Last Water Ski Trip of the Year

Favorite photo this entry:

We made it back to Boulder City, Nevada and spent the night at the Elks club again in preparation for our last trip to Lake Mead.

Maureen drove from Orange County, California and Bill came from Prescott, Arizona and they met us in Boulder City, Nevada where we ate at our favorite barbecue restaurant in town called Fox Barbecue.  Then we all caravaned to the Temple Bar Marina area of Lake Mead.

Normally we go out of the marina and make a right and ski either in the Narrows section or further down in Greg's Basin.  On this trip the water conditions were so great from just outside the marina and to the left so we skied that direction which if we kept going around 20 more miles it would take us to the Hoover Dam.

Great water conditions for skiing!

Al

Bill

Nancy

Maureen

We've been taking our lunch breaks on the boat out in the bay instead of coming to shore and setting up a day camp.  I created a sail to give us more shade while eating our sandwiches.

Bill and Nancy

 We had some interesting weather and clouds on this trip.  

 

Our truck and boat

1997 MasterCraft ProStar 190

 Again Maureen rented a fishing cabin so we parked in front and dried out all our gear every afternoon when we got off the lake for the day.

While all our gear was drying out we cooked and ate dinner inside while enjoying the air conditioning. 

We had some amazing sunsets during our week!

Temple Bar Marina and Temple Bar

On our last morning on the lake, I took a bad crash on a slalom ski.  We don't know what I did but the ski stopped and threw me pretty hard into the water.  As I was in the air, I felt my left foot was the last thing to leave the ski.  When I surfaced in the water, I knew my foot was injured immediately.  I couldn't even go looking for my ski while waiting for the boat to come back and retrieve me.  I gave the "all done" signal to the boat crew so they knew to pull in the rope.  My foot didn't hurt at rest but I was unable to put any weight on it.  I was able to get myself up on to the swim step and into the boat where I immediately iced my foot.  I was done for the day!  The other three took ski runs and then it was time to pack up and head home.  I was not able to help at all as putting any weight on my foot hurt really bad! 

Bill and Maureen were so helpful to Al in getting the boat packed up and then they followed us to Boulder City where they helped wash the boat and get our camping gear and the boat put into storage for the winter.  I pretty much just sat and directed everyone!

That evening we went to Urgent Care in Henderson where they took x-rays and it showed no broken bones.  I just had to do RICE (rest, ice, compression, and elevation) until it heals.  They wrapped my foot and gave me crutches.

My foot never looked bad and on different days it would show some bruising but it hurt like crazy if I tried to put any weight on it.

Unfortunately there was lots of laundry to do  before we left Boulder City for the winter.  It was no fun trying to do laundry on crutches and it took me so long!

Trying to elevate my foot between loads of laundry!

It was a great water-ski season this year and we were lucky to all be retired and able to do our ski trips on Tuesday-Fridays while the lake is even more quiet!

Now we're making our way to Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta at the end of the week.  Hope my foot heals because there is going to be a LOT of walking at the Fiesta!


Some photos in this entry are courtesy of Maureen!  Thanks, Maureen!

Utah State Fair and 100th Blog Entry

Favorite photo (thanks Maddy):

Padre Canyon Hike conquered again!

After leaving Bryce Canyon National Park we headed further north in Utah.  We stopped off at The Creamery in Beaver, Utah.  Last time we went through Beaver we didn't visit The Creamery but that won't happen again.  They have the best ice cream!

The cheese selection

Always choose cheese!

Further north we made it to Bountiful, Utah and spent a couple of nights at the Bountiful Elks lodge.  This location was not ideal as we were parked very close to a freeway exit and along a busy street.  Oh well, it made due for a couple of nights while we went to the Utah State Fair.

The butter cow is a Utah State Fair tradition since 1998.

One thing we found interesting was a dutch oven cooking competition and we were lucky to get to sample some of the entries.  There are three rounds starting with dessert, bread, then the main course.  It was amazing what the contestants were able to cook in a dutch oven!

The main event for the day we visited was demolition derby.  We've never watched this type of event live before and it was fun.

Day of "Wreck"oning

During a break they played "soccer" with a large metal ball putting the two local colleges up against each other.  Brigham Young University (BYU) vs. Utah State University.

We like state fairs and had such a great time at the New Mexico State Fair last year but the Utah State Fair wasn't a hit in our opinion. Oh well!

After the fair it was time to start heading south again for our last waterski trip of the season.  First we stopped off at Chicken Creek for some boondocking.  There we were parked next to a creek and even found a waterfall.

We had no cell or internet connectivity at Chicken Creek so we decided to move further south.  This time we went to Black Corral which was a bit far from the highway.  The closest town was Milford, Utah.  We had a little trouble getting in to a spot and had to do some tree trimming to avoid scraping the trailer.

We also had more critters at this location.  This time Al used more Swiss cheese and he caught two of them.  Yuck!

Upon further inspection under the trailer Al found the RV repair guy left a nice size whole in the under carriage.  Al has since sealed the hole and we haven't had any more uninvited critters!

After all that excitement, it was time to get back to civilization so we went back to one of our favorite places, Snow Canyon State Park.  Maddy, one of our fellow camp hosts back in April and May, was back at the park as a camp host again.

 While we were there, Al and I took Maddy on the Padre Canyon hike for her first time.

Look at this tarantula we spotted!

Al, Nancy, and Maddy

Padre Canyon Hike conquered again!

While at Snow Canyon we did some light camp hosting and it was great to see all our friends there again.  Next it's time for our last water-ski trip of the season.

On another note, I can't believe this is my 100th blog post!

I started keeping the blog so I can remember all the places and people we've met since starting out on this journey.  Some people have commented that they enjoy reading my posts and I appreciate the encouragement.

If you would like to check out any of my previous posts, you can click this link and it will take you to the main page.

https://imagineourrvdreams.blogspot.com/

You can also subscribe to my blog by entering your email address in the location on the right column.  You'll then get an email anytime a new entry is posted.

Other social media contact points:
Instagram:  @ImagineOurRVDreams or Al @Mch20skir
Facebook:  Nancy Blum Gonzalez or Waterski Gonzalez

Here's to the next 100 entries!