God's Highway 111 - "Bugged" at the Great Salt Lake

 Of course, on our road trip through the west, we had to visit the Great Salt Lake. I went there once as a small child and walked for about a mile out into the lake to not get any deeper than my waist. I tried to lay down and do the float thing but just remember the water was stinky and I was disappointed at the event. 


Flash forward. A few years ago, I made the trek to take my girls to Antelope Island and let them experience the lake for themselves. They enjoyed it about as much as I did. However, I couldn't let Princess number six Exchange Student come all this way and not experience it for herself. 


When I was an exchange student and people found out I was from the west, they always asked about the "Salt Lake" and if I really couldn't drown. I told them about my experience as I remembered it but thought we should let the exchange student go home and tell everyone for herself. 

I didn't want to make the extra drive to do the Island as there wasn't anything exciting that way so we did the other end of the lake. It was $2 park fee to get into the parking lot where there is a boat ramp. I was excited to see "Saltair" which was a dance hall many years ago but was rebuilt after it was destroyed. It was closed. 
 
We stopped along the highway view area and Princess 6 was excited as the lake looked like the ocean to her. She was happy to go... That was until she stepped out of the air conditioned car. :-) We tried to warn her but in reality, until you smell it yourself, you won't believe it. It smells like rotten fish. The brine shrimp lay on the beach rotting and the flies are something to see. As you can see by my foot picture, they attack as soon as you stop moving for 1 second. It looks like the beach is moving but it is just the flies. Millions of them.  

There were a few other crazy people there trying to walk the miles out to where you could try to float but we didn't witness anyone further than their thigh and they were kids. The smell and the flies keep most from going out long. In the picture above if you look at the shore line, you can see the lines of dead shrimp on the sand edge. The red lines on the white sand. 

Those of you who are headed to the west, take a boat ride rather than spending time on the beach. There are sail boats that enjoy the lake and there is a ferry type boat ride that does evening runs if it is still up and running. I haven't had the opportunity to go on that excursion yet. 

In the end, the day wasn't a complete waste as we got to drive on "God's highway" Highway 111 to get to the lake. I thought it was great. The same day, we saw a truck with a 111 license plate. Sure was a great day!