Bear Lake - Boat rides

Over the 4th of July weekend, Mollie's family held a reunion at Bear Lake.  Her uncle Richard and his family also came along and brought their boat! We got there on Friday mid morning and it was a beautiful day, and not very crowded.  Richard suggested that the extra cold water was keeping the people away.  Utah has had a very wet year.  Winter snowfall was enough to keep the resorts open till July 4th.  Melting snow and big spring rains brought the lake depth to10 feet above average.  In addition to making the water super cold, it made a great beach.  We could walk out into the water for maybe 50 yards and still not be waist deep.  I put a stake out in the water near where it was waist deep for my boys and told them to not go beyond the stick.  I was not worried that they were in any trouble with the water being so shallow, but just that if anything happened, it would take me forever to get out there running through knee-deep water.

The kids loved playing in the water, and everyone got a turn or two on Richard's boat. The boat had water skis, a wake board, and a big tube that fits three people. I went out on the first excursion of people who wanted to water ski.  Apparently it's best to do this in the morning when the waves are calmest.  When it was my turn, I was able to get up but not stay up long term.  I did better than my last time, which was as a teenager on the Glaser's boat.  But I still did not quite get the hang of it.  Getting out of the water was not too hard, but I didn't figure out how to balance my stance.

On trip number 2, Mollie and I took the kids on the boat so they could ride the tube. Everybody loved it, but their individual personalities were definitely on display.  Harrison, who is naturally cautious would have been happy if the boat had been going much slower.  As we went around the lake and over wakes, he kept saying, "It's okay.  But no faster.  No turning either."  Noah on the other hand was constantly screaming exited shrieks.  Olivia went on with me and her cousin Emma.  They were both good sports.  After loving it for about 5 minutes, Olivia abruptly said "I'm done."  She was happy and willing to explore, but only for so long. Both Noah and Olivia went on several times.  They also loved playing on the tube in the shallow beach during lunch and whenever the boat was not out on the lake.