Jake's family asked if we would like to join them for a boating trip to Lake Powell in June. We were so very excited. Jill and I had both been to Lake Powell when we were teenagers but we have never been together, and our children have never seen it. Becky Jo is incredible and wanted to do all of the food preparation and feed us all. This made our vacation all the more memorable.
We drove down a few hours before Jake's family could get off and we were able to top in Helper to eat at the Balanced Rock Eatery. Jill and the children hadn't been before so they didn't know what a great place to eat that it is. The portion sizes are HUGE and the food is really good. The city is charming and so is the restaurant. Everyone loved it. Most of us got breakfast and it came out on three plates!
Next we stopped in Hanksville for one last pitstop before going the rest of the way to Powell. This is a popular stop travelers make to see the gas station in the cave.
We aren't a big camping family, but at Lake Powell there aren't Marriott hotels. Following Jake's families lead, we would be camping. The water levels have been so low that a lot of people didn't go to Lake Powell thinking it was so low you couldn't put boats in the water. It felt like we almost had the lake to ourselves. The campground wasn't busy either, there just weren't very many people which helped add to our enjoyment of the lake.
Jake's family arrived and they all slept on their boat.
We got out the water the next morning and were in awe at how amazing Lake Powell is. The water levels have obviously been higher, but it's still so huge there were plenty of places to boat. The canyons seem to go on forever, its like Zion National Park only you have to access it by boat. Jake knows the lake pretty well now so he took us to some really amazing places.
To show our appreciation we bought hats for everyone. The girls had these hats that said, "Boat Hair, Don't Care".
The men got a foldable hat that I decided to wear backwards in this picture.
Swimming was so much fun, jumping in the water from the boat.
And after being on the water, it was nice to get in a little nap too.
For lunch, we would pull into a small canyon and anchor and listen to music while we ate. It was all so amazing.
Back at camp sand had blown everywhere. We would try and keep the sun off of us in various ways.
The boys tried surfing and they actually did get up and surf for a little while. Landon went first and after a few tries he got up!
Logan got a turn and he got up after only a few tries too.
The lake was so much fun, when we weren't being pulled behind the boat, we would play on floaties.
We got a family picture on the back of Jake's boat.
The whole family had gone in together a while back for a birthday gift for Jake. It's called a wing, and the boat pulls you in the water while the rider holds the wing. You can adjust it and go up or down in the water and it's a real rush. You are going incredibly slow on the boat, but being dragged it feels like you are being pulled at a much faster rate of speed. With the wing, you can dive down into the water, or twist and even breach out of the water like a fish! The two Jocelyn's are modeling it.
Sleeping on the boat is so relaxing.
We stayed out later one night and the sunset was really incredible.
We all used the boat as a wind block as we ate breakfast Sunday morning before going to church.
Ticaboo church is really small but it was really great. There is a really terrific branch president and the visiting high council from Hanksville had drove down to deliver a message. In the summer the congregation can get pretty big, but with COVID and low lake levels it's been smaller than a normal summer Sunday.
We got home late Sunday afternoon and had an amazing vacation. The children and Jill all love boating and they all really want a boat.
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