The Samford Gazette

He loves me... He loves me not... Ah, heck! I'll just see if he's willing to carry me across a waterless desert. ;)
James has an amazing arm for skipping rocks!

Chrissee walked out to a sand bar and did a little dance to show that she could.

Salt Air looks like a mirage in the middle of the desert.

Sunday we had a little adventure in the desert. We were told that the salt in the Great Salt Lake makes the water so dense, you can float rocks on it. So, we went to investigate. There's so much road construction right now in Utah that we were a little lost in all of the detours. (We decided the person in charge of clearly marking road closures isn't getting paid enough to actually DO the job.) But,we finally made it! I had chosen the SaltAir Palace because I thought the building would be amazing in closeup. Sadly, we were disappointed. It's very much like a werehouse with copper domes on the top. Very strange. But, we walked out to the water. It was only 46'F when we left the house, but the sun and the salty air reminded me of the Pacific Ocean. Everything was interesting. The way the salt encrusted sand peeled and crumbled in your hands. The random remnant articles of clothing (mostly shoes, but some denim) straggled across the dried out beach. The foam - piles of tight spaced saltwater bubbles rolled out on the beach. The choppy waves. The toy-sized sailboats on the horizon. The seagulls lined up on the sand bars squawking "MINE!" The snakelike coils of sand lining the shore. It was a beautiful day.

Of course, I was ill-prepared for little ones that thought sitting in the Great Salt Lake was a good idea in that weather. Gabriella ended up walking out carrying her pants in one hand. James tested the floating rock theory (caught on tape) and Chrissee announced that "Science LIES!" Our final note was my pretending to die of thirst in the desert. Good times. We're thinking everyone should join us on our adventures, but then they wouldn't be family times.