A New View of Roosevelt

We have gone camping at Roosevelt Lake probably at least six or seven times over the past three years.  It took us a several visits to learn that camping in the summer in Arizona is not the best time to go.  Sleeping in a tent when it's 105 degrees for the overnight low along with a sticky, humid, monsoon drizzle on the tent tarp is not the best way to have a restful night.  Eventually we figured out that spring and fall are the best times to camp, since it's warm enough in the daytime to go wakeboarding but still cools off to the 60s or 70s at night.  

Last weekend, however, was by far the most comfortable camping trip we have ever had at Roosevelt, since our "camp" was actually a three-bedroom house complete with a kitchen, fenced-in backyard, charcoal grill, firepit, and most importantly, bathroom with indoor plumbing.  If you've ever been to Roosevelt Lake and seen the dam that makes life in the desert possible, you may have noticed a small cluster of houses overlooking the dam.  The houses were built around the turn of the century when construction of the dam began, to house some of the workers.  (Some of these houses are now submerged under the lake).  SRP now owns the houses and only SRP employees can rent them out.  Our friend Jeff who works for SRP decided to rent one of the houses, so six of us got to spend a relaxing weekend at Roosevelt Lake with all the conveniences of home.

Highlights of the trip included: a salmon and steak dinner Saturday night; picking out constellations and counting shooting stars in our lawn chairs at night; pumpkin cheesecake for Halloween; playing various trivia games to pass the time, including naming the state capitals and naming cities in Arizona that start with every letter of the alphabet; getting a new stamp in our national parks passport at the Tonto National Monument cliff dwellings; and my personal highlight of the weekend was successfully driving the boat onto the trailer for the first time by myself.  It was a much-needed boost of confidence to my boat driving skills, although it was certainly made easier by the fact that there were no other boats in sight and there wasn't even the slightest breeze to blow me off course.

The view from our backyard: