With the craziness of the last few months of moving out of one office, trying to build another, and then buying a building instead while also dealing with some other personal matters, I was in dire need of some down time…and nothing forces down time like going somewhere with no internet connection, no cell service, and no cable tv….aka LAKE POWELL!!!

So just over a week ago my husband and I, along with my son and daughter-in-law and my two little grandkids, drove down to Lake Powell to spend a week getting away from the world. The night we arrived to the marina we discovered that on what had been one of the hottest days of the year, our two A/C units had stopped working and inside our houseboat it was well over 100 degrees…unbearably hot…  We were already incredibly tired from our long drive down, we were all dehydrated and hungry (hangry is probably a more accurate description), we were miserably hot and sweaty, and we had a one year old and a three year old who were up well past their bedtimes already so we began scrambling to try and cool it down enough for that to happen. But after many failed attempts to get our A/C working all we could do is pull out fans and deal with the miserable heat for the night until the next day when the repair people would be willing to come and get the A/C going again.  

Sweating profusely, we sat in chairs at the kitchen table and pulled out the cold McDonald’s burgers and now hardened french fries that’d been sitting in their takeout bag far too long while we’d attempted to fix the A/C. As we began eating my son made a joke and laughter ensued…that’s when I realized our ordeal was actually an adventure…

“Attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure.”     

Even with that rough start, it ended up being a great week at Lake Powell. It’s the one place I’m okay to lose cell service, have no internet connection, not receive emails, not know the latest news, or watch TV. I love how it always gets me to let go of life’s outside worries while I am there and just enjoy being in the moment where the only distractions are beautifully calm water, gorgeous red rock cliffs, incredible sunsets followed by a sky full of stars…leaving plenty of quiet time to play with my grandkids, have meaningful conversations with those I love, play games, surf, star gaze, and make great memories…adventures and all….

~Amy Rees Anderson (author of the book “What Awesome Looks Like: How To Excel in Business & Life” )