Houseboat!

A few weeks ago we realized a long-held dream of Jason’s, which was to rent a houseboat.

 

How their insurance company lets them rent double-decker houseboats to amateurs who have never before operated any watercraft after briefly pointing out the controls and saying “You’ll be good,” I have no idea.

Captain Jason at the helm

Among the few bits of information we understood and remembered the guy saying was, “Aim for the orange dot when you go under the bridge; it’s the only spot where there’s enough clearance to get the boat through. And if you’re on the upper level when you go under it, duck.”

He was NOT kidding.

After [barely] making it under the bridge without mishap, Captain Jason was able to transfer himself to the controls on the upper deck and better enjoy the view.

The weather for our weekend could not have been more perfect.

We motored as far as we could before dark and dropped anchor in a deserted inlet, thereafter named Miller Cove. There we spent the evening, until after the stars came out, swimming, floating, jumping off the upper deck, and going down the slide. 

The water was delightfully warm and clear.

Nobody slept particularly well, despite having two private rooms with bunkbeds and a pull-out sofa for me and Jason. But we got up in the morning to a gleaming sunrise.

From there we hauled anchor and motored farther up the lake.

The place we anchored for the day was a bit choppy, being more on the open water, so after swimming around for a while, we set sail again to seek out another cove.

Dear boat insurance company, Jeddy didn’t sign the papers. But he is over 18 and also holds a license to drive a land vehicle. Two, actually, if you count a forklift certification.

We couldn’t get over how fun it was to do house-y things like eat pizza, play board games, or drink beer while traveling. I even walked in from the front porch at one point when Jeddy was driving to see the steering wheel abandoned and Jeddy in the kitchen making a sandwich.

The top speed of our houseboat was not particularly fast.

In a lot of ways it was like a beach house (always in your swimsuit, lots of swimming opportunity, no shoes necessary), but better (no walking; we’re already on the water); and like a cruise (moving across water, seeing different scenery while you eat a snack at the window, open air breeze), but also better (we go wherever we want! And no customs or passports).

Eating ice cream and doing Mad Libs while Jeddy drives us to Miller Cove 2.0: