Sunday, July 19, 2009

The Great Salt Lake Adventure

Today in RS, I announced my "good news" minute. "Yesterday I swam in the Great Salt Lake," I said proudly. "Ew. Sick. Gross," was the simultaneous response. Everyone knows that only uninformed out-of-staters actually try swimming in the Great Salt Lake. We wanted to check it out though and see if it really was as gross as everyone says. It couldn't possibly be as gross as some of the stuff I have waded through in slot canyons.
We first stopped at the Visitor Center on Antelope Island. We didn't see any antelope, but there were TONS of giant spiders. I'm not exaggerating. They were huge and there were tons of them lining the walk to the building, in the over hangs, on the windows, and in the bathroom. SICK! I couldn't really handle it, so we moved on to the beach. After a lovely picnic, we headed down to the water. The final 10 feet to the shore is COVERED with tiny black flies. You have to hold your breath and run, stepping on them as you go. Safely in the water now, all you have to worry about is tiny brine shrimp and the dead flies floating on the surface... any any open wounds. Once we got out to where we couldn't touch anymore, it really wasn't that bad. In fact, it was really cool. You really do just float. You can 'stand' completely verticle without treading water and just bob there. We stayed out there for a long time, just chillin. Fortunately, they provide showers there too. So we could rinse the salt off before heading home.
There. Now I can cross that one off my list. Have you been swimming in the Great Salt Lake?



There might be flies on some of you guys, but there aint no flies on me.

Yep. That's a floating Sasha.


7 comments:

Laura-Lu said...

First of all I hate those spiders. They look even worse than the ones at QuicKutz which is saying a lot (I feel another nightmare coming on).

Secondly I have been in the great Salt Lake... your report is accurate.

Mike Walton said...

Is that a water Sasha is see?! Haha, great post. And I think those spiders are normal size and that sign is tiny.

David and Mary Walton said...

That flip-flop picture is really gross. I saw the pictures of this event put on Facebook too, and the one of the spiders there was even worse than this one.! You are a brave girl, Amy.

Amy Silva said...

Yeah, even with my zoon lens, I couldn't handle being that close to the spiders. I just snapped one picture and walked away.

Dan said...

Wow, the flies are amazing. Those flip flops look like the decaying carcass of an old pair of shoes.

Lisa said...

Very impressed with the water Sasha. I don't think it's ever been done before... even by Sasha. Sounds like a great adventure to cross off your list... but I'm not sure you've convinced me to try it.

Elisa said...

gross. cool. yuck. awesome.