Saturday, March 15, 2008

3/12/08 Dolly Steamboat on Canyon Lake

We, and friends, John and Bonnie McMullen loaded into the truck this morning for a drive to the Apache Junction area so that we could go for a ride on the Dolly Steamboat on Canyon Lake. We met about thirty other Quail Run residents for the noon excursion.


Here is our waterway transportation for the day. The Dolly Steamboat.

This lady of the water was constructed in 1983 and weighs 40 tons. She's 103 feet in length and is 18.5 feet wide. She'll hold 155 passengers and is powered by twin 225 HP John Deere Diesels.

Our group sat on the top deck in the open. We had the PERFECT day for this cruise. It was in the low 80's with a gentle breeze on the lake. Our boat ride lasted about 90 minutes and it was all pure joy.

The source of Canyon Lake is the Salt River originating on MT. Baldy in northeastern Arizona. The depth of the lake at its deepest point is 142 feet and its 10 miles long. The water temperature runs from 54 to 75 degrees and air temperature in this region runs from 65 to 115 degrees daytime temperature.

The view from the shoreline before we boarded.

Soon it was time to board and get underway. We heard the phrase, "What a perfect day" ALOT!

The engines roared to life and we pulled away from the dock. Every few seconds one heard the "click" of a camera shutter because the scenery was just beautiful. At first there wasn't much talking because we were all just trying to take in our surroundings.

It was in this area that Captain Jeff directed our attention to the mountain tops so that we could see the Desert Bighorn Sheep that were grazing. Unfortunately I didn't have the zoom lens with me so I couldn't get a picture of them. We only saw them because we brought binoculars with us. To the naked eye they looked like little white specks.
We were surprised to these yellow flowers and some greenery growing out of what seems to be a solid wall of rock.


Saguaro cactus is growing tall and strong on the banks of the lake.

Much too soon our time on Canyon Lake was over but we took the time to take two more pictures. John and Bonnie McMullen posed for this picture for me. We enjoy their company so much and just know that we will see them again down the road.

Their picture turned out so nicely we decided we wanted one in the same pose.

We decided to go further up the road the Tortilla Flats for lunch. We drove 2 miles up the road and was surprised to see so many people at the restaurant. It was going to be an hour wait to get seated and we just didn't feel like fighting the crowd. Our view of the lake from the road.

We ended up at the Mammoth Saloon in Goldfield, the ghost town we toured a couple of months ago when our friends Dale and Karen were here.

Some pictures of the views we had on our way back to AJ.


This was a thoroughly enjoyable day and what full timing for us is all about. Seeing beautiful sights and spending time with new friends.

1 comment:

LaVon Baker said...

This looks like a perfect day. I can't wait until we go to Canyon Lake tomorrow.