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Our family in Utah in June |
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The cousins in
Illinois in June |
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| The main part of our vacation was at Lake
Powell. Many people say they've never heard of it. Briefly -
it's the upper part of the Grand Canyon - dammed off. No
kidding. It has more coastline than the continental U.S. No
kidding. You can rent a houseboat and drive for weeks without
seeing it all. That though would cost a lot of money. And
there ain't no gas stations out there. |
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What there is out there, if you go far
enough, is peace and quiet. Basically a houseboat buys you an
escape to a quiet cove where there are no other people. Our first
few nights we spent at the end of the Escalante River arm. In the
past we've stayed further up the arm, but this year the water is 50 feet
down. Grandpa's boat is in the foreground. |
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| In your private cove you can swim
and float all you want. It doesn't matter how hot it is, you can
always jump in the water. And lack of people is important for good
skiing water. This is the best you'll ever find. Todd got
his ski fixed (after many years of the boot being broken), and had a
good time. |
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| He also had fun taking
pictures. This is his brother Chet on a wakeboard. As you
can see, it looks pretty impressive when you get some air. It
doesn't look so impressive when you don't land right. This picture
illustrates well a face-first landing. (Click on the picture for
an enlarged closeup :-)). |
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| Grandma and Grandpa led the troop
(which included our family, Todd's sister, and Todd's brother and his
wife). Grandma gives Luke a toweling-off after a swim. On
the right, Grandpa takes to some smooth water! |
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Here's a couple of beautiful scenery shots. Yes, we're skiing with
backdrops like that on the left. Every day. Sometimes it
makes it hard to concentrate on your skiing. Above is our cove for
the second half of the trip. |
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| The houseboat is a nice place to retreat away
from the sun and heat. Kelli and Allison hold Luke and Mark.
We're not sure what occasioned them sitting still here. |
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Mark liked to go with his shirt off.
And he did as much as he could get away with. |
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| Here's another view of our houseboat in this
cove. |
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The ladies went swimming here - Mark is with
Aunt Allison. Luke's probably off cliff-diving somewhere. |
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| The houseboat had a slide. Here are two
styles. Chet pioneers the feet-first approach. |
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Todd tries the head first way. The
picture certainly looks like it could have been entirely fixed though. |
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| Kelli and Mark loved the boat rides. |
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When we got home we remembered that Luke
needs a passport renewal already. Digital camera means free
passport pictures. Doesn't he look good? (Click on the picture for
a big version!) |
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Might as well keep going! See what we saw in the
"Other Utah!" |
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