Random Dam Stuff

We just returned from our annual family vacation to Lake Powell. We go every year except when we skip a year. We’ve tried camping, but the wind and rattlesnakes changed our minds. We’ve tried the houseboat thing, but I’m not sure if it counts as a houseboat when it is old enough to be modeled after the Ark.


We’ve settled on an alternative that pleases us all—meaning me. We drive the extra hour to Page, AZ and “camp” in a hotel room. Long days on the lake, followed by warm showers, hot meals, and soft beds in an air conditioned room—my idea of a vacation.

One of my children’s favorite things is sighting Glen Canyon Dam for the first time each trip. For some reason (which my husband refers to as ME) the children take the visual of the dam as their cue to start on the “dam” comments such as: “That dam bridge is huge!” (which it is).

 As we pass into Page, the pseudo-swearing kicks into high gear as we see:

The Dam Plaza, which contains:

The Dam Bar & Grill (“Can we eat at the Dam Bar & Grill, Mom?”)

The Dam Outlet (“What do you think they sell at the Dam Outlet?”)

This year when we drove into the Dam Plaza, after dark, to eat at Pizza Hut, we climbed out of the Suburban, and a large lumpish thing moved on the park strip, startling us. A man, who at first appeared to have no legs, staggered up, and it became evident he was vertically challenged only by his excessive imbibing. We tried to walk past, but he reached out to me and croaked, “Ma’am?”

It was dark, he was scary, wobbly, and persistently approaching us. My children ran around the boat, and I firmly said “I don’t have anything for you.” He stumbled off towards the Dam Bar and Grill, likely in search of a more generous and less skittish group. Since he appeared to be a resident of the Dam Plaza, we named him the Dam Bum.

Stopping at the Dam Visitor Center, we saw that the National Park Service was not immune from Dam Comments. The Dam IQ sign above, and the Dam Tours sign below are pictures of the actual signage. I would have taken photos of the Dam Plaza, Dam Bar & Grill, and Dam Outlet signs, but I was scurrying away from the Dam Bum.