Boating is never......Typical...or Mabey it is...but it's Lake Powell right? (Second Title: Way To Be on Top of it....)

For anyone that has a boat,
or goes boating, knows that with toys comes problems. My family has been boating since i was basically a baby, and even though we haven't had a boat my whole life, we've had one off and on more recently than not.

The Last boat we had was a Cruiser, 28 foot, with a cabin and everything else. Heat, A/C, Fridge, Bathroom, everything anyone would need. It wasn't at all a houseboat, but you could essentially live on it. I've always wanted to go on a house boat, but i just haven't ever had the chance. If anyone wants to invite me, i'd be more than willing to accompany them :)

So the boat we have now, well actually it's not even ours, is a 24 foot cobalt that my uncle bought from an old neighbor/friend of ours. The main difference is it being an open Bow. (is that the right form/word for bow?) The main problem with an open bow is the non-escape from the sun, whereas with a cabin boat, you can escape it. We knew this would be different and maybe a problem, but we were ready to go for it anyway.

So as i stated before, Boating and toys=something usually goes wrong. We decided to leave on Thursday July 16th, in order to get down to Powell and maybe even go out on Thursday night. Well of course timing is everything, so by the time we got to Powell and checked into the hotel (somehow they had "canceled" our reservations...Problem #1, but easily overcome), the sun was already going down. We decided that since we already had paid for the slip for Thursday night, we would hurry and launch the boat and get it in. So we back the boat down the ramp, get it in the water, and try to start it....Dead. Absolutely NO battery power at all. FUN! So there we are at about 8:30, the ramp closes at 9, it's getting dark, other boats are pulling off, and ours is dead in the water, at least it was still on the trailer. So my uncle pulls a battery charger/jumper cable thing out, and hooks it up to the battery. We let it sit for a second, and....nothing. The batteries were that dead. Apparently somehow the radio, vhf not like music radio, had been left on thus draining the batteries. Completely no juice left. (Way to be on top of it us.....) So my Dad walks over to another boat that was just launching as well and asked if they could help jump us....jumping a boat is NOT easy either. PLUS, the guy was pulling the trailer out meaning his wife was in the boat to help us....since she really didn't know how to drive the boat that well, it was even more fun to pull her up along side us. I jump into her boat, (Crawling over carts and cases and boxes and boxes of alcohol...seriously were they there to boat or to get drunk? Couldn't they just as well gotten drunk at home? Somehow i don't think that Drinking and boating go too well together....some people.....)...to catch it and hook up the cables, and we let it sit for a second, still, nothing. So i then proceed into her boat and rev the engine up a bit in neutral, since she didn't know how to do it, and BAM it started. FINALLY. So after like an hour after putting the boat in the water, we got it started.

We back off the trailer, my Dad pulls it out, and goes to park it. Well....now it's dark, so we need to turn the lights on right? Guess what, they don't work! MORE FUN!! We figured out that the red/green light bulb was burned out. Then the spot light didn't work, but that was the cigarette lighter adapter thing. Anyway, we were basically floating in the dark. But we had a mag light, so it was ok!. So we decide to try and find where the slips are (this is the first time we've ever been to Wawheap (Sp?) Marina so we had no idea where they were or where to go. You'd think it'd be easy, but in the dark, it was extremely difficult. We motored around but got into shallow water in the bay and decided almost to just dock by the ramps. We pull up and there's another boat hanging out who was kind enough to lead us over to the slips. So we dock the boat for the night, and head up to our hotel room. Day 1 down.

Day 2. We woke up kinda late if i remember and went down to the restaurant for a the supposed "Breakfast to die for" as Jenn had been told. I didn't think it was that great, i mean not bad or anything, but definitely not to die for. After Breakfast we went out to finally go boating, exciting right? Well we get on the boat, and get everything ready to go, thinking all is fine. The Boat starts fine, sounds fine, it's a wonderful nice day out, problems ended last night right? Wrong. So we pull open the engine compartment, for something random, and notice water leaking from somewhere in the engine compartment. So we're thinking a broken hose or something since it was lake water. So after trying to figure it out for like half hour, then going to the CRAPPIEST Marina parts store EVER, (Good Job being crappy store) and calling the mechanic who....TUNED UP the boat...Way to be on top of it Mechanic......we decided that it would be ok to continue the trip. Even knowing there were problems with the boat, having been informed they weren't imminent, we didn't actually have any problems the rest of the time. It seems though, every time i can remember, there always has to be SOMEthing wrong with the boat/snowmobiles (which we no longer have), etc.

So even though the boating went fine, other things just....yeah...something, there's always something right?

The next day we went to breakfast again at the hotel restaurant. We were expecting about the same service as the day before, but did we get it? what do you think? This is about how it went:

Server: "Hi how are you guys today, what can i get for you?"

US: We order. I get the buffet (Smartest move any of us made probably on the trip), and get my food.

40 minutes later: Uncle Dan "Lets ask this other kid to see where our food is...."

our Waiter to Jenn: "Ok. here is your egg, and unfortunately we didn't have any English Muffins, so i made the liberty of making you wheat toast..."

Jenn: "Umm...ok. But i wanted White Toast, and do i get the rest of the food i ordered? I ordered the "Powell Special" (equivalent to like a grand slam at Denny's), and i wanted scrambled eggs...."

Waiter leaves, and then takes 9 years to come back. Mean while, i get up and get Jenn some White Toast from the buffet, and my sister eggs with cheese in them since the bus boy somehow thought she was done with a full plate of eggs, and took them away.

