This trip was supposed to be the Cutrer family, but it turned out to be just us and Dustin and Jen's family. It was the smallest group we have taken out on the houseboat for a week. It was a little different than our last trip this summer. The boat seemed empty. We got down on Sunday afternoon and had to wait until Skipperliner came and filled the steering fluid up on Monday before we could leave. After that we were on our way. We drove up to Padre Bay and ended up staying in a beautiful hidden canyon that we had found by accident last year when we stayed in Kane Wash.
We had Dustin and Jen take the Grasshopper and check a few canyons before we decided to head over to where we stayed. Dustin checked it and radioed us to come in. We pulled the boat into a rock pile and anchored it tightly. The boat was already in the shade by about 1 pm. As we ate lunch a guy in a boat came into the canyon and started looking at the other side of the rock pile. The pile was only about 50 yards wide and was the only place to anchor in the canyon. Dustin got out and spoke with him. He was scouting for his houseboat and wanted to park it there!! Those of you who have been with me at Lake Powell know that I value my privacy. Dustin told him that we had another boat coming. He asked him when, because this was their "favorite" campsite on the lake and they had a boat on the way. The guy reluctantly left. When we asked Dustin what the other side of the rock pile looked like, he sheepishly told us it was very nice. I hiked over to look at it and it had a nice sandy landing point and up a small hill was a fire pit. After lunch we moved the boat over to the nice side of the rock pile.
The first night we were on the boat was so dark. The moon was not out and you literally could not see your hand in front of your face. The stars were so beautiful.
The next morning we got up to go play. We were in the shade when we left at about 10 am. We went to play behind Cookie Jar and the water was so nice. There were only a couple of houseboats in there and nobody was on the water. We played until about 1 pm. When we got back to Dock Potato, the slide was just barely coming into the sun. At about 4 pm the bow of the boat started to be in the shade again. That kept the boat so nice and cool.
All the kids did so well on this trip. JT and Chaz tried slalom skiing. Chaz and Brody double skied. All 3 boys wakeboarded as well. JT and Chaz also kneeboarded. Chaz tried surfing too. I was so proud. It was fun to see them progress and get better than I thought they would. One highlight of the trip was being able to wakeboard double with JT, Chaz and Trisha. It was fun. We hadn't done that before. The water was so nice and we had so much time and good weather that we could just play and do things we hadn't done before. I was able to surf as long as I wanted to.
We went to explore the canyons around us. We explored Labyrinth and Face canyons. They were very cool canyons. While we were in Labyrinth Trisha spotted an owl just watching us. I had never seen an owl in real life. It was very cool. As we left the canyon and headed back into the channel we decided to start skiing. The water was glass. As we skied past a beach, we saw a coyote digging. We were only able to get one picture, but it was so cool to see animals we hadn't seen before. The sun was starting to go down as we crossed the channel. It was the first time we had seen the sunset. We didn't get to see it from the houseboat because of the canyon walls. The sunset had the most amazing colors!! The pictures don't do it justice.
We got up early on Saturday morning and made our way back to the marina. It was a smooth experience getting packed up and cleaned up. We packed up everything on the way to Wahweap and loaded it into the Grasshopper while we pumped the boat out. Once we got back to the slip it didn't take long to clean everything. After the traditional dip in the pool we were headed home again.
The girls in the afternoon sun
Trisha
Brody completing his first 360 of the top of the houseboat
I was helping JT tie a hook onto the end of his pole when I felt a tug on the line. Colbie had climbed under the table and was fishing!
Our campsite in full sun.
5 year old Brody wakeboarding.
Riding double with Trisha
JT's sweet ollie
Double with JT
Double with Chaz
The girls turn in the swingball tournament
Sunset over Padre Bay
Our coyote sighting
Moonrise looking into Labyrinth Canyon
Colbie
Our friend the owl
Scenery
Jen is giving her shadow a high 5
I was able to take Colbie surfing with me
Brody learned to get up on waterskis all by himself. Notice no hands from Dustin.
Dustin
Jeff
Jen
Dustin was killing it on his kneeboard
Trisha getting brave
Standing on a rock in the middle of the bay
Chaz slaloms
Brody skiing
Chaz
Trisha, JT and Dustin swam back into this little canyon at the end of Face Canyon. It got shallow and dropped straight off on the backside. The water was dark so Trisha made JT go first.
Dustin got the hang of surfing
Hanging 10???
Stacia
Colbie, Trisha and Chaz in the bow
Chaz on 2 skis
Chillin with my girl
