Hand Hug: Antelope Island

Trying to take advantage of my unemployment, so on Shane's day off we took a drive up to Antelope Island!

Having never been to Utah before we moved here, everything is new and exciting. I knew that the Great Salt Lake would be large and salty, but driving onto the island blew me away. I felt like I was back on the East Coast! The salty smell and ocean breeze (well lake breeze) was overwhelming and unexpected. Seagulls were everywhere! I guess I didn't really know what to expect, but it made me feel peaceful and at home.

We did very little research before taking this drive. We assumed antelope would be on the island, but had no idea what else to expect. You pay $10 per car to get onto the island, and make sure you have gas so you can drive around and explore!

Behind this Bison to the left you can see the path you take out to the island. Weird they have this big Buffalo here right? Hum??

The first stop we made was to Bridger Bay. You can park your car and walk out to the beach. If you want to float on the Great Salt Lake, this is the place they are directing you (on this island anyway). Being the tourists that we are, we were ready to float. Bathing suites and water shoes were on! This was happening!

We trekked down through salty sand plains until we reached the beach. This is where we saw something odd... as the seagulls at the edge of the shoreline would move a giant cloud of black smoke would puff up. Weird right? We got closer to the water to find out what it was and were not happy with the answer. Millions of flies! If you come within five feet of the shoreline you are sure to be swarmed by them. We unfortunately found this out first and and ran holding our breaths and plugging our noses away from the madness. People on their way out stopped to watch and then promptly turned around having scene enough. Notice in my picture above that there is a family in the water. I am thinking once you get past the flies you are safe and I am sure they are having a jolly old time out there, but we were unimpressed and really no longer in the mood to float around peacefully in the lake. I would recommend not taking the walk out to the beach and just enjoying the beauty from a distance. There is much more to this island that you can enjoy. Spare yourself from being attacked by the flies!!

Next stop was up to Buffalo Point! Here you get a beautiful view of the lake. Maybe even a good photo op!