Way to be on top of it Hotel Restaurant, that was supposedly "To DIE FOR..." Yeah we almost died waiting and in hunger. Good job. High Five!!

In the end we didn't pay for my buffet because the waiter realized what a crap job he did, but i guess it happens. It's amazing what you pay for at a Vacation Destination. For example: $54 for items for lunch, including a $12 tube of Sunscreen, 2 bags of ice at $4.50 each, and other food items. it was pretty much ridiculous. But you go on vacation, and you have to pay what they ask. Oh well.Yes, this was a PB & J that was part of a $54 lunch ticket. Although the food was only like probably $10 of it. Good times. Oh this is also where the waitress informed us "Oh yeah, they have a full on restaurant there and everything." The restaurant was.....a store, and an ice cream/snack bar thing.

That night we docked the boat and decided to go into Page for dinner. For some reason we were all craving Taco Bell, easy & fast right? WRONG!!! We pull up to the T Bell, and walk up to the door, which was locked. Odd. The hours on the door say they were open until 9 (SERIOUSLY? 9!?!?!) It was like 8:45, so we should have been fine right? There are a TON of people inside, so my Dad knocks on the door and someone lets him in. We walk in, and it's just a disaster, it looks like no one has cleaned for like 2 weeks. Food on the tables, garbage everywhere, and PEOPLE everywhere. WHAT THE HECK is going on?!?! We walk up to the counter and this is the response we get:

Lady at the counter: "Hi. So, if you want to order you can, but it'll be a 40-45 minute wait on your food."
Dad: "What....ok....umm bye"

Way to be on top of it Taco Freakin BELL!!

HOW!!! At TACO BELL!?!?!?!?!? Wow....FUN! It turns out, i Think at least, it was a Customer Appreciation day or something, so they were way backed up. Whatever I guess. So we went to Denny's, where we actually ate food and had good service. I guess there were SOME snags at Denny's. The 3 girls ordered Chicken Noodle soup, easy right? No, they were out. Way to be on top of it Denny's. Ok they did fine in the end, but i'm sure the timing (after trying to even get INTO the Denny's parking lot alone...was time consuming) would have been about the same. Although, i do love the new Chicken Burritos from Taco Bell. .89 cents, awesome burrito. No complaints there. But i'll never wait 45 minutes for one. No way.

On top of ALL this, Kelly had a pretty fun Friday night. We're on our way to Paige, page? not sure how to spell it. Anyway, on our way to paige Kelly gets a voice message, or gets a call, or something. No, Uncle Dan got a call from ADT saying that Kelly's garage alarm had been tripped. So to make things even more fun she had to call them back and see what was going on. It turned out to be her roommates sister, whom Kelly was unaware was staying at the house, trying to get in. The great thing, about everyone one of the people we "left" at home knew about it and was basically on their way. Ben, my Mom, Marge, i'm sure her Home Teachers, Bishop, The Pool man, Easter Bunny and probably a few random people were informed too. We love Kelly :) At least she doesn't have to worry about being left in the dark.

Really, Way to be on top of it ADT. That's what we have security for right? At least that's comforting.

I think the absolute Highlight of the trip was my Dad. Apparently a few weeks prior to this trip he was with his scouts or whatever and trying to order food at subway. He says this was about how the conversation went at the register:

Dad: "Ok so that's 12 subs, $5 a piece, so $60 right? Also can we get two bottles of water?
Guy behind Counter: "Total seven tuuoo" "water you want?"
Dad: "Brent, please speak to him in SPANISH and tell him we want two bottles of water"
Brent: "Dad, that's rude"
Dad: "Tell him it's RUDE to not Speak MY LANGUAGE when he lives in MY COUNTRY"

Ok, i don't know if the last line was true, but i wouldn't doubt it. The funny thing is he's had this mass run in with people not being able to speak english, and is getting pretty fed up. Every chance we had this trip he made sure we knew. It's a good thing the guy at the Restaurant (please see above) spoke English, or he probably would have thrown him out the window. We love my Dad too :) ( LEARN SPANISH DAD!!)

So either my Dad and the rest of America needs to learn Spanish, or everyone needs to learn English...since there are more than Spanish speakers flooding our country. Way to be on top of it immigrants.

I can't think of any other incidents that happened to us while we were there. I'm pretty sure there were some, like certain couples not getting along, but that happens :), and i can't think of any at this moment, and this post has been in the making for like a month or more. If any of you reading this can remember, let me know k? Despite all the problems and crap we had to go through, Lake Powell was just as awesome as it could have been. It was amazing weather almost the whole time, the water was amazing and clear, and warm. The sun was amazing, i got a nice tan while everyone else got burned. I love my awesome tanning ability :)

This Is why lake Powell was Worth it. Oh, so worth it

The rainbow bridge. I haven't ever been here, that i can remember. Supposedly i came when i was a little kid, and back in the day you could basically swim underneath it. You have to walk 2/3 a mile to get there now, and when it's 105 degrees....it's almost not worth, but still pretty Cool. Pretty sure we all got heat stroke on Saturday afternoon. everyone started getting grumpy and no one wanted to do anything, so we found a cove and jumped in to cool off. Happened more than once, and i don't think i've drank so much water in my life.

Yeah, We were Definitely on Top of it this trip.....Ok maybe less than NOT AT ALL. But hey, you know, after like what, 20 years?, boating, you think we'd have learned. But it's been awhile since we had a boat, and we are re learning :)