Lake Powell Trip

It wasn’t in the plans for the summer, but when Jon asked us if we wanted to join their family in Lake Powell the week they were going, I did a bit of crazy planning to make it happen.  The kids and I left Derek home to take care of our still just a few days out from surgery pup and packed into the car Sunday after church.  This was the first real long road trip I had done alone without Derek, and I was a little nervous about how it would go.  I packed each kid a little backpack to keep by them with a couple things they had each picked from the dollar store, their Ipads, and a few snacks.  I told them it was up to them to feed and entertain themselves on the drive.  They were fabulous!  Made me feel like we should do it more often.  We drove to Kanab where we met up with Babi and Papou for dinner at a little Mexican Restaurant.  Then, we drove the last hour to Page, Arizona where Babi and Papou had agreed to share a hotel room with us in order to save some money for us both.  As soon as we checked into the hotel the first item of business was to hit the pool.  The boys surprised us all with their ability to tread water without the assistance of any life jackets.  They can both swim a ways, tread water to take a breath, and then keep going.  We are not far from needing no flotation devices at the pool though the thought of 3 kids without floatation devices at a pool scares the crud out of me. 

The next morning we found Uncle Jon, Aunt Steph, Chase and Tanner at the hotel breakfast.  After breakfast, we loaded up the cars and boat with all the stuff we needed for the day and hit the lake.  Between my annual national parks pass and Mom’s we were able to get everyone past the fee booth for free.  We spent literally all day on the lake.  We got on about 11am and didn’t get off until the sun was setting at 9 pm.  The first thing we did once we were past the buoys was jump in the lake to cool everyone off.  

This was my first time at Lake Powell and I must admit for the first time I found myself wondering if maybe we should get a boat.  This place was incredible.  A huge lake with so much shoreline and glassy water to ski on that you hardly even notice any other boats on the lake.  The scenery was gorgeous all beautiful red rock cliffs and slot canyons right next to a very deep clear lake (that isn’t shockingly freezing).  Uncle Jon let each of the kids have some time behind the wheel.

We let the kids each take a turn knee boarding.  Uncle Jon insisted that each of them yell “hit it” when they were ready to go.  Listening to their cute little voices excitedly shout “hit it” from the end of the rope was adorable.  It was amazing how brave they were to just jump in the middle of the lake all alone and hold on to a knee board behind a speeding boat.  Liv actually got up on her knees and held the rope.  

Camden shocked us all when unprompted he decided to go hands free and he was twisting back and fro like a champ.  Carter was last to go, and I expected him to be too timid to do more than just maybe hold on, but he, like Camden, swiveled back and forth and rode hands free too and when he fell off he wasn’t at all afraid waiting in the vast lake by himself waiting for us to pull around to pick him up, but just said “I want to go again.”  Uncle Jon and Chase introduced the kids to a new recreation in cliff jumping.  Jon found the perfect little 10 foot straight rock for the kids to jump off of.  

They did it on repeat and didn’t want to stop and towards the end of the day when Uncle Jon and Steph asked how they wanted to spend the last little bit of the day their request was to go cliff jumping again.  We pulled into our own little spot for lunch. 

All the older crowd hungrily put together sandwiches while the kids swam around and paddled on the knee board with no interest at all in stopping to eat.  Then, Jon took us to Dangling Rope Marina where they had soft serve ice cream and huge carp that the kids felt were more deserving of their turkey sandwiches than themselves.  Next, it was on to Rainbow Bridge.  Once we made the turn off the main lake toward the marina to park for the hike to Rainbow Bridge it was honestly surreal how beautiful it was.  Luckily, most of the hike was shaded because it was hot.  

The kids had no desire to hike in full sun to get right underneath the arch, but we got a good view of the largest red rock bridge in the world.  


Then, we mostly made the long boat ride back to Wahweap Marina stopping to cliff jump and let the kids each have one more go at the knee board.  I caught Camden catching as much air in his mouth as possible on the ride back.

Then, it was back to Page to sleep one more night in our hotel.

 I got up at 6am the next morning to head home.  I was supposed to work at 1pm that afternoon and Derek thought I was crazy to drive all the way to Page for one day on the lake, but I thought it was well worth it.  I left the kids with Babi and Papou to take home to St. George with them (since we were planning to head down that way the very next day anyways).  I got 5.5 hours of uninterrupted listening to an audio book the whole way home.  It was so enjoyable that I wished the ride was longer.  I pulled into my house at 12:40 with just enough time to freshen up, change, and head to work.  I ended up finishing a little early so even though it was 100 degrees outside I decided to go for a run down the canyon just because I was kid-free and could.  Though I must admit, it was killer and maybe not worth it in that heat.  That night Derek and I took advantage of our kid free night and went to dinner, and a movie, and a late evening walk. 

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In the morning, I told Derek we should both get up and exercise at the same time because we could (but I think I got up and he slept in).  I worked the next morning without having to pay for a babysitter, came home did laundry, cleaned and packed.  Then, Derek and I got to drive the whole way to St. George with London, but no kids which was sort of blissful.  In short, slightly crazy, but totally worth the kid free time and an amazing day on Lake Powell.  Babi and Papou said the kids are better for them than us, and I said well then maybe this should be a monthly occurrence where the kids spend two days with you instead of us!