parent-teen.com
an
online magazine for families with teens
ARTICLES,
ARCHIVES, &
RESOURCES
Ages
& Stages
Alcohol/Drugs
Arts
& Media
College
Planning
Coping
Driving
Fun
Issues
News
Parent
Pages
Puberty
School
Sex
& Dating
Sports
Volunteering
Working
Your
Body
COLUMNS
College
Prep
Dear
Mike
Freshman
Journal
From
the Backpack
FEEDBACK
What our readers
say
FORUMS
Discussion boards for parents & teens,
plus professional college planning advice. COMING SOON.
CONTRIBUTE
Editorial guidelines
SHOP
Coming soon.
Recommended
books for parents and teens from amazon.com. Your purchases will
help support this site.
Parent-Teen is a publication of:
Parents'
Press
1454 Sixth St.
Berkeley, CA 94710
Phone:
(510) 524-1602
Fax:
(510) 524-0912
e-mail:
ParentsPrs@aol.com
Site contents © copyright 1997-2000 by Parents' Press
You are welcome to make a single (1) copy of any article for your personal, non-commercial use as long as all rights & copyright information remains intact. Please contact us if you are interested in reprinting any material from this site.
Houseboating with Teens
Is It a Vacation?
By Toni K. Witters
© 2000 by Parents' Press
Photos by Toni K. Witters
Did I want to take a free "family and friends" houseboat trip to see how well it worked as a family vacation?
Deciding wasn't easy. Try to maneuver a 54-foot houseboat on an unfamiliar lake? Round up traveling companions with kids of many ages? Make sure everyone on board was safe, fed, and happy? Well, it was only for a weekend . . .
So in early May, we my husband Kenny, stepdaughter Lauren and her friend (also Lauren!), and I, plus two other families headed to Lake McClure, downstream from Yosemite Valley in the Sierra foothills.
We had six adults and six children (ages 5 to 14) and reservations for the houseboat Eclipse. Along with my personal reservations about the trip . . .
And the Eclipse was spectacular! Sparkling
clean when we boarded, it had two bedrooms with queen-size beds,
bunkbeds, loft beds, pull-out beds, two bathrooms (one with a
shower), a hot tub on the upper deck, and a slide in the water,
which was a hit with the kids.
We had forgotten to pack a couple of items, but the houseboat was loaded with amenities and the marina store offered everything from bathing suits to potato peelers. We were set!
And right here I'll say that anything I had thought could go wrong didn't. But there were things I hadn't thought of . . .
After an orientation on the houseboat and its operating procedures, we set out.
The lake itself was magnificent, surrounded by green mountains and edged with coves and unexpected waterfalls. We docked when we discovered a cove that we all agreed was sheltered from any wind that might blow up.
Wet 'n' Wild
Once we stopped, the kids all donned
their bathing suits and headed straight for the slide, which
flung them into the cool water of the lake.
With the slide, the hot tub, a VCR, games, and cards, the kids were happily entertained all weekend. The teenagers lounged on rafts, and Lindsay, 14, even caught a fish.
The adults took sightseeing excursions, hiking the landscape and exploring with the little fishing boat towed behind the houseboat. We also fished, barbequed, and relaxed in the hot tub once the kids were out of the tub and settled for the night.
Oops!
So far, so good. But there were "incidents": almost
everyone slipped down the steep stairs to the upper deck at least
once.
Jessica, 10, had a knot on her head for several days to remind her of the hazard. (She's okay now.)
And Rachel, 5, was a magnet for injuries. She ran into the screen and fell into a sliding glass door, cutting her upper lip. Worst of all, she slipped on the upper deck near the hot tub an accident that sent her to the E.R. for seven stitches on her chin. (I was informed she "didn't even cry when they stitched her up," and she's doing fine now.)
The lesson? My recommendation is, don't take children under 9 years old on a houseboating vacation you'll end up with far more gray hairs than if you just wait a few years. Older kids and adults need to remember that when you combine water, decks, and steps, things are going to get slippery! Take extra precautions at all times.
But if you have children age 9 and up, a weekend may be too short! Rent a houseboat for a week and make it an annual summer vacation ritual everyone will have time to appreciate the beauty of nature and you'll all have a wonderful time.
About This Article
Water Resorts, Inc. provided parent-teen.com with a free offseason weekend houseboat rental for this article.
Standard offseason (Sept. 27-May27) rental for the Eclipse is $1,442 per weekend. Summer rental fees range from $2,049 per weekend to $3,795 per week.
Water Resorts operates houseboats at five Northern California locations. Information:
www.houseboats.com
or 1 (877) RENTBOAT.
Home | About Us | Ages & Stages | Alcohol/Drugs | Arts & Media | College Planning | College Prep column | Coping | Dear Mike | Driving | Feedback | Freshman Journal | From the Backpack | Fun | Issues | News | Parent Pages | Puberty | School |Sex & Dating | Sports | Volunteering | Working | Your Body | Advertise | Contribute | E-mail Us