Spotlight on Lake Powell Resorts & Marinas

Lake Powell Resorts & Marinas, managed by Aramark, is an authorized concessioner of the National Park Service, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. From camping at the Lake Powell Campground to renting jet boats and water toys, boat tours, fine dining at the Lake Powell Resort and houseboat rentals – they offer something for every one of our families to enjoy at beautiful Lake Powell!

Michael and I recently attended a tour operator “familiarization” conference with representatives from Lake Powell Resorts. This was in part to discuss houseboat rentals and operation and to meet with other tour operators. Our very generous hosts also treated us to a tantalizing dinner at the Lake Powell Resort, a day of jet boating in and out of the beautiful canyons at Lake Powell, an evening on houseboats moored at the beach in Warm Creek Bay, and a ½ day boat tour to Rainbow Bridge National Monument.

The water was like glass in this canyon – you can hardly tell where the water begins and the canyon walls end.

Opportunities to visit with suppliers give us first-hand experiences to pass on to our clients - and the opportunity to experience what our clients will do on their vacations? - priceless! Sound like fun? Check out these trips on our website: Exploring the Southwest's Canyons and Lake Powell; and Utah's Amazing Canyons and Lake Powell.

These are our charming Lake Powell hostesses Sarah Bailey, Assoc. Director of Sales, and Laura Litke, Group Sales & Conference Services Mgr. With 10 years of combined experience, they help us make sure that your visit to Lake Powell is all that it can be!

How about Canadian bargains?

Here is an addendum to the last post -

With the current exchange rate being so in favor of the US dollar versus the Canadian dollar, we are strongly urging our clients that are planning a trip to Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Jasper, Banff or other western Canada destinations, to BOOK NOW! Much of last year the exchange rate was at par or US$1 equaled CD$1. As of today, US$1 buys CD$1.27. This is a great opportunity to essentially get more than a 20% discount on a trip to Canada. We can book your RV now and the sooner you pay for the RV rental portion of your trip, the sooner you can lock in what are unprecedented exchange rates. Early bookings are also getting a discount on top of the great exchange rate for booking and paying early.

Please, if you have any questions, you can call me directly at 800-247-0947 or comment on this post. You can also reach one of our talented and gifted Tracks & Trails trip consultants at the same toll-free number above.

Looking for bargains?

Many factors will affect travel for pleasure in the next 12 months and we are seeing many reasons to book now for next year's summer vacation. We realize that many folks are watching their wallets very closely and have concerns about their job security. Optimistically, we also see that most people are still working and many still want to show their kids the National Parks.


First, with the price of oil down 50% from its record highs in the summer, airlines are not under the same financial pressure as they were just a few months ago. I personally have been getting fare alerts from a major travel website nearly weekly with great prices and availability.


Second, we still see the RV as the vehicle of choice when it comes to packing everyone comfortably to experience the great outdoors of the National Parks. There is nothing like staying in the parks, seeing stars at night and having a campfire. Your meals can be much healthier than eating out and cost less too. Overall, for the experience, we see RV travel as a great bargain.


Third, with many travelers looking for big bargains, we have found that we can still help with creating an itinerary that includes a rental car or SUV that is sized to your family or group and accomodations that will save travel dollars. While eating out becomes more of a necessity, you can still eat healthy if you have a simple cooler with you in the car.


Our hope is that you let us help you with your National or state park vacation plans. If cost is an issue, let us know and we'll do our best to create the best vacation that meets your desires and is within your budget. You can call toll-free at 800-247-0970 to talk to a trip consultant or check out our trip catalog on-line. We're ready to help plan that "trip of a lifetime".

Just got back from Lake Powell

Sorry it's been a while since we've posted on the blog. We've been taking some time off to recharge, visit some new destinations and reconnect with some of our outfitters, campgrounds and the road itself. We've spent time researching Florida from Orlando, St. Augustine and the Kennedy Space Center down to Key West. We also did some preliminary research on the Canadian Maritime provinces, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

This past week some of us spent time just outside Canyonlands National Park (someone turned 50, eek!), in and around Monument Valley and cruising Lake Powell.

The picture to the right is from the Salt Creek Overlook just south of Canyonlands National Park. While you can't get here with an RV, it's a good example of the types of vistas you can see in this area (it was pretty quiet at night too!). Unfortunately, the best time to see stars was at about 3:00 AM since there was a strong full moon.





This is a picture of the Mittens in Monument Valley. We had strong winds with gusts over 50 mph, so this shot was from inside the car. Unfortunately with the sand and dust being kicked up, we had to cancel our tour of Mystery Valley. Oh well, maybe next time... Wildlife highlight: We did get to see an adult brown tarantula on the road as we drove through Valley of the Gods!



Our last stop was in Lake Powell. We had a chance to visit with

some of the folks that run the Navajo Village Heritage Center in Page, AZ. We found that if you want be thoroughly educated on Navajo culture and heritage, this is the place. The four families that have created the Center, go to great lengths to provide an authentic experience. Here is a picture of one of the hogans they built at the Center.




We also visited the slot canyons just east of Page called Upper Antelope Canyon. This unique canyon is well known to photographers around the globe for the unique interior structure and lighting that changes by the minute. Here is a good example of a picture that I took with a simple digital camera. I think that it's amazing... Look at the purples that show up in the rock in this picture!


We also visited with the folks at the Lake Powell Resort. We got to experience what our clients see when they take the Half Day Rainbow Bridge Tour or enjoy a rented powerboat around the lake as we snaked up through narrow canyon walls. A new experience for us to spend the night on a houseboat rental with the lake like glass and a full moon. Wildlife highlight: We saw an adult California Condor (tagged "02") at the Visitor's Center at the Glen Canyon Dam. Just stunning...


Yes, we're lucky to take these types of trips and we try to take a bunch of pictures so we can share them with the rest of the staff. All the information that we gather on trips like these are designed to help us provide the best assistance possible when planning what may be a "trip of a lifetime" for some of our clients. Just give us a call or check out the website to see where we can start!

A big thank you to Shane and Emmy at the Navajo Village Heritage Center, Carolene at Antelope Canyon Tours, the staff at the Glen Canyon Dam (great tour!) and Laura, Sarah, Rusty and Chef Josh at Lake Powell Resorts. You all made our trip wonderful and informative. Thank YOU!