I Survived Lake Powell, 2011

This weekend we headed to Lake Powell.

Alex and I went down on Thursday so we could get camp set up and have everything ready for people to come.

Let me tell you.

We had quite the adventure. 

Alex and I got to the lake later than expected.

Around 4 pm.

Kenny, Christina, and Jessika (Kenny's girlfriend) were coming that night so we wanted to have a beach ready for when they were there. 

We got out on the lake (I did awesome driving the boat by the way) and we headed to the first bay.

We started looking for a beach but since the lake rises about a foot a day there were no good beaches.

We looked all around that bay and by the time we decided to go to a different bay, a storm rolled in and the waves were huge.

I wish I would have taken a picture.

They were like ocean waves.

It was insane!

While driving, my pillow fell out. 

We went back and got it before it sunk but I cried.

I was so distressed.
I love my pillow! It helps me sleep so much better at night.

Plus I was a little stressed because we couldn't find a beach.

We get to the other bay and start looking.

We thought we found the perfect beach so we pull out our tent to start to set up.

Well, we try to drive a stake into the ground, and come to find out it was rock underneath the sand.

Horrible.

We threw the tent back in the boat and started to look again.

At that point, Kenny had called and said they were there.

But from the bay we were in it was about 45 minutes to the marina to pick them up so I hit panic mode.

We drove around for a second and found a camping spot that was pretty level.

It had weeds all over it but was the best we could find.

Alex and I unloaded the boat really fast and then he went to go pick up the siblings while I set up camp.

It was interesting. 

The wind was still blowing pretty strong, so as I got our tent up, it started to blow away.

I was running along the beach chasing our tent. 

People in the houseboats were staring at me.

Haha.

Wish it were video taped because I'm sure I looked like a fool.

Other than that I got the whole camp set up by the time they got back.

We had some hot dogs for dinner and just hung around.

We got up the next morning and Alex and I set up a shade for the beach.

After that, we headed to the marina to get Alex's parents.

After getting his parents, we got back and had some lunch.

We played on the jet skis and hung around the beach.

 

We were waiting until the evening to wakeboard, because the water wasn't very good.

We were also waiting for Cheryl, Jared, Cecilie, and the babies to come.

We got a call from Cheryl in the late afternoon that said they made it but the ranger wouldn't let them launch due to lightening and a storm that was coming. 

We could see the dark clouds around us but none of us got up or did anything.

We just sat under the shade chatting.

The wind started to blow, so Kenny, Jessika, Christina, Alex, Joyce and myself all had to stand up to hold onto the shade. 

It started to kind of move but we thought it would be okay because it had a cooler that probably weighed 150 pounds attached and rocks buried in the ground to help hold it.

All of us were holding different posts.

A gust of wind came and we all held on, but Christina looked behind us and noticed that mine and Alex's tent had lifted out of the pegs and started to slide on the ground.

She ran and jumped on it to save it.

As she was on the tent, this crazy gust of wind came out of now where, lifted the shade off the ground while lifting the five people who were holding it.

We were all literally body slammed to the ground.

I landed right on my back (worst place for me to land).

All I remember from that gust of wind, was being lifted up and seeing the giant white cooler flying through the air.

After that moment, it was like panic mode to save everything.

We saved all the food and threw it back in the cooler.

Christina was still holding the tent and the other little 2 man tent we had up with Kenny's air mattress in it had flown into the lake and a houseboat had fished it out.

After that it started to rain and was still kind of windy so we hid under the rain fly of the tent and held onto it.

 

Kenny and Jessika after the storm.

 

Examining Kenny's lip.

This didn't happen at the Lake.

See previous post.

All shocked after the storm.

If you click to see it bigger you can see all the girls hair sticking up because lightening was in the area.

 Sisterly love after the storm.

After the storm had passed, we started to clean up.

The shade seemed completely ruined, all the poles were bent.

We were all bruised and exhausted but we cleaned up camp, picked up the tent and tried to reconstruct the shade.

Alex, Kenny, Jessika, and Mark did a really good job of making a new shade from the old one!

We still had a shade which was nice especially in the Lake Powell heat.

Cheryl, Jared, Ceci, and the babies ended up getting a motel room because they couldn't make it to the camp safely that night.

We set up Mark and Joyce's tent (which thankfully wasn't set up during the storm) and played some bocce.

After that, the water was perfect so we set out to wakeboard!

The night was pretty uneventful after that.

We all went to bed hoping there would be no more storms in the middle of the night.

In the morning, Christina, Joyce, and I slept in, while Kenny, Jessika, Alex and Mark wakeboarded.

They said the water was awesome and they were out for a while.

When they got back, we started breakfast, and Jared, Cheryl, Ceci, and the babies showed up.

It was gorgeous out.

We had breakfast, took the babies on jet ski rides, chatted and snacked.

We then went out on Cheryl and Jareds boat, and surfed.

I love surfing and Jared's boat throws off a great wake on the goofy side so I surfed forever.

So fun.

The babies fell asleep on the boat ride.

But woke up in time to play in the water.

 Joshie playing with his Mom in the water.

Tyler just hanging out.

After surfing and swimming, we came back to the camp for lunch.

We had lunch and hung around chatting.

We noticed clouds coming in again like they did the day before but figured it could never be as bad as it was the day before.

We were leaving that night but no one really was packing up.

Finally Christina grabbed her stuff and put it in the boat which got everyone moving.

I was in the tent folding sleeping bags and air mattresses. 

Jessika got all the dry stuff in the hull of the boat because it started to rain.

It started to rain harder and harder. 

I have no idea what was going on outside of the tent because I was still cleaning up.

Cheryl asked if she could bring the babies to our tent so we could clean the other one up.

A few seconds after they said that, my feet were swept out from under me because a big gust of wind blew the tent and caused it to start sliding.

The tent collapsed on me and I totally panicked.

I didn't know Alex was just outside of it at the time and in my head I was in total panic mode.

I also thought Cheryl was walking over with her babies which scared me!

When I finally got out of the tent, everything was fine.

Cheryl, the babies, and her mom were in the other tent which collapsed on them, but they stayed in their to keep the babies safe.

I saw Jared in the water holding his boat that had moved.

And Kenny was seeking shelter in Alex's parents boat.

Once again, panic mode.

We were being pelted by rain that killed when it hurt.

I freaked because my camera and Alex's (new) phone were in a chair.

We found them (put them in rice that night and now they work).

We were all done with the storms and started cleaning up.

The houseboat next to us, told Cheryl to bring the babies over while we cleaned up.

Super nice people.

Everything was soaking wet and sandy so we washed everything in the lake before putting it in the boat.

We got everything loaded up and we headed out.

It was the most insane trip I've ever had at Lake Powell.

Motto of the trip: I survived Lake Powell 2011.

But it was also so much fun.

Even with the crazy weather, we love Lake Powell and would go back every weekend if we could.

But a houseboat is sounding better every single day.