Breathe in...cough, cough... It's a sign that it's time to get me some fresh mountain air away from the flashy bright city lights and dust clouds in Las Vegas. Can you imagine that a few hours on the road, we went from the 110 degree oven and dry desert landscape to a brisk 65 degrees and fields of wildflowers? Oohhhhh... Ahhhhhh...... We finally arrived at Panguitch Lake which I should mention is located in Utah.
Last year we bunked at the Bear Paw Fishing Resort but opted to stay at the Panguitch Lake Adventure Resort this year. The cabins are new and well equipped with kitchen, refrigerator, stove, oven, microwave, outdoor patio, loft, shower, bedroom and, wait for it, washer and dryer. The resort also has a restaurant where you should definitely sit back and have some pie and ice cream.
As for the fishing, you can rent a small boat or a pontoon boat. We rented a pontoon boat for a full day but I was exhausted and decided to take advantage of the vacated cabin and crawled back into bed while the boys went trout fishing.
While the boys were on the boat, I had a slight accident and slipped down the very steep and narrow loft stairs and managed to somehow slice or rip open the bottom of my baby toe. It wasn't pretty and ended up on the two-way radio (sorry, no cell reception up here) to tell my husband to get back to shore and take me to the hospital. Where is the hospital? I asked the same thing and thought it was going to be a 90 minute drive to Cedar City but was told 18 miles "that-a-way" is the little town of Panguitch where they have a small hospital and one stop light. So, in the car we went and I did what anyone else in my predicament would do. I took pictures of the scenery as it whizzed by because, hello, cows and deer. I don't get to see wildlife or greenery much in Vegas.
The staff at Garfield Memorial Hospital were wonderful and I was stitched up and hobbling out the door in less than 2 hours. If I were in Las Vegas, I would probably be waiting in the lobby for 10 hours. Other than the injury, the trip was fruitful with four trout in our cooler and a pink bandage to match my chippy pink toenails.
This is what I learned from this trip.
- Pack two-way radios.
- Pack a first aid kit that contains liquid bandages.
- Be extremely careful walking up and down loft stairs.
