Glamping on Water

Dispatch From: Lake Mead

I’M EATING SUSHI at Tao in The Venetian resort/casino in Las Vegas. The siren song of the Strip is tempting. Vegas is merely a landing point, however, and 40 minutes later by car, I’m at Lake Mead National Recreation Center.

The houseboat experience is new to me. What an introduction, though. Forever Resorts (800-255-5561; foreverresorts.com) has 250 boats——of all sizes——in its fleet. There are 60 here in Lake Mead. The XS1, my new floating home-away-from-home, is 75 feet long and 18 feet wide. There are three levels, with six bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms.

Two bedrooms are on the lowest deck. The other bedrooms are on the main deck, as is a full kitchen (two fridges, microwave and oven), dining area and a huge Lshaped couch. There’s a barbecue grill on the outside patio. Up above is the covered wet-bar area, hot tub and sliding board that spills into the lake.

Familiar with the term “glamping” (glamour + camping)? Houseboating is glamping on the water. Note: Forever Resorts staff begrudgingly concede this is the general area where Pam Anderson and Tommy Lee filmed a certain adult-theme video.

The XS1 is docked at Lake Mead’s Call ville Bay marina. The lake’s beaches are dotted with rented houseboats. That’s the drill——you run your houseboat right up on the sand, tie it to stakes and commence eating, drinking and playing on an assortment of personal watercraft (PWCs).

My hosts take a group by powerboat for a lunch at Temple Bar marina, on the other side of Lake Mead—— the lake acts as a Nevada/Arizona border (Callville Bay is in the former; Temple Bar the latter). Arizona doesn’t observe daylight savings time, which, even for locals, makes for scheduling struggles.

Lake Mead is just above Hoover Dam. Raft tours are available at the bottom of this immense structure, built in the early 1930s to harness the Colorado River. Our raft is manned by a knowledgeable guide and a park ranger. The dual-pontoon raft slowly passes hot springs (one has 147-degree water that spurts out 24/7), desert bighorn sheep drinking at the river and passels of kayakers paddling along the shoreline.

All the while, we’re surrounded by huge, volcanic rock formations. Drought has lowered water levels, evidenced by a white ring on the rocks, caused by calcium carbonates from the once-higher waterline.

When the raft ride ends in Willow Beach, we switch boats for a ride to Cottonwood Cove on Lake Mojave. Here, I’m delighted by my first taste of PWCing, pushing the throttle of my Sea-Doo to its limit. By night, we feast on barbecued steaks and s’mores warmed over a beach fire ring. Yup, it’s very much a Hallmark vacationland—— specter of Pam and Tommy Lee notwithstanding.

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