Planet Utah

We farewell Moab goodbye and head south ( I think ) . The destination is Lake Powell . I’d never heard of Lake Powell until Emma booked this holiday. Unfortunately I had to do some homework to find out a little more about this place . I hate having to dig stuff up to explain our experiences but it’s important to gain perspective. Lake Powell was formed when the Colorado river was dammed to create the Glen Canyon Dam in 1963 . This event backed up the Colorado river , engulfing some 96 canyons , producing 2000 miles of coastline ( more than the entire West Coast of the US!) and the 2nd biggest man made lake in the US . Lake Meade at the other end of the Colorado river is even bigger . This is typical ‘ can do ‘ US style of infrastructure. Would Australia do this with such an incredible geographic icon ? I’m not sure , even though we did dam the Snowy river . It’s the US way . If it can be done ,consider it done . You only have to think Las Vegas , a city built on sin in the middle of a desert .

The drive south stretches out of the undulating canyons of Moab into vast stretches of flat scrubby desert . The outside temperature hovers at 40 Celsius . We push along the state line separating Utah and Arizona . The roads are pretty good out here but you notice the lack of overtake lanes on the Arizona side . In fact there isn’t any , at least not where we are driving . There are times when you have to sit patiently 6-8 cars back waiting for your chance to overtake a truck or RV . Along the roadside in the middle of nowhere bob up small tents with tables occupied by Native American Indians selling jewellery and stones . Unfortunately we rarely if ever carry cash , so we kept on driving with some regret . It’s an incredible part of the world . What’s even more mind boggling is people live out here in small towns on straight roads with nothing around , and I mean fuck all .. It’s an oddity that’s hard to fathom . You think of your kids or their kids and wonder what they could do out here . In my desperation to relieve myself we find a large groceries / furniture /everything store to find comfort . It was here I found the kids , the local kids . They were all working , pushing trolleys ,scanning goods and sweeping floors . Good on them but , shit if they ain’t working here what else are they doing out here in the 40+ degree desert ? Eventually we drive into Monument Valley completely unplanned .

We are extremely lucky to have stumbled into Monument Valley . It was a considered location on our original itinerary but we deemed it too far out of our way . It’s lucky we suck at reading maps . It was a brief stop of only a few minutes . The rock site fatigue of our boys meant that the whinging was painful enough . We stopped , we saw , we kept grinding through the desert . To be honest , I think Arches National Park may have it covered but the backdrop of this place against the flat surroundings gives it a sense of grandness . I drive off with a smile on my face , reminiscing all those roadrunner and coyote cartoons in printed in my childhood memories .

Lake Powell . The signs tell us we are close but gee you can’t see it . We dissect through Page , the main town for the lake . It’s unremarkable , but there’s quite a few restaurants and hotels . Finally , we reach Glen Canyon Dam and all is revealed . It’s as if the earth has split and filled with a deep violet blue water . It’s got to be one of the strangest backdrops I’ve ever seen . A brutal , barren , dry crust encasing an unworldly lake . We all stare quietly for a moment . Shit , when you think you’ve seen enough amazing things on this trip and now this place shows up . And we are staying on it .

We meet up with our friends , the Gerst family . Emma and Megan’s magnificent planning has at Lake Powell resort . The next 3 days has us jet skiing , boating , pooling , dining and drinking at Lake Powell .

We leave Lake Powell having done a lot . Tex and I went jet skiing to some crazy cliff jumps . On one occasion a large house boat passed by chanting “jump , jump , jump as I hovered on the edge . Tex had already leapt the 40 foot + drop . I felt sick . I launched ,desperately wailing my hands backwards as I tried to keep myself vertical . I made it just as I started to to tilt backwards . The one regret was not getting any photos or videos . We didn’t really have anything to keep our phones dry . Another icon was ticked off when we visited Horse Shoe Bend . Geezus , can Utah offer up any more ? This place has been out of this world . It’s time to drive to Zion .