Lake Powell - June 2014

Lake Powell

A houseboat trip on Lake Powell had been on our bucket list for a few years.  So, Shawna did some initial research, got the Raleigh gang committed, and we used Keith and John's 45th birthdays as an excuse to head to the Southwest for a week vacation.  

Accommodation
Luxor - Our first night in Vegas - the rooms were inexpensive but not exactly luxurious.  A good call for simple accommodation.  

Super 8 (Page, AZ) -The best part of this hotel was that the rooms had 3 - yes, 3 double beds each.  While they were classified as suites, we think this was confused with people simply saying "sweet!  3 beds!"

Lake Powell Houseboat -We rented the houseboat for 4 nights directly from the marina.  Ours was a 59-foot, 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom (1 with shower), top-deck steering boat.  There was also space for another 4 people in the main room - so it could have slept 12 people.  The boat also included a full kitchen, grill, deep freezer and sunning/sitting area on the top deck.  Since not all of the bed locations were ideal, we chose the sleeping arrangements by drawing from a bowl - we got the bedroom that was on the main floor at the back of the boat.  We booked the summer before, but then updated the reservation last October to get half price on the rental.  For 4 nights / 5 days we paid $3K for the boat and $670 for the speedboat we towed behind the houseboat.  Gas was only $900 for the whole trip.

Our Houseboat

The Main Room - Kitchen, Dining, Living Rooms

Quality Inn Zion (Springdale, Utah) - This hotel is a mixed use hotel and campground.  Quite clean and only a couple of miles from the park entrance.

Bellagio - We splurged our last two nights in Vegas - the rooms were terrific and of course the hotel was amazing.  

Inside Garden at the Bellagio

Activities
Lake Powell
We arrived in Vegas at 6pm on the Friday and went straight to the hotel.  After checking in, we met Phil and Joyce for dinner at the Luxor and caught up with stories of Phil's new truck purchase and his most recent race where there was a major crash right in front of them.  After dinner, we headed to bed - John and Jo arrived pretty late and shared a room with us.

The Gang at Antelope Canyon

Keith and Shawna at Antelope Canyon

On Saturday, we got up and met Joyce and Phil at the Starbucks in the hotel lobby and all took cabs to the airport car rental to pick up our two EZ rental cars.  Kim and Jonathan texted us as soon as they landed and then we drove over to the airport to pick them up for the ~5 hour drive to Page.  The GPS showed us making it with 10 minutes to spare - but we later found out that the time zones were goofy and we had plenty of time.  Turns out that we were quite confused the whole trip on what time it actually was so we often quoted time in a three hour range!  We checked in to the hotel and then drove over to the pickup spot for a tour of Antelope Canyon for the last tour of the day.  We had both seen the canyon when we were there the previous Memorial Day with Rak and Sim - though that time it was jam-packed so this was a different experience.  There were hardly any people there so we got to experience the canyon more peacefully!  After the tour, we all went to dinner and then to bed since we had an early morning the next day.

The next morning, we took the two cars to the marina to drop off luggage and start checking in for the boat.  Phil's rental car had a flat so we quickly changed to the spare tire before leaving the hotel.  The boys stayed at the marina to get the boat orientation while the girls headed to Safeway to buy all the food and drinks for the trip.  $1400 and two very full cars later, they were back at the boat and we were loading up.  During the orientation, we noticed that the fuel hose for the speedboat was leaking and the music system was not working.  Both of those were remedied by the marina team in about an hour so we were on out way by about 11:30am, navigating by the lake map that Shawna had bought ahead of time.  

