We were happy to wake up to the cool morning air. Knowing it was going to get hot quick we sat outside to eat our breakfast enjoying the view and the comfortable temperature. The sites here were staggered and ours was situated with a view of Lake Powell a short distance away, only obstructed by a few small trees. One spot over and our view would have been of the campsite’s restroom building.
The only thing on our agenda today was to get to the beach on the lake. We drove over to the parking lot and were somewhat confused by the sign posted stating it was a ¾ mile walk to the beach. From where we stood in the lot it wasn’t obvious where the path would lead over the hill but we could see the water and it did not look as far away as stated. Since the sign said such a distance I was thinking at the bottom it must curve and take us down a ways. Ella was insistent that the sign was wrong and she could not understand how a posted sign could have a mistake. To my surprise and Ella’s glee the sign was actually incorrect. I was very thankful Ella was right since the path was in full sun. The distance was probably closer to ¼ of a mile.
Up until this point we had only seen Lake Powell from a distance. Standing on the beach with those phenomenal rock formations directly ahead and the clear blue water at our toes was unlike anything we had ever experienced before. Adam and I kept remarking how this location felt like we were in Europe and all the foreign languages being spoken around us contributed too.
We all put on our water shoes since the lake bottom was covered in rocks. After claiming our spot we went right into the water together. It was the perfect temperature, with a slight, refreshing chill.
The girls were fascinated by all the rocks and it didn’t take them long to start a collection. It was very cool to see the many different types, sizes, shapes and colors. I started to help them with their gathering too. When I would feel a rock under my foot I would either kick it in to shore or reach down to grab it depending on the depth where I found it. They decided to build a pool with their collection and started forming a large oval shape at the water’s edge.
At one point a couple sat right by us with their adorable “Casey” dog (Adam’s childhood dog was named Casey and this cutie was of very similar size and color even though it was a Shih Tzu and not a Lhasa Apso). We watched as they took the dog right into the lake.
After the dogs initial shock to the water, it was the cutest thing to watch it snuggling up and nestling it’s head on the owner’s shoulder while the water cooled his fur. They had a little sling that was between their chairs where the dog sat when it wasn’t in the water. He would lay his head over the side which made us really miss Tyson as that is how he sits in his dog bed all the time. Throughout the day lots of dogs came with their owners and went swimming and we loved seeing each and every one of them.
There were also two girls seemingly in their 20’s sitting by us. They each had a long float and relaxed on them when they were in the water. Toward the middle of our time there they packed up to leave. Before they did, they came up to me to ask if I thought the girls would enjoy having one of their floats. (They did the same for another group of kids with their other one. There are good people in this world!) I thanked them and said for sure. The girls couldn’t believe it when I told them and they ran over to thank them too. When this all happened Adam had run to the campsite store to get firewood and charcoal so we could make dinner that night. While he was gone he also checked to see if our key to the pool would work. The girls and I all shared the float and were having a great time on it all together.
We couldn’t wait to surprise Adam when he got back and he couldn’t wait to tell us we could still use the pools. I happily gave up my spot on the float so Adam could have a turn floating around with the girls.
After spending almost the entire day on the lake we decided to switch to the pool. Right away the girls made friends with a sweet little girl who was from Cancun, Mexico. Her family was taking a lake cruise to see the fireworks so she had to leave shortly after they met. Not long after she left, they met another adorable little friend from California. After playing with their new friend for a bit her brother started playing with them too. They were all having a blast together and their father decided to start taking underwater pictures and videos of them all, making this time together even more fun.
After a decent amount of time with this nice family they headed out of the pool to continue their night. We still felt like we wanted to stay. The girls continued to swim about in the pool and Adam and I were swimming some too. It was so hot (the car read 104 at 4:30 when we switched from the lake to the pool) you had to either be in the shade or water to bear it. After we all started to feel waterlogged we decided to soak in the view of Lake Powell one more time. There were benches lining the fence around the pool and we sat on one together for awhile just looking out.
We finally made our way back to the RV. We knew there would be fireworks nearby later on but Adam thought we may be able to see them from our site. We talked about it and agreed we were ok if we couldn’t see it after all. The thought of sitting in the traffic to get back afterwards did not interest either of us. Our site here had a grill that would cook with charcoal and also had a firepit. Earlier, Adam decided not to buy the self starting charcoal because we had our firestarter packs (a product we learned about from Shark Tank) that he knew worked with charcoal. Except when he started to get the grill ready he realized the firestarter was not designed to work in this kind of charcoal grill. He tried for a really long time to get the coals hot. While we waited the girls sat outside and played Yahtzee together. Adam ended up being somewhat successful and started the chicken on the grill and then finished it on the firepit. It ended up slightly overdone because of this but after such a nice and relaxing day it didn’t bother any of us. After we finished eating we had a good laugh as the charcoals were finally red hot and ready.
Around 9:30 we started to hear the fireworks. We could somewhat see them in the distance, but it wasn’t really a great spot for viewing as there was a hill that blocked them. Since we had the fire going we roasted marshmallows for dessert and made our first s’mores (at our own campsite unlike yesterday’s crashing of the tour group) for this trip. I think this was the longest amount of time we ever spent in the water on a single day. Other than really missing our neighbors at home who we normally love to spend this holiday with, it was a wonderful day. This day of total relaxation was much needed and thoroughly enjoyed.
