Houseboat Trip: Part 1

Until last year we had a lake house that we spent a ton of time at.  Some of our closest friends live in Florida and love the lake just as much as we do so every year they would come spend about a week with us at the lake house for a vacation. Their kids are the same age as ours and have grown up together so it has always been a really fun and special week.  We sold our lake house at the end of last summer so this year we decided instead of renting a house for a week we would rent a houseboat instead. 

It took a little convincing for me, but I was excited for the adventure and what an adventure it was.  Our friends came to Atlanta and spent the night with us and then we all drove up to Lake Cumberland Kentucky together.  About lunch time we realized we were in the middle of nowhere and all getting very hungry, very quickly.  The kids were requesting Chick-fil-a, but there was no way we were going to find one of those.  Instead we stopped at one of the few restaurants we could find in Sparta, Tennessee and it actually ended up being delicious!  We love a good local BBQ spot and that is exactly what this was.

While we waited on food the kids even got to play checkers out on the front porch area of the restaurant. 

It was only a short drive later and we were almost there.  We stopped by the grocery store to load up on all that we would need for the next week (turn out to be enough for the next few days...we had to get a second round of groceries mid-week).  Then we were at Lake Cumberland and ready to move in to the houseboat for the week. Our experienced little travelers knew just what to do. 

We turned the corner of the Jamestown Marina's dock there she was!

The living space was actually a lot more spacious than I was imagining, but the bedrooms were smaller than what I was expecting.  I guess they have to be to squeeze in 6 rooms though.  The front patio space was large enough to have a 6 person table and a full size grill.  Also up top was another table, a slide off the back and a hot tub!  After checking everything out and claiming our rooms we got the quick once over by one of the guys at the dock and we were off!  Captain Corey drove the house boat...

While Robby drove our boat...

The houseboat was really slow, but it made for a peaceful ride.  This lake has no homes on it, so the landscape is really beautiful with rock ledges and mountainous terrain. The kids immediately changed to swimsuits so they would be ready as soon as we got parked somewhere.  

We finally got the houseboat parked and tied up for the evening back in a cove and the kids couldn't wait to start sliding down the slide!

They absolutely loved this and had the best time sliding down into the water all week long.  We had to force them out of the water when it got dark, but promised them 6 more days of fun!