Lakes and Canyons and Stuff
Trip Start
Mar 17, 2008
1
11
21
Trip End
Ongoing
Lake Powell,
Utah,
United States
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
As a side note I do realise that this blog makes me sound like a veritable alcoholic. It's simply not true. I'm a social drinker who has been engaging in a variety of social engagements of late. Thats all.
Back to the trip and we left the snow and the canyons behind and entered back into the mountainous desert. It was beautiful. The scenery flew by and we eventually pulled off the highway and toward the lake. The lake itself was man-made (as far as I gather) and is the result of a massive dam system which provides electricity and water to the surrounding areas. As such the lake is deep and fills gorges and canyons in such a way that you can explore the narrow crevasses by boat. So thats exactly what we did. We forked out a significant wad of cash and hired a speed boat. After a brief safety talk we were handed the keys and sent on our way to break innumerable sea faring traditions and rules. We spent the day driving deep into the narrow gaps in the cliffs and exploring some of the empty islands which scattered the lake. Nancy and I decided to take a dive into the lake in one gorge where the water was still and crystal clear. Upon leaping from the boat we realised that the abnormally cold weather of the Grand Canyon had also visited the lake. The temperature of the water was cold enough that I felt chest close up and other parts of my anatomy retract to a point where I could technically be considered a woman. Enough said.
After our aquatic adventures we set out to pitch our tent on one of the expansive beaches bordering the lake. We found an appropriately windy spot close to the shoreline and proceeded to set up our tent. Upon completing a rather dodgy erection of the tent we positioned the car to block the ever increasing winds. At one point the wind literally pinned one side of the tent to the floor bending the poles yoga style to the ground. We cursed the people up the beach whose tents were sheltered by their house sized Caravans while we huddled in our barely standing shelter drinking possibly the worst beer in the history of man... 'Miller High Life'. You would have to be high to appreciate it.
Later the wind dissipated and we were able to stand outside and appreciate the beautiful sunset which cast a pinky red tinge accross the white cliff faces which bordered the lake. The night progressed in usual fashion with my friends introducing me to a variety of new drinking games... interesting isn't it that they come up with games to appease their guilt for consuming alcohol in excessive quantities. We watch cricket.
The next morning, with the catastrophic roar of Ryan's snoring providing inspirational backing music, Nancy and I woke and watch the sun rise over the lake. It was incredible. Adding to the entertainment was a lone kayak which had somehow drifted from the adjacent camps shores and was on its way toward the horizon. Thats karma bitches. Anyone who has to drive an "RV" or massive house sized campervan onto a beach to "camp" kind of deserves it. To be honest I really wanted to go and wake them up and inform them of their independently minded sea faring vessel but we weren't really sure if it had drifted from a campsite further up. So we just took in the sunrise and contemplated the fate of the lone kayak.
The reason for the kayaks adventure was becoming more apparent as the water level crept slowly toward the tent. This is a lake and the water level had increased to the point where our comfortable meter and a half for the water had decreased to a ten centimeter one. We contemplated whether it was a divine force, a spiritual sign or an amazing geographical anomaly. I decided to blame George Bush.
We bid our final road trip destination adieu and hit the road, destination San Diego, California. It was relatively uneventful journey except for a couple of exceptionally good pee breaks and Jackie getting pulled over (again) for allegedly "speeding". Had she been going that far over the limit in Australia she would have lost her license. Instead we met another very friendly cop who rounded down the penalty to stop it from being considered a criminal offense and sent us on our way. Lets just say she was doing 'slightly' over the limit.
Next stop SD.
