, there were wakes, and the boat would slap the water. One time, on the return trip, the boat went air born. The boys loved it, and wanted Tom to go faster. I felt the opposite way.

We rented a tube to pull Kevin on. Eric was disappointed because he couldn't ride on it because of his broken ankle.

Kevin rode on the tube twice, and loved it! He was the only one of us that got in Lake Powell!!

I was surprised by how much Kevin liked the boat and the water. He seemed like a natural. I can see him some day owning a boat, and living near a beach.

We ate lunch on the boat, in a tiny cove, with some shade provided by the rocks around us. It wasn't exactly by choice, but by chance. The boat was lodged by wall-to-wall rock. We had to use the paddle to push off the rock. I think our situation made Tom nervous, and he wanted to leave as soon as he finished his sandwich. We were so close to the walls of the canyon that you could touch them! The current was turning our boat around, and was pushing us into the rocks. We saw tiny lizards running around on the canyon walls.

On our way back to the marina where we rented the boat from, we stopped at another marina to cool down a bit, enjoy some ice cream, take a bathroom break, and check out the gift shop. Eric got a really neat hat with an antelope on it.

After we docked and cleaned up our boat rental, we all loaded into the van for our drive to the Grand Canyon. We all were parched from being in the sun, and couldn't believe how many beverages we had drank, with only one bathroom break all day!