Day 21

States: Utah

Sites seen: the Great Salt Lake and the Rocky Mountains. They surround us on all sides and are super distracting!

Josh and I slept until 8:30 this morning. It was glorious! And by the time we got up, the girls had already packed up their things, taken down and packed up their tent, and cleaned out and organized the back of the car. Also glorious! All told, we were in the car and on the road a half hour after we got up.

We got donuts at a local donut shop before heading out today. Still not as amazing as donuts with a difference but a welcome change to our normal breakfast routine. And I was finally able to get some regular iced coffee without any flavoring or syrup. This morning was a win all around!

Our travels today brought us to the Great Salt Lake.

We headed out to Antelope Island for some wonderful views of the landscape and the lake. There are bison all over the place and one of them even came close enough to the car to get some great photos!

In case you were wondering, the lake is filled with water from the surrounding area that picks up minerals as it travels down the mountains. Since there is no exit for the water, other than evaporation, the water retains the minerals making it much saltier than the ocean.

Our first stop on the island was the historic Fielding Garr ranch. The ranch was first settled in 1848 and shows a history of western ranching through the years. It’s a neat little property to walk through.

After this we decided that since we were here, we might as well swim (float) in the lake.

If you look closely, you can see the flies slowly layering on our feet. Believe me when I say that it only went downhill from here. But, we can say that we have floated in the lake and we never have to do that again.

After floating, and then running away from the lake swatting the bugs (so many bugs), we headed up to the showers in the parking lot to rinse off. And here is where my children learned the fine art of discreetly changing in a parking lot.

One more picture of a buffalo. Because they’re cool.

So now we are headed back to the campsite to set up, run, swim, and chill.

Tomorrow we will explore Salt Lake City!

Talk to you soon-

Deanna