August 14, 2020
Whew we did a lot of driving this summer! I don’t think we’ve driven as much in the last decade as we drove this year. We needed to get down to AZ so Ari could get a Covid test before she could move into her dorm at ASU. So me, Ari and Lelu caravanned in Ari’s car and my car down to AZ. I am not a fan of road trips and the drive to AZ feels loooong. It’s definitely due to all of the tiny little towns and the varying speed limits, plus following all of the boats into Page that makes the drive feel unbearable. I have a need for speed. I discovered after a quick trip to CA that if I can go 90 on I-15 I don’t mind a road trip as much. The girls made hair appointments at a salon that Lelu has wanted to go to for the last few years (that she follows on Insta) and she decided to get closer to her natural hair color while Ari tried to remove the purple from her hair and go lighter. While they spent the day getting beautiful, I spent the day getting filled with adorableness with the Sorenson kids and Shel. I felt privileged to help Grant with homework and paint GiGi’s itty bitty toenails. Their hair took about 6 hours but I had extreme hair envy. The time was worth it, in my opinion. As a side note, apparently, spending quality time with those sweethearts, I slept much much better than I have in probably 3 years. There is something very stress reducing about hanging out with little kids that I’m not responsible for.
August 18, 2020, we got back in the car and headed to Page to meet our boys, Kenna, the Martins and Master D’s friend Abby for a quick four day adventure to Lake Powell.
Abby is an amazing photographer and I have some very cool photos that she took of our trip. I’m writing this in March 2021, so my memory is not great about our trip and the details. I’ve been asking the kids about memories of the trip. We invited the Martin’s along since they have spent a lot of time at Lake Powell plus they just bought a new boat and honestly boating is not our life blood like some people out there on the lake. We are learning and there’s a lot to learn. I am sure between Master D, Jake and TT – we’ll be considered master boaters before long since they love it so much.
Here’s a few memories: 1. We couldn’t leave the dock for about 3 hours because everything was broken on the boat and they were fixing it. We rented a boat from Antelope Point and it was very mediocre to say the least. 2. It took about 6 hours to drive the boat out to a good spot near dangling rope. 3. We found a good beach where there was shade from the cliffs in the afternoon. 3. We shared it with a scout group? or the lost boys? it was about 12 teen boys in a tent with one small boat. We didn’t see much of them but they had built a weird phallus shaped sand idol in between our camping spots before we arrived. It’s possible our arrival stopped some of their worship of that idol. 4. The kids and B got up early everyday and either took one boat or both boats out to wake board on the glass. 5. I read an entire book called “Lady in the Lake” that wasn’t very good but it seemed like it’d be appropriate for the trip. 6. We had far too many snacks and didn’t even come close to eating them all. 7. TT did a back flip on a wakeboard and landed it but it didn’t get caught on video. 8. Kenna was able to sit down on the surf board and then stand back up without a rope and they did catch it on video. 9. Tube wars was ‘fun’ until Ari very nicely pulled Abby back onto the tube but then accidentally kicked Abby directly in the nose with her foot when she turned back around to get back into her seat – giving Abby a bloody nose, making Ari feel terrible and ending tube wars. 10. We sold some gas to a group in a very nasty boat that looked like they’d been out there since about 1972 and was running out of gas in a very distant part of Lake Powell for $40. 11. We were parked close enough to Dangling Rope that we could just drive there and go fill up our boats with gas. 12. There were some intense and uncomfortable games of scum played. 13. Milo was a very cute and fun distraction. 14. There were these really nasty fish around our boat that bit the nipple of every single young man and made them bleed. Good thing us girls had ours covered! 15. The best thing about Lake Powell, in my opinion, is there is no service whatsoever so everyone engages with each other or has their face in a book.
The Martins were great to go with and we loved having Kenna and Abby along. I’m not sure we’ll go again to Lake Powell. It doesn’t seem worth it to me to rent a very expensive mediocre boat. It was a fun time but we’ve found another Lake we like better where it’s not over 100 everyday but I will never say never. Me, B and Ari headed south again to drop Ari off at college.