Let's Talk About...252 Meals

OK. Have you ever taken a trip with your adult siblings? I mean no spouses, no children. Just you guys? I recently took a trip to Lake Powell with five siblings and five other old friends, and two teenagers. Can we just talk about the logistics of that for a minute?

Logistics for family events, whether reunions, birthdays, weddings or just a vacation can be daunting. But let's just focus on 12 people from various parts of the nation converging on a barren southwestern portion of our country that happens to have some water and some boats. I am talking about Lake Powell! Seven days. Alone. No internet. No towns. Just a stereo and a DVD player (apparently still a thing if you don't have internet). And us.

Talk about logistics! First there is travel. Then there are provisions and finally, what will we all do when we get there? I had to know how all the meals were going to work. Would we have enough to drink? Where were we going? Is there a shower? Will there be a coffee maker? Can I call home? Or would it be a free-for-all and we would all basically fall off the face of the earth for a week? And why do I need to be such a planner?

Some background. You should know I was the only person in the group who had never done this trip before. One brother has made this trip over thirty times! So, with all that experience, you would think I would just sit back, bring some brownies and my personal fan and let them deal with everything the way they always have. But, no, I couldn't do that. Twelve people, three meals a day for seven days! That's a lot of food. I thought, "I'd better figure this out!"

Emails and Excel became my friends as I began a detailed list of what people liked to eat, who would bring what, what meals would each of us be responsible for and basically, how we would survive. "Who is this upstart?" they wondered. "We've always done fine with hot dogs, steaks, hamburgers and cereal. It works."

No, I couldn't help myself. I assigned everyone a dinner which they had to provide despite distances traveled and their own logistics. In addition to an assigned meal, each person was also assigned things like bread, mustard, ketchup, butter, eggs, sodas, milk, bottled water, luncheon meats, cookies, etc. Sounded like a good plan. And no one complained.

So, naturally, not trusting that everyone does what they say they will do, I pack up the car with my frozen lasagna, sloppy joes, brownies, fruit, vegetables, chips, bagels, cream cheese, bread, salad makings, water shoes, hiking shoes, flip flops, and a guitar. We finally all arrive at Bullfrog and, of course, I want to organize the "galley." I should have been suspicious when they were happy to let me.

I had never seen so much food in my life! And so many duplicates! And no room to put it all.

It turns out people fall basically into three categories:

1. I want Pop Tarts and Diet Coke;

2. I want only vegetables and fruit; and

3. I don't really care as long as there is coffee, and I don't starve (me).

Seven coolers and 50 grocery bags later, I realized we had nine boxes of cereal, 10 loaves of bread, two dozen onions (?), more Pop Tarts than I have seen since sixth grade, a bag of limes, various full-sized seasonings, bushels of vegetables, so much meat, 10 bags of chips, a whole shelf of nuts, and four mustards and five ketchups. And that was just the beginning.

I look up, the watermark is high up above our heads, the marinas are dry and there are few places left to rent a houseboat. But we batten down the hatches, gas up and set off for a week-long adventure up and down the flooded Glen Canyon.

Anchors away. Here we go.

So, what happened? As you could guess, I had the best nature-filled days, jet ski romps, powerboat explorations, swims, hikes, exciting docking situations, and, yes, food. Everyone came through. I worried for nothing. Teamwork.

By the way, playlists are very important when 12 people occupy a small space for a week. I now know the whole Barenaked Ladies discography, for example. Over and over and over. On repeat.

And when the sun goes down, everyone puts their books down, takes off their hiking gear, and you just have each other. And, you know what? This is where the real action is. Personalities surface during a round of pinochle or Uno and M&Ms. Who knew one brother could be so good at charades? His pantomime of Lady Diana was spot on. Who knew that another needed to be shown a new card game only once and then crushed the rest of us? Who knew we could laugh so hard?

I must be honest, seven days sounded like forever. But after the first day, you get in a groove and the beautiful weather, uncrowded lake, complete silence, gorgeous canyons, and lots of food and laughter made it an incredible journey.

In the end, no one cared that we had too many nuts, crackers, beets and Nutri-Grain bars. All the planning in the world isn't what makes a trip outstanding. The treat wasn't in the brownies. It was the very precious time we had together to get reacquainted as adult individuals. And discover not just a beautiful part of the country but each other. Oh, by the way, all those Powell veterans said it was the best food they had ever experienced on the river. There is that.