Antelope Island

We took a spontaneous little trip to Antelope Island State Park a week or two ago. We were only there for half a day, but it was so much fun! We loved driving around and enjoying the beautiful scenery and wildlife! It was so relaxing, I don't know how we both grew up so close to this state park without ever having visited it before!

  

This was also the first time (that I know of) that I actually visited the Great Salt Lake (Whaaaaaaat???). I was surprised at how clear the water was, and I definitely had to use the showers to rinse off my hands and legs when I was done wading around. All the moisture from my skin was sucked dry in the salty water and it was a horrible, itchy feeling. Jon was smart and didn't get wet.

We also got front row seats to a buffalo sighting! We were just driving along, there were no other cars around, and boom! This guy just decides to cross right in front of us! We got so excited we just stopped and watched him for a long time before a couple other cars of gawkers joined us. It was nice to have our own private show for a while though!

Buffalo Herd

TONS of Brine Flies. Blah.

The beach was swarming with brine flies. They were so annoying. Everywhere you stepped it looked like the ground was moving. Just watch the ground in front of Jon here:

While climbing around a large cliff area, we came across a lot of BIG, fast, spiders. I hate spiders. But the webs that these ones were making were SO beautiful, we had to stop the car for some pictures. Walking through the brush to get some close ups, I needed to have Jon watch my feet and legs to make sure that none of the nasty spiders climbed on me while I was busy snapping away with the camera.

(shudder)

After our spider-picture taking, we decided to climb down the rocks to watch the sunset. The rocks were covered with spiders, and we obviously didn't want those big things crawling on or biting us! But Jon, the spider king, was able to navigate a way for us down the rocks that avoided spiders! It was amazing, because it was a nearly impossible thing to do in the first place! Jon was wearing the backpack, and I just held onto the back of it and let him lead the way. 

Sunsets on the Great Salt Lake are perfect. Although we did get eaten alive by mosquitos. I counted at least 17 bites in the next week, and it was a miserable, itchy several days to have to endure. But was that sunset worth it? YES!

Next time we come we plan to be a little more prepared so we can go hiking, and we hope to bring our bikes up too! We thought it was a beautiful place to spend a day, as long as you avoid the bugs!