Move Over Johnny Depp - Salt Flats - Room For All

 Well, I have been writing about all these fun destinations on our road trip. It wouldn't be complete if we didn't include the Salt Flats. 


When I tried to explain what they were to our exchange princess, I had to use the movie "Pirates" as a visual. There is a part in the movie Pirates 2 when Johnny Depp is pulling the boat with a rope on white sand looking stuff. 

I told her to imagine that and take out the boat and the hot actor to imagine what the salt flats is like. 

It is about an hour drive from the west side of the Great Salt Lake. It is extremely large and flat. The land speed races take place there. 


There is a view area where they have rest rooms and a few coke machines as well as a foot wash. 

If you want to have some experience driving on the flats. The first time we went, we went to a gas station just Utah side of Wendover and pulled off into the flats and had the kids drive. 

This time, we just went off the highway but were told after the fact that you can get a ticket if the police catch you. So, we were glad they didn't as there are no signs posted telling you that you can't pull off and drive. There are tire tracks all over so you know it happens often. 

It is VERY bright as the sun reflects off the salt and it is like snow. It can burn you quickly if you stay long. It is also very hot. There is NO shade anywhere. 

I had to laugh at a few things people have taken out and left. There is a fully decorated Christmas tree there. Someone took out AstroTurf, plastic flowers, a short palm tree and a sun chair and left it out in the middle of nowhere. It is like a little oasis but I would hate to be there for more than a few seconds. It almost looks like someone took it all out there for a model shoot and left it. 

To save on gas, I took the little car on our road trip but that made the girls have to drive with a stick shift if they wanted to drive on the Salt Flats. It is VERY bumpy. I will try to upload a video here but as you know, my internet is so slow on the upload that you may get nothing but I will finish writing this and let it upload while I go do something else in hopes you can get an idea of how bumpy the flats are. I would hate to be setting a land speed record on that bumpy stuff but I am sure they flatten it with a roller before doing anything dangerous. 

I was proud of the girls. We didn't have any stalls as they all started out and shifted to second. We did have a stall on the break as she forgot to hit the clutch while stopping but for a first run driving for three of the four princesses, I thought they did a wonderful job. They LOVED their trip to the salt flats. 

If you hadn't noticed, please take another look at the huge smiles on all the girls faces. It was worth the trip. The girls really enjoyed driving and seeing the flats. The salt is terribly sticky and wet and I suggest you don't let anyone sit on the salt as my youngest princess did as it got our seats very salty. 

Also, we didn't wash off our feet before getting back into the car and I had to clean it after the trip. Actually, I beat the rugs on a dumpster in Wendover trying to get some of the salt off as it really sticks to everything. It looks hard on the flats and is somewhat hard but the top layer is soft and sticks to everything. 

Most of it came out with the beating but it would have save the trouble had we used the foot wash available at the rest area. Take sun glasses with you, use the foot wash and enjoy your trip!