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Floating Fun
Houseboat Vacations Offer Fun, Solitude and a Means to Reconnect with Family
By Suzy Feine
Before leaving on your trip, ask the rental facility for a floor plan of the houseboat and a list of recommended items to bring. A standard houseboat includes beds, bathroom facility, kitchen with major appliances and cooking essentials, dining area and outside deck. Some are furnished with barbecue grills and extra coolers. Many come with slides, as Rognholt's children discovered. "The houseboat had a slide from the top deck that they thought was great," she says.
What many houseboats do not have is electricity. Kitchen appliances and lights are usually run on gas, and small electrical appliances, such as hair dryers, are useless unless you bring a generator along.
The thought of no phone or TV for a week may not sound like a vacation to many children. Or floating along miles of open waterways may sound boring to some. However, there is so much to do during a houseboat vacation, most kids quickly forget. Depending on the lake you visit, many houseboaters enjoy fishing, water skiing, island exploring, watching wildlife and just swimming and exploring their watery surroundings.
If your children plan to spend most of their time in the water, bring along some water toys and floatation devices to add to the fun. "We had taken along an inflatable raft, and [the kids] loved to paddle to shore and go on excursions and picnics by themselves," says Rognholt. "They nicknamed themselves 'Lewis and Clark' when they went on their exploring excursions. From the top deck of our houseboat, we could see everything that 'Lewis and Clark' were up to, but they thought they were very grown up and true pioneer scouts."