Lake Powell

This is our second trip to Wahweap Campground on Lake Powell near Page, AZ. The campground is actually about 50 feet from the Utah boarder. I put pictures on the blog last year, so I didn't know what I was going to do this time. Well, first off, we took our "official business card picture." As you might notice, it is also our new blog picture you see every time you open our blog. We ended up getting in the very same site at the campground that we had last year. It has a great view. We walked down to the marina where they rent the houseboats. There just happened to be an open house so we got to tramp around all of the houseboats they rent out. They are really something! Some of them even have hot tubs on the top deck!
Well, needless to say, we got hooked on them. We took this picture so the kids could see the one we are going to rent in two years. We told them we would rent the houseboat if they would pay all of the other expenses. We haven't heard from all of them, but so far, the response has been pretty enthusiastic. We are so excited, we have even talked to some of our friends about renting one next summer. So, if any of you reading this blog want to join us, let us know!

I just had to show you some of the wildlife. There are a lot of jackrabbits all over the campground. And when you walk the many trails around the area (which we did a lot of), there are even more. There are also rustlings in a lot of bushes as you pass and lizards running everywhere.

One day we had been walking and came to an overlook. Terry saw what he thought was a little rubber raft floating out in the lake. He didn't think there was anyone in it. It was a long ways off, but it looked like it might float to the bank at some point, so we decided to go on an adventure and see if we could get closer to it. You can't see it in this picture, but by the time we got very close to the water, it had gone around the point of these mountains.

We had to "shinny" up slick sides of limestone rock. (This wasn't the biggest one, but it was the only one I took a picture of.)We had to go around or through several of these crevices.
We thought for sure it had gone into this cove, but it hadn't. So, we climbed clear to the bottom of it and started our trek around the side of the lake, close to the water. That way, if we fell, we would only get wet. (I can't believe Terry was agreeable to keep going. I guess we had gone this far--he didn't want to give up!)
After we had walked about a half mile around the mountain, we finally spotted "the raft." It ended up being a large ice chest. It was brand new, still in the box. Except that the bottom of the box was gone because it had disintegrated as it got wet. The rope handles were still inside in a plastic bag.
We put the handles on and decided maybe we could, together, get it back to camp. It was a little crazy because most of the ledges we had walked around the lake on were only wide enough for one person to walk on. We considered jumping in the lake, hanging onto the cooler, and paddling back to camp. That may had been a valid alternative if it has been any hotter!
We finally make it around the lake and headed up the mountain, taking several "rest stops" along the way. As we got near one of the overlooks, there was a couple there who had driven up in their sporty little convertible. They watched us carrying this huge ice chest up the hill. I am sure they must have thought we were crazy or terribly hungry! Actually, when we got to the top, they asked us if we needed a ride. We told them our story and then I am sure they knew we were crazy. But, they did offer to put the top down on their little convertible and carry our "treasure" to the campground. We were pretty pooped, so we really appreciated that. They were from New Hampshire and when we told them from Idaho, they probably decided there were some strange people in that part of the country! We reported our find to the Ranger Station, gave them our phone number, and told them we were leaving Monday. We haven't heard from them, so I guess we are probably one ice chest richer!

Yesterday we went to the Glen Canyon Dam and took a tour inside the dam. It is the third highest dam in the United States and was finished in 1960. It was built for the purpose of controlling the waters of the Colorado River, along with about ten other dams, and for electricity. Because of it, we have Lake Powell.
We took an elevator from the Visitor's Center (on the left) down to the top of the dam and walked along the top. It took a little encouraging to get Terry to look over the edge, but he did.
This is looking straight down from the top on the river side of the dam. The eight generators are in the buildings at the bottom. The green grass (which is the size of two football fields) was suggested to be planted in the dirt and gravel that was there, by first lady Lady Bird Johnson. Our guide said that it took a woman's idea to create a job for a man to mow the grass once a week.
This is a picture looking straight up from the bottom of the dam to the visitor's center. We rode in an elevator that took over a minute to get to the bottom. That is quite a while to be in a moving elevator.
This is the bridge that spans the Colorado. They had to build it before they could start the dam. At the time, it was the longest expansion bridge that had been built. What a story! There were 18 men who lost their lives during the eight years of construction of Glen Canyon Dam.

Well, we leave tomorrow for St. George, UT. We are scheduled to stay there for two weeks, but that will all depend on Sarah. A week ago she spent the night in the hospital in Salt Lake City trying to have their baby, but her labor stopped and they sent her home. She is not due for another three weeks, so we will see how long we stay at St. George.