The Great Salt Lake

Wow. What an adventure! What an experience! Hats off to my mother for taking us, and our cousins, to the Great Salt Lake several times when we were little.

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On our way to the Great Salt Lake we hit rush hour traffic and construction traffic. Jordan had looked it up on the computer and it said we needed to take exit 335 in Layton and head west to Antelope Island. Well, we do that and end up in a neighborhood. After driving and wandering for some time, we got to where we needed to be (get off exit 332 not 335). Reese screamed 2/3 of the way there, which obviously took much longer than we anticipated.

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We finally got there and parked. We ended up next to a movie set. Manuela and I asked one of the guys about what movie they were making. He said it was a movie that makes fun of Gladiator and Troy. It's a National Lampoon's movie. I asked him what it was called and he didn't know. Just an actor, you know.

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So, we start walking and walking and walking and walking to get to the water. It took a good 20 minutes to get there. On our way, we saw a dead coyote - above picture. Reese just wanted in the water the whole time. She was still such a grouch, and I didn't want to deal with her in the mud and the water, so she and I struggled the whole time we were there. She ended up falling a few times and then wiping sand in her eyes, nose and mouth. It was just miserable. Reese was miserable.

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Jordan and Manuela took Ben out in the water. Of course, it was a lot darker than we wanted and thought it was going to be (long driving time) so the pictures are a bit dark. I wanted Ben's reaction of him tasting the water. Those pictures were very dark. So I lightened it, and it looks pretty dumb, but at least you can see his face a little bit.

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We stayed until nearly sunset. I had had it with Reese, so I had Ben get out of the water, stripped him down and me and the kids started heading for the car. We had just set out, when I heard a strange noise. I stopped walking and told Ben to be quiet. We listened and heard a pack of coyote's howling for several minutes. Honestly, I think they were only 30-50 feet away from us. Well, 20 minutes later we made it back to the car. Blessed moment. I was so beat. Reese weighs just over 20 pounds. I carried her in one arm while I held Ben's hand with the other. Then my heavy camera was around my neck. At the end of our journey to our car, the sand is so deep and .... slick. You step in it and sink and slide. I think Jordan and Manuela made it in half the time me and the kids did.

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Although it was a fun and memorable experience, I don't think I want to do that again for at least a few more years.
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I know a lot of the pictures are quite small, so if you would like a closer look at any of them, just click on the picture.