Well what a wonderful way to spend my BDay. Visiting the Powell Lake Dam followed by a 3 hour tour, then dinner at Big John’s Texan BBQ.
We dropped off Zhalbey at the Pampered Pets place once again and headed to the marina. On the way to the Marina we checked out the magnificent Powell Lake Dam. This Dam was constructed in 1963 and took about 25 years to fill mainly from annual snow melts. Let’s see, this lake is a major vacation destination visited by about 2 million people every year. It is the second largest artificial reservoir by max water capacity in the US, behind Lake Mead. However this has recently changed as Lake Mead has fallen below Lake Powell in size several times this century in terms of volume of water, depth and surface size.
A few pics later and we were on our way to the Lake Powell Resort, where we booked the 3 hour, Navajo Canyon Boat Tour. They also offer a 90 minute boat tour to the Lake Powell Dam but for only 10 dollars more you can experience not only the Dam but all these amazing channels leading to and including the Navajo Channel where the tour turns around at the Navajo Channel Tapestry. The water is rising by about a foot a day but they will not reach max capacity this year - the high water mark is where the whitish walls end and the rusty coloured walls begin, about 160 feet to go. This landscape and I guess waterscape made for a very interesting tour. At times it felt like we were in the fiords of Norway but only a lot warmer, lol.
The boat itself was very comfortable with plenty of seating inside the main cabin and then it had areas in the front and aft as well as an open second floor, so lots of room to wander around and get all the photos you could ever want. This tour offered complimentary water, lemonade and coffee of which there was plenty with our hosts constantly announcing to stay hydrated. This was a wonderful tour and is highly recommended as it was also great bang for the buck.
After the tour we picked up Zhalbey and headed out for my birthday dinner at Big John’s Texas Barbecue. We have driven by this restaurant several times and it has these two huge smokers right out front, so we just had to check it out. Yes, like many restaurants here, this one was dog friendly on the outside deck. Bonus, there was live country music tonight, “are there any birthdays here tonight” the lead singer announces. We were up front so Jan points me out. Lots of fun as the crowd sang happy birthday to me. All in all a great birthday and a great birthday weekend here in Page, Arizona. Utah tomorrow.
Some pics of our day, hope you enjoy…
Yes, dinosaurs were in this area, amazing.
The Powell Lake Dam
The Powell Lake Resort is beautiful, this was our transport to get to our boat.
Houseboating is very popular here.
The Dam from the water side.
Very popular place for swimming, water temp currently 74 f, will get to lower 80’s in the late summer.
The high water mark.
Another amazing thing, here is where the Antelope Slot begins its 30 mile cut. Kayaking anyone?
The boats with name are owned vessels, ones with numbers are rentals. Many come with helipads.
Incredible landscape.
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