Saturday - I'm a hero!

I'll get to the boat trip pictures in a minute.   Today we had our usual morning outside (much warmer today), then I did a few loads of laundry here in Beluga and dried them outside in the sun.   Oooh, they smell so nice.
After lunch I took the sheets down to the campground laundry.   Our onboard washer/dryer doesn't do as good job on them as I'd like.   That is where I became a hero.    A hero to a nice lady from Wyoming who had used the washer just before me.  As I was taking my freshly washed sheets out, I discovered a very nice diamond ring sitting at the bottom of the wash machine!   It was huge, and very sparkly and clean after having gone through 2 different loads of laundry..... Paul (from Gem Lab) always told me the safest place for a valuable ring is on your finger!   She had gotten in late last night, had to clean up a teriyaki sauce spill from a refrigerator mishap, and just shoved the ring in her pants pocket.  Threw them in the wash this morning and didn't think a thing about it til I asked if it was hers!   Well, enough about me...

The boat ride.  We shared our boat with a bus tour of Canadians.  They looked like "older" folks to me, but I imagine we looked like we fit right in - no comments please.

the curved windows of the lodge's restaurant

We all gathered at the Lodge and then walked a long, winding road (about 1/3 of a mile) down to the waters edge and our waiting boat.  The lake is still at a fairly low point in the year, so it was a fairly steep grade to get to the docks.  Some of the "older" people had a golf cart ride down.

 I didn't take any pictures of the boat or crew, sorry.    The boat was about 40 feet long and had two decks.  Our tour was a 3 hour trip up to the dam, through the "channel" into Navajo Canyon and then into beautiful narrow Antelope Canyon.   There was only room for 35 of us outside on the top deck, and that is where I wanted to be.   It was fairly early in the morning (for me) and still quite cold, but no matter,  outside, up top for me!   We were bundled up with layers ending in our winter jackets, which I thought was overkill, but I went along with Dave's suggestions, like the dutiful wife I am.    I was very glad I did.  When we were moving slowly, the sun warmed us but when we accelerated  to cruising speed it was COLD!

the lake is a great spot for fishermen, see the boats at the water's edge?
The high water line is at the top of the white rock

in some places, the sandstone had turned back into sand!

we passed a Navajo owned marina filled with some pretty spectacular houseboats, complete with hot tubs, flat screen tv's, slides and docking for jet skis.  

at times, the sheer rock sides looked as if they'd been cut with huge saws, leaving cut marks in unusual patterns

Dave chatting with a retired attorney from Toronto
he tapped Dave on the shoulder and said "isn't this a beautiful world?"
I think he's right.....

this wall was called Navajo Tapestry

We cruised along the channel, beneath walls of varying heights, colors and shapes.  Navajo Canyon was fairly narrow and with steep sides seemingly dripping with black stains called varnish.  We passed fisherman hauling in large striped bass.  There is no limit here.   Our Captain took the boat fairly slowly through the canyon and we could really absorb our surroundings.  The sun warmed us.

Back in the channel, we picked up speed and the cold wind had its way with us again.  Lots of people gave up and climbed down the ladder into the relative warmth of the below deck.  Not us....it was too beautiful on the top with nothing but the blue sky and sun over our heads.

We turned into a much more narrow canyon an slowed again.  It was magical, thats all I can say.  For most of the trip we wore headsets (that we soon discovered also served as ear muffs) so we could hear a narration over the thrum of the boats engines.  In Antelope Canyon, however, the narration ceased and we just heard soft, haunting Native American music.  Goose bumps.....    I know we were manipulated, the goose bumps were there by design, but...We were moved by the experience.

We rode in that Canyon until we literally came to the end of the water...we could see that it became a dry slot canyon ahead, but we could go no further.  We both wondered how our Captain would be able to turn around in this narrow spot, with very very thin water.   She was fantastic!  She BACKED out!  Slowly, we went, backwards, through those sinuous curves, close to the rough rocky walls.  Finally she got to a slightly wider spot and spun t  hat boat on point!   Dave's jaw was on his chest.  He was in awe of her skills.
Her name is Elaine Greyeyes and she's a Native American woman living on the reservation 60 miles away. She is one of the first Native Americans and first women to captain a tour boat on Lake Powell.  She has a lovely, warm smile and keen black eyes.  She greeted us all personally and took time to chat with everyone when her assistant was at the helm in the main channel.   A lovely and VERY talented woman.

we ran out of water at the end of Antelope Canyon

The time seemed to fly by and we were back at the docks before we knew it.  We had a wonderful and inspiring morning.    

The walk back up the pathway to the lodge was much harder than the walk down, I can assure you.   But, the trek did warm us up nicely.  

Once we thawed out and ate lunch, a deep dropsy overtook us and we were helpless to resist.  Just a little snooze was all we needed.   Yawn.