I hoped that we would see a lot of wildlife and amazing natural wonders on this trip to Utah & Yellowstone. Excited and ready, I went to bed anticipating what the next few weeks were going to be like. We woke up at 4:00 am, loaded the car, and headed to the airport. On the way there I almost fell asleep because I was not used to waking up this early. We got onto the plane after what felt like 5 hours, and then waited another hour to take off. FINALLY we left and headed to Atlanta to catch another plane headed to Salt Lake City.
SALT LAKE CITY!
We were going really far, but 130 years ago, ( when the Picturesque Book was written) it must have been REALLY tough. No kidding! We were in a plane, and they would be on foot or horse. It must have taken them WEEKS at a time and with us, just a few hours.
After flying for 3 hours I was ready to go and do stuff! So we rented a car and went to our first stop – Antelope Island! (In the great Salt Lake)
We headed into a information center to learn more about it before we headed to the shore.
We learned that only TWO things could survive in the lake, Brine shrimp and small flies, and that the lake was so salty you could float in it. When we headed down to the beach we definitely found the flies that would make huge clouds as you walked the shoreline. The beach had reeds at the top and lots of big round stone laying about. The edge of the water-BLEH it was GROSS! Icky green slimy gunk dead fly mush is pretty much what it was. So I did not go in deep enough to try to float.
Eww…
The shrimp, on the other hand, were harder to find because they were nearly transparent. We found small pools of warm water and it ended up that they were in those pools! They were so tiny but you could easily pick them up out of the water. I was so fascinated by these little shrimp, they had a hint of orange and they aren’t like the normal shrimp you think of, they had this almost hummingbird like tail, and a pincher like mouth. They are one of the only sources of food for the birds there.
Look closely for the brine shrimp!
Soon enough, we had to head back. We hiked a small, mosquito infested trail for some exercise on the way down me and my brother were inside our shirts hiding from them. At the top of the mountain/ hill, there were no misquotes and there were some awesome rock formations. My brother and I climbed all over them looking out over the majestic lake.
Going to look out at the lake!
On the way back we saw our first bison and antelope! I was just stunned to see a REAL bison! I was so happy to finally see some wildlife not from where I live.
Bison!
A little later, we heard the sound of something hitting the front of the car, it sounded like rain, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky! When we got to the hotel we found out that it was swarms of the flies because the car was covered in them. We headed in to the hotel, ate and went to bed. I was pretty tired because of all the experiences we had that day. I was ready to get a good night’s sleep.
Grayson Varn