The Muhlestein Family

My Sunken Sunglasses and Other Possibly Jinxed Items.

June 8th, 2008

A few weeks ago, we made a trip to Monticello for a family occasion. When we returned and cleaned out our van, I found a pair of Sun glasses that had been missing since, well, the last time we had taken a trip to Monticello. Actually, they might have been missing for the time between multiple trips to Monticello. I remember having them when we arrived, but not being able to find them since that time. They were inexplicably located below the driver’s seat in a manner that hid them for this lengthy duration of time.

Any time an item is lost for that amount of time, it begins to form a dependency on its inability to be found. The act of finding the item only serves to aggravate its situation and it begins conspiring immediately how to regain its status as missing.

Well, after finding my sunglasses a couple weeks ago, I decided I’d use them when I ride my bike to work. I had a plan to store them with my bike helmet where they’d stay good and useful. That worked for about as long as I’d conjured up the plan. The 1st day I went to ride my bike, I couldn’t find the sunglasses. I had somehow placed them somewhere besides the intended location and only later, after it was too late, did Gayla find them. They already showed signs of missing their “missing” status.

This last week we went to Lake Powell for a little family vacation. Miraculously, I had my sunglasses for the drive down. They served their intended purpose until the evening we got there. I was holding Matthew and taking a little walk around the house boat when all of a sudden I heard a plop. My sunglasses somehow jumped out of my pocket and ended up floating down under the dock and on to the bottom of the lake. These glasses were definitely jinxed and have permanently enabled their missing status.

Well, while on the subject of Lake Powell, I might as well share a few pictures and a report from our vacation. We arrived at Bullfrog Marina Tuesday night. Gayla’s parents had finalized our houseboat rental and we were able to load all of our junk, luggage, and the kitchen sink as soon as we arrived. Everyone else arrived within an hour or so and we had all 20 something people on board before dark. Sleeping 20 something people on a houseboat is really easy. a few people sleep in the closets (the little places they call rooms), a few sleep in the living room and all the rest sleep up on top.

Here is a picture of our Scott and our houseboat. This is also where we ended up parking the boat and camping for a few days:

Scott had a lot of fun playing in the sand, hiking on the rocks, getting wet and attempting to fish.

Wednesday morning, we received our final houseboat training, the motor boat (Gayla’s parents rented one of those too), and also an additional motor boat that came with Matt and Geri friends of Gayla’s parents. Off we went in the motor boats to find the perfect secluded spot to park the houseboat. Matt and Geri’s boat, the Bayliner, drives a bit faster then the unnamed boat #556 that we rented. You don’t have to turn the steering wheel as far to make it around a corner either.

Here is Dallin in front of the houseboat. After arriving, the kids had a ball running all over the rocks.

We didn’t have a whole lot of sand in our camping spot. After all, there really isn’t that much sand on the shores of Lake Powell to begin with. Most of Lake Powell is made up of sandstone shorlines. Matthew doesn’t need that much sand to play with anyway. What there was, he was sure to take advantage of.

Gayla probably doesn’t really want me to post this picture, but oh well, she gets some attention too!

Wednesday turned out to be somewhat of an adventure. Gayla’s dad and brothers Stephen, Bobby, and a couple other passengers took her Aunt and Uncle back to the Marina where they were going to continue touring the West as part of their vacation out here. On the way back, the wind kicked up and they had some great big waves (around 6 feet I hear) to navigate through to get back to our camping spot. That took them a little extra while and they were slightly excited at what they had come through. In the mean time, we battled the winds while trying to keep the houseboat anchored. We had to take all the anchors off one side and put them on the side the wind was blowing toward. I broke a great big rock in half that one anchor was tied too. We eventually got that taken care of. It rained the rest of the evening and most of the night until Thursday morning.

Sleeping 20+ people on a houseboat when it rains is more difficult. A few kids sleep in the closets (see above) and everybody else sleeps in the living room. Those who snore can be woken by those unable to sleep.

Thursday we enjoyed wake-boarding and lots of other activities. Here are a couple bottoms, I mean boys, climbing up the rocks.

During our stay, we had no shortage of rocks to climb.

Friday my Dad met us at Halls Crossing and myself along with Matt, Stephen, and Laura went on a little hike to see some cool stuff. That is another post in and of itself, so I won’t post all the pictures here except one. When we returned Friday evening, we found Geri sick. We helped Matt and Geri hurry back to the Marina where she could be better taken care of and then returned.

Saturday morning we had fun pulling the “Nautilus” (A big tube like floaty toy that you can haul a few people on) behind the other boat while the rest of the crew drove the houseboat back to the Marina. Then we spent an extra long time trying to claim the rest of the stuff from the houseboat and get it where it belonged in everyones individual vehicles for the 5 hour trip back home.

Now, onto the picture from our hike and the rest of this story:

Ancient Indian Rock Art.

The reason I post this picture is that it is surprisingly related to the original subject of this post, in which I’ve accidentally meandered from substantially. The rock art appears to be related to the other possibly jinxed items that I came across on our trip. If any of the items below belong to you, please do let me know before their missing status becomes an obsession. Now, on to the meaning of the rock art and the jinxed items.

• There is a big foot in the rock art. That guy obviously didn’t have any cool sandals like we found. Hey, somebody that came on the trip is missing some footwear too:
  
  Are these Sandals yours? Better claim them fast!
• There are a group of people which appear to have some type of pack on their back. They must have had to walk a long way to need special packs. They also appear to have some type of special headwear. Here is some headwear that made it home in our car, but definitely doesn’t belong in our home:
  
  Is this hat yours? Better claim it fast!
• The curvy line in the middle of the rock art is obviously a depiction of a child’s actions on a tube of toothpaste. Hey, we happened to find some toothpaste and brushes with everything. You’ll want to claim this stuff before some kid (and you know what my kids are capable of) squirts it all over!
  
  Are these brushes and toothpaste yours? Better claim them fast!
• Last but not least, there are a couple rock images of people with something possibly between their legs. I’m not sure what it is, but they obviously needed something to cover up with. A towel would have been nice. Hey, we found one of those too:
  
  Is this towel yours? Better claim it fast!

Well, that is all of the possibly jinxed items we found after returning. We had a lot of fun on the trip and wanted Grandma and Grandpa K to know how much we appreciate their efforts in pulling this whole adventure off. If anybody found any of our stuff that could possibly be jinxed, let us know!

Entry Filed under: Family