Keith Driving the Speedboat

And the Boys Getting the Hang of Navigating and Steering the Houseboat

We planned our first night in Padre Bay so we headed through the cut rather than the extra 2 hours through the narrows.  To do this, we had to drive the speedboat separately.  Phil drove the boat first - taking a while (as we all did) to learn not to over-correct the steering of such a large boat - we all seemed like drunk drivers weaving all over the place until we got the hang of things.  It took us about four hours to get to a sandy beach on the northwest corner of the Bay.  Mooring the boat at night is a bit of a production.  In general, the speedboat would go ahead to find a good spot.  We would then basically floor the houseboat and ram the shore so it would stick a little bit.  We then would dig two holes on the shore each side of the boat to bury the anchors - theoretically at 45 degree angles to the boat so that it would hold overnight - both from the wind and from the water rising. The great news is that the lake had risen almost 30 feet in the month before we arrived - and rose another 3.5 feet while we were there (from 3603 feet to 3605 feet, with Full Pool at 3700 feet).  We didn't always get the anchoring in the right spot out the gate and so we had to re-dig holes a few times.  One night, it was quite windy and some of the boys woke up repeatedly to check to make sure we had not floated away!

Anchoring Attempts

The second and third nights we spent in Oak Canyon at roughly mile 51 on the lake.  We stayed there a couple of nights and did speedboat trips during the day - to Rainbow Bridge Canyon, Forbidding Canyon, Secret Canyon, Twilight Canyon, Cathedral Canyon, and Mountain Sheep Canyon.  Taking the speedboat down these small canyons was awe-inspiring - each one of them were quite different than the others with much different rock formations. In Secret Canyon, we got to a point that was so narrow that we had to shut off the motor and paddle.  With only 3 inches until we hit the rock wall on each side, there was no room to turn around so we had to back paddle until we got to a wider opening - quite scary and thrilling at the same time!  Rainbow Bridge required us to moor and hike up a 1 mile trail which was an easy walk.  We lucked out on the timing as the Bridge was closed for 2 days due to the damage that high winds did to the jetty.  On the last night, we stayed at our favorite site on the northwest side of Rock Creek Bay.  We found a small cove and we were quite secluded - with a super swim hole, great views, and a nice mooring site that did not require lots of rope adjustment.

Anchoring Spots for the Night

During the day, when we drove between docking spots on the houseboat, we relaxed, read, ate, and sunned on the boat.  At some of our docking spots, we went for hikes around the area.  Although the first spot was not ideal as their were prickly thorns bushes all over the place.  At night, we played  Catch Phrase - boys vs girls.  Always fun watching the person left with the beeper trying to quickly get the clue out.

Canyon Adventures

The first night was rough sleeping for us b/c we didn't turn on the generator and thus no a/c.  Everyone else could operate their fans in their rooms but ours did not work without the generator.  So, we used the generator the next three nights and it was much more comfortable sleeping.  Having said that, a few people had to move from their beds to the main area on the sofas because we had a mouse problem that we spotted on the third night.  Once spotted, the mouse ran downstairs towards one of the bedrooms so Kim and Joyce were not chancing it and chose to sleep on the sofas instead.  Phil had read that you should put pie pans around the ropes that led to shore to prevent mice from getting on the boat on the ropes.  We had done this so apparently this mice was either already on the boat or he cleverly figured out how to maneuver the pie pans!

Scenes from the Lake

Cooking on the boat was a shared endeavor.  We had figured out all the meals before we left for the trip and Shawna had read that we should keep it simple so we did.  Breakfast was generally cereal, lunch was all sorts of sandwiches, and dinners were hamburgers, fish tacos, pasta, and grilled steak / chicken.  We had heaps of beer, wine and liquor - but were able to drink the last beer as we pulled into to the dock on the last day so that worked out perfectly.  We overdid it on the food, however, so we were eating about 3-4 snacks a day in addition to the meals!  We often joked about having first breakfast and then second breakfast, snack 1, 2 and 3, etc.  Needless to say, we all blew our diet on this trip.

Other Activities on the Lake

On the last day (Thursday), we took our time getting back to the marina by exploring a few more bays on the way back.  We checked in the boat quickly and packed up the cars - though we had to stop at Walmart to get the tire fixed before driving the 2.5 hours to Zion.

