Our twilight dinner cruise

Since our birthdays are less than a week apart and we don't have any needs or desires to collect any more "stuff", we decided to celebrate with an experience rather than a party, cake, or presents. We found out about a "paddleboat cruise" on a lake not far from Phoenix- surprisingly. We made reservations and, on the appointed day, set out on a drive to find Canyon Lake. As we left signs of civilization, we began to worry about whether we were on the right path. The picture below shows what all of the landscape looked like, with the exception of the lake in the background. All we saw was rocks, sand, cacti and other desert plants under a hot sun.
When we saw the lake in the distance, we breathed a great sigh of relief. Our reservations requested that we arrive at 4:30 and it was nearly 4:00 before we saw any sign of water. The Snake River has been dammed in several different spots, the Canyon Lake being one of the results of a dam. We got our "boarding passes" and climbed aboard the Dolly Steamboat at 5:00. The 2 1/2 hour cruise included dinner and some beverages for $60 per person. We were pretty thirsty so were pleased at the serve-yourself lemonade and water containers immediately available. (There was also coffee and iced tea. Alcoholic beverages and soda were available for a fee.) The boat left the dock and slowly made its way toward what looked like the end of the lake. We began to wonder if we were just going to go in slow circles to make the trip last 2 1/2 hours. But as we neared what looked like the end of the lake, we saw the opening around the high canyon walls and continued along the river for over an hour. As it started getting dark, they turned on lights on the boat. They were the rope-style Christmas lights so they were subtle and romantic. They played pleasant music, at a comfortable volume to allow conversation, interspersed with a smooth-voiced tour guide explaining some of the sights along the way.


I guess this picture makes me look sad but I was definitely not sad. I was feeling very pleasantly relaxed, something I too rarely feel. They had a barbeque grill on the fantail and were soon cooking filet mignon and chicken breasts. Since it took some time to have everything prepared, we were glad for the availability of purchasing snacks and tried to stave off the hunger (made worse by the smell of barbeque) with a little package of cashews and a bag of chips. Each passenger got both meats, along with salad, baked potato, green beans (they were too spicy for me but Russ was able to eat them), roll, then apple pie for dessert, a nice meal.

The boat was sufficiently large to carry passengers enough to be profitable but small enough to be fairly intimate. We did wonder, after having driven some very twisty, narrow roads with several hairpin curves, how they ever got the boat out to this surprising body of water in the midst of desert mountains???