The Wright's on Vacation: Glen Canyon, Lake Powell, Arizona

Whilst talking to other travellers we’ve become a little concerned at what temperatures are going to do the further North we get. After a bit of research we figure it is best to head to Yellowstone as fast as we can and instead of crossing over into Canada via the Rockies (where it will be snowing and below 0…in a camper!) in late October we will head West again and join the Pacific Coast drive down through San Francisco and then cut inland to Yosemite Park and possibly down as far as Joshua Tree before doing Vegas and flying out from LA. Therefore we drove North for 2.5 hours from Williams up to a place called Page which is on Lake Powell. What a drive, through those plains surrounded by mountains again. Once the temperature outside (Louie has an external thermostat) dropped to about 5 degrees C and it hailed like there was no tomorrow. Eventually it was like driving through snow, thank goodness Louie is a 4 wheel drive with a V8 engine.

From 7,000 feet at Williams we got to 4,000 feet as we drove to the lake, what a view. It was absolutely magic. Deep blue water, massive mountains rising up and that red, red rock that looks like it is on fire when the sun sets on it. We stayed at Wahweap campground right on the lake, it was a little more expensive than normal at $44 per night but well worth it. We took the kids to visit the dam which is a real sight, they let more water through during times of drought but the water levels were quite high and this lake feeds the Colorado river that winds through the Grand Canyon. We had an awesome evening chilling out over a BBQ, plenty of space for the kids to run about and the temperatures were like summer in NZ so we were able to sit with our camper windows open and not worry about it getting too hot.

Leo at Dam

Fun at the campsite

View from inside camper

The next day was just brilliant, we spent it at the lake swimming, digging holes with kids. The water is divine and the view… well the photos don’t even do it justice but we tried. The water is chrystal clear, a beautiful temperature with a lovely sandy bottom. Spencer and Leo had a great time digging, building, throwing and covering mummy and daddy with the coppery sand. We toasted marshmallows that night and let the kids stay up to see the sunset and stars come out. Leo just loves the moon and stars at the moment. His current love affair with Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story) means it’s all about rockets and meteorites and spaceships. This morning we asked him what woke him up in the middle of the night, he said a rocket landed in the water and woke him up. He had to go down there and fix it with his special laser shoes (he has sneakers that light up when he walks, another reason he loves to stay up late outside).

Wahweap campground

Gruffalo in Arizona

Toasting marshmallows

Numnumnumnum

Time for beach

Proof that the water was warm!

Sunbathing with Daddy

The thing to do here is hire a houseboat, they are everywhere and you can go further through the canyons. The sunsets here are just awesome and during our evening stroll with the kids Justin took one last swim as the sun went down. Arizona is truly beautiful and like nothing we have ever seen before. It will take a lot to beat this.

We met another family who is doing the exact same thing as us. The only differences are they have one little girl about 2 years old, they bought an RV and they are German. Through my limited use of 7th form German and Justin's Afrikaans we managed to learn their route and what they were doing. Amazing to see someone else doing it, they must find it harder not speaking the language though. Kids transcend language barriers without trying and Leo and Spencer had a new friend in little Ana for the evening.