Monday, August 24, 2009

My Town Monday: Lake Powell, AZ and UT

We're baaack! We had a FANTASTIC vacation on Lake Powell! We houseboated and speedboated, enjoyed water activities, grilled (I cooked carne asada, pollo asada, marinated chicken breasts, hamburgers and hot dogs), relaxed, played board games (I'm quite gifted at Apples to Apples!) and read (for me it was the brilliant Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson).

I actually relaxed. Which I realized I haven't done in a long time. I was so not ready to return home. (Although I did miss my internet.)

Before leaving, I paid a trip to my local Costco where the electronics guy looked over my misbehaving camera and pronounced the settings "all whacked out." Which he quickly righted. I guess the camera reset itself somewhere between its side falling off and the optician fixing it with two glasses' screws. It seem to be performing okay while we were away.

Okay. About Lake Powell. AMAZING scenery. It's like being IN the Grand Canyon. It's like being on another planet. Like the Charlton Heston version of Planet of the Apes.

Here's a photo from the movie. Thank you to Charles Gramlich of Razored Zen for pointing out that Planet of the Apes was filmed here.


Sadly, I discovered that I am not a crack water skiier. All those memories I have of myself zipping in and out of the wake on one ski are probably seen through rose-colored goggles. HOWEVER, I did have fun tubing!

The water temperature was perfect at about 80 degrees. We ended up mooring on a small sandy beach down Last Chance Canyon. People-wise, there was just us. Just us amidst all that incredible sandstone. We also spotted a fox, some geckos, red ants, gnats and a mouse.

Despite the heat, the kids played on the rocks.





Child #4 and I went exploring for animal tracks and interesting plants.

A couple of totally random vacation thoughts:

Biodegradable shampoo is not my friend. By the end of the week, my hair looked and felt like sheep's wool.

Next time, I'll go fishing. I bet you never thought I'd say that Travis Erwin!

For links to the other MTM participants, please head over to our My Town Monday blog which was set up by the lovely and talented Clair Dickson.

24 comments:

  1. Alas, no water-skiing pics but sounds like you had such a wonderful time.
    Welcome back!

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  2. Love the pics.

    Thanks for sharing and I'm glad you had an amazing time. :)

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  3. In our town we are recovering from storm damage!
    In My Muskoka we had severe storms. Scary stuff!

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  4. Someday I'm going to visit San Diego and we can go fishing together.

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  5. Great pics. That's the scene I remember the best from the movie. The silver ship slowly sinking. Great stuff. Glad you all had fun.

    And thanks for the bump!

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  6. Welcome home, Barrie. Your pictures are amazing. So glad you guys had so much fun!

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  7. Looks like a wonderful time! Glad your back!

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  8. Looks wonderful! I have a feeling I'd be with you on the nostalgic images I have of water-skiing as a teen. But the water looks so lovely, it'd be hard to resist trying again.

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  9. Hi Barrie,

    Looks like you had a super vacation at a very cool place.

    Terrie

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  10. looks like you had a good time. Lake Powell is a super place to vacation.

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  11. Love the pictures and those animal tracks! The trick to the biodegradable shampoo is following with olive oil-based conditioner! Smooth silkiness, and even foxes and geckos love Italian food.

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  12. I love Apples to Apples...I kinda think I may be gifted, too. Maybe you should bring it when you come and we can play in Holdenville! Glad you had fun on your trip!

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  13. Crystal, you're on! I could beat Granny and Grandpa with my eyes closed. I think. :)

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  14. I love Lake Powell although it's been a long time since I've been there. Glad you had such a wonderful vacation!

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  15. Nice to hear you had a grand time and did have a chance to relax. Very important before going back to writing more stories.

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  16. That looks like a great vacation! I didn't even know biodegradable shampoo existed...but now I know not to use it.

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  17. Gosh, how beautiful! It looks like you had a wonderful time. Sounds like the perfect way to end your summer :-)

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  18. Looks like an AWESOME vacation. And good weather to boot!
    I'm going fishing when the rain clears here...haven't gone fishing n a while.

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  19. THAT sounds like a great vacation. Something to think about...

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  20. Sounds like a perfect vacation - other than the shampoo. Nice photos!

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  21. Being beached with nobody else around sounds wonderful and Apples to Apples is one of the best.
    We're into Settlers of Catan now - highly addictive.
    What a great way to have a holiday.

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  22. lovely pictures!!
    i am glad you guys had a great time!!!

    shraddha

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Comments are always welcome!