Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
This past weekend Jessica, Zoë and I joined my family for a houseboat trip on Lake Powell. Jessica and I are fresh off the plane from out most recent 16 day adventure to Africa, needless to say getting more time off work was a miracle… So we had to join the party a little late…and we had to drive some 600 miles to get there.
So, immediately after work on Tuesday, we embarked on our voyage through 4 states in the new Murano. Facing 12 hours of road, we decided on driving as far as we could that night, sleep for a few hours at a rest stop, and get to Lake powell early the next morning.
Somehow, we made the leg to Vegas in 4 hours with just enough time to catch 3 of the Bellagio’s fountain shows. A wonderful rest stop! In the 100 degree heat, we walked down the strip, navigating the masses with Zoë and finding a choice spot of grass along side the lake in front of Bellagio. 4 hours of Dr. Pepper and bottles of water and amazing water shows make for seemingly tiny bladders, so we took turns playing with the zoester and jetted into the casino for a quick freshen up. I quickly got entranced by the shiny lights and found myself aimlessly entering a $5 bill into a slot machine…2 pulls later and I was $10 richer! Bonus. Nothing to write home about, but enough to make me cash out and run to Jessica bragging that I gambled in the Bellagio and won….won a whole bag of chips worth of money for the road! Score!
Even at midnight, on a random Tuesday, the streets were packed with people.
And so we pressed on, traversing the American southwest at 80 mph in relative darkness. We made it as far as St. George Utah before the tooth picks holding my eyelids open snapped and we were forced to pull over and sleep in a wal-mart parking lot. Gotta love the evil-machines willingness to overcompensate for their greed by letting weary travelers sleep for a free night in their parking lot.
We awoke a few hours later to a Utah sunrise. A beautiful sight.
McDonalds in stomach, caffeine in handwe pressed on towards Page, AZ through my absolute most favorite part of the American roadscape.
The Murano was a champ, floating us along in stylish comfort all at 23 mpg!
The approach to Powell.
Water in sight and the first half of our journey was near it’s end.
Zoë smelling the freedom that awaited her furry little paws, bladder and who knows what else excites that dog, but she was stoked, to say the least.
My brother and sister picked us up on our speed boat for the week and ferried us off to my parents and nephews awaiting us aboard the S.S. Gatley. We packed so much crap for the trip that we weighed down our poor little speed boat and what took my bro and sis an hour previously, took us about 3 to get back. But not a stretch of road for as far as the eye could see, so even the slow boat to china was a welcome relief.
After a few cocktails, Jessica took a little nap and let Zoë take over on iceberg duty.
Lake Powell, in all it’s iron-rich soily goodness. All eco-political viewpoints aside, this is one hell of an awesome man-made lake.
Once we made it onboard or home for the next few days we quickly set out on our routine…margaritas, raft floating, rocket-shooting, bon-fire watching and BBQ eating…this was going to be a rough trip indeed.
My nephew Mikey checking out the digs at Rainbow Bridge…also serving as a water mule…children are grand.
Rainbow Bridge.
A typical evening while house boating in Lake Powell.
Our trip seemed to end almost as fast as it started, as soon as Jessica got into the rhythm of things, we found ourselves packing for the voyage home. Before we knew it, we were disembarking from the S.S. Gatley and were piling into the Murano for the stretch home.
I’m not sure why…but I love American desert Gas Stations…I always try to imagine what the life of the person who works inside must be like…and always seem to find the freshest beef jerkey on the planet…odd how that works out so far from anything remotely close to civilization.
Instead of heading back through Vegas for the ride home (read: doing anything to avoid Sunday traffic between Vegas and LA) we turned due south and aimed for Phoenix to visit Jessicas amazing aunt Deborah.
The red cliffs of southern Utah and Northern Arizona quickly gave way to the purples and oranges of the Sonoran desert and Jessica and I were treated to one of the most vivid sunsets we had ever seen.
Even at 80mph you can make out how glorious this way. If only my little iPhone camera had a tripod and time to take proper shots, I’d have something nicer to reflect this…but Jessica and I were late to one of the most incredible dinners of our lives.
Deborah was taking us (as a surprise to us) to Binkleys in Cave Creek (http://www.yelp.com/biz/binkleys-cave-creek ). An amazing (and expensive) restaurant that could easily qualify as 5-Star…and they didn’t even care that the nicest clothes I could muster up were a only-partially wrinkled T-Shirt, dirty shorts, and flip-flops…I love Phoenix.
This place was so nice it even had it’s own Wine Steward (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sommelier)…who led us all on a voyage of fermented grapes that still gets my mouth watering…Deborah is a saint for taking us here, we will never forget it. Talk about a rest stop from heaven!
Cherry Bombs – Molecular Gastronomy (cooking with nitrogen!!!!) these little babies exploded in your mouth (or in jessica’s case, all over her napkin when she missed her mouth)… but never fear the wait-staff was so amazing they instantly had another one from the chef ready to be enjoyed.
Some insanely amazing pork dish…served with the best wine I’ve ever had…that will remain top secret only to come out for special friends 
After dinner, we crashed for the night at Hotel Del Deborah and started for home at our leisure the next day.
Driving with a dog on a road trip is probably one of the cooler things I never really understood until Jessica and I adopted Zoë. She’s pretty rad, and doesn’t complain, but we try to make it a rule to stop every few hours to let her stretch and mark her little doggy territory…which in turn makes us stop, relax, and enjoy rest-stops along the way…something that really is becoming a lost art/appreciation.
While enjoying said stop, Zoë almost tangoed with, what I can only surmise was, a deadly caterpillar from outter-space. These mutant-large, neon, spiked, juice bugs were crawling all over the place…crazy! I wonder how they taste.
Cruising back home, we stopped alongside the Rock Tower – Desert Lookout along I-8. Met some weird people, some crazy rock dogs, and finished out the drive home.
… I’m not sure there is an explanation for this…which I think is the point…but still….oddly terrifying once the sun goes down…as it had here.
This was a whirlwind of a trip, over 1200 miles in less than 5 days. But Lake Powell truly is beyond words. A wonderful contrast and comparison to our time in the deserts of Namibia.
Be sure to check back soon, I’ll post some of the shots from the Nikon.