The Gang at Rainbow Bridge

Zion

Driving from Lake Powell to Zion, we entered the east entrance of the park and drove through to Springdale.  Just the drive into the park was amazing - and the 1-mile tunnel built in 1923 was incredible.  We checked into the hotel at about 8pm so immediately went across the road for dinner.  Unfortunately, Keith was not really feeling great so he headed back to the room while the others ate dinner.  The next day, we used the shuttle system to see Zion Canyon and do a couple of small hikes to the Evergreen Pools and Weeping Rock.  The park is absolutely beautiful and we definitely want to go back to do some more serious hikes.  Before driving back to Vegas, we grabbed lunch in town.

Zion Photos

Las Vegas
Keith and Phil dropped off the gang  and luggage at the Bellagio and then went to drop off the rental cars.  It appears that EZ rental car does not live up to its name - they would not cover the cost of the replaced tire so that cost us all $100.  However, that was cheaper than the insurance so at least we came out a bit ahead.  After showers for everyone, we went downstairs at the piano bar for some cocktails before heading out to Freemont Street for dinner and more drinks.  We walked around a bit, did some people watching, saw some of the bands, and then went back to the hotel.

Joanna and Shawna at Bellagio Piano Bar

Gang at Freemont Street

On Saturday, we both truly relaxed - we only left the room once during the day to go grab lunch with John and Jo - bumping into the others in the lobby.  The rest of the gang gambled and walked around during the day.  We met in the Botha/Antoine room at 5pm to drink the last couple of bottles of wine left from the houseboat and then headed out for dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant in town.  Following a delicious dinner, we went to the Linq - the new shopping district connecting the Flamingo to the High Roller.  We grabbed a few drinks - including some of the gang getting frozen drinks at the Frozen Zebra where you can buy the cup you want (ranging from normal style cups to cups shaped like legs) and then mix whatever combination of frozen daiquiri you want.  Kim was in heaven!  We people watched for a little while, getting a kick watching the kids walk over to the shuttle area to go to the Electric Daisy Carnival which was a Rave at the speedway.  We learned that the standard attire for this event was bright colored bras, shorty shorts and crazy leggings!  We went up the High Roller once it was dark -and saw a really cool view of the city.  We then stopped by Ghirardelli Chocolate for a couple of sundaes before heading back to the hotel b/c at this point, we really needed more food!

High Roller Photos

Sunday was just a travel day.  After packing up at the hotel, we caught our 11am flight home and were in the house by 3pm.  We had an amazing time.  The scenery was beautiful, we had a mix of relaxation, fun and adventure, the food and drinks were awesome and plentiful and of course, it's always fun traveling with the Raleigh gang.

Restaurants
Tacos and Tequila (Vegas, Luxor Hotel) - Standard Mexican fare but with a techno music scene.  We had chips and guac and then shared the Carne Asada.

Wendys - Stopped for a quick lunch on the way to Page.

Bonkers (Page, AZ) - Casual place.  Started the artichoke dip and bruschetta and then split the ribs.  

Spotted Dog Cafe (Springdale, UT) - Had salmon on risotto.  Very nice restaurant.  Food was tasty.

Oscars (Springdale, UT) - Cute place.  Had lunch here.  We shared the yummy fish tacos.

Hennessey's (Downtown Vegas) - After walking up and down Freemont Street, we settled on an Irish restaurant across from the Heart Attack Grill.  While eating our ribs, we were able to watch people weigh in outside Heart Attack to see if they got a free dinner for weighing more than 350 pounds. 

Cafe Bellagio (Vegas, Bellagio Hotel) - We had lunch here - shared a salad and sandwich.

Lotus of Siam (Vegas) - Joyce's favorite place is now a standard for our group.  We were able to get a 6pm reservation for the Saturday night.  We split Fried Chicken Dumplings and Nam Kao Tod appetizers, then had Seared Scallops with Chili Basil Leaves, Chicken Green Curry, Drunken Noodle Prawns, Sea Bass with Thai Papaya Salad, Crispy Duck with Chu-Chee, Nua Nam Tok.  Food is awesome!!

For more photos of the trip: