Utah

Trip recap!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I flew into Utah on Friday morning. It was actually kind of cool, because I had a window seat and we flew over the Great Salt Lake to get in. Of course, as I gazed down at the pretty, the other half of my brain was recalculating where the nearest exit was and poking around under my seat for the life jacket and reminding myself that a crash was NOT very likely--1 in 11 million-- and that, if at some point in my life I was going to be involved in a plane crash, now would be the time, as my grandma told me that you can **float** very easily in the Great Salt Lake...also, we were so close to a city...and on the descent, so it wouldn't be as far down?

But, obviously I landed just fine! As I de-planed (deplaned?), I could not help but stop and stare out the windows at all of the mountains!

I went to this crazy ass park:



And then I went to the Trolley Market, which was quite nice. I also gained a great amount of respect for living in an area that is not surrounded by dessert and mountains, as my pint of Blueberries does not regularly cost $7.99. I was really disappointed in the main public library, which was described as big and shiny, but was kind of dingy. They need to wash the windows more often. Fortunately, a glorious city building was across the street. Love it!



From there I toddled off to Temple Square. Having just finished watching a season of Big Love, it was a bit surreal. Lame: they do not let you into the Temple unles you are a Mormon going to service. Lamer: they cancelled the Organ recital for the day. Cool: I met a pair of British women and we chatted at great length about how silly Mormons are and how much we like Chicago--they think New York is dirty. Hee.




Then I shot up to Antelope Island State Park. Best. Idea. Ever. As the name indicates, it is an island. This island in the Great Salt Lake just so happens to be linked to the main land by a ballin' causeway.




The views were sublime and the island had lots of fun rocks to climb all over:



Then I went into the lake! Yay! It was treacherous to get there, because I took my shoes off to walk in the sad, which also happened to be a sharp-pointy-rock-mine-field. Lame. But I made it!



I went up another trail to a lookout point. Then I followed the signs for Buffalo corrals. Apparently these corrals were not in use at the time, as not a single buffalo was present. It was getting to be time for me to leave and then I had a genious idea. I prayed to Saint Francis of Assisi. You know, the guy with all of the animal friends. Not to be sacreligious, but I really think that this is where Disney got the whole animal princess idea. ANYWAY, it worked:




In summary: Utah = Success.