Vacation, Lohmann-style
Last week, the Viking and I took our annual ski trip to Utah. I could fill this blog post with pictures like this one, of the majestic slopes of Snowbird where we skied. (Okay, I skied and the Viking snowboarded.) ...
hover background
Last week, the Viking and I took our annual ski trip to Utah. I could fill this blog post with pictures like this one, of the majestic slopes of Snowbird where we skied. (Okay, I skied and the Viking snowboarded.)
But I post pictures like this every March–and when I release books in my Snowdance series. This year, the Viking and I decided to visit a place we’ve never been before, Antelope Island. I lived in Utah for five years and have gone back at least once a year for twenty years. I’d never been to Antelope Island before.
Don’t make my mistake.
The island is only an hour north of Salt Lake. To get on to the island, you drive across a long causeway through the Great Salt Lake. Notice the two difference colors of the water? The side to the left has algae in bloom. The side to the right is the actual color of the water. The Great Salt Lake doesn’t have fish. It has brine shrimp, algae, and brine flies. To get to the island, you have to drive through tornadoes of brine flies. While that doesn’t sound appetizing to me (or you, I assume), the Great Salt Lake is host to hundreds of species of migratory birds stopping for a snack between South/Central America and Canada.
As it’s name implies, Antelope Island is home to Pronghorn (though these had to be reintroduced to the island). There are also mule deer, Bighorn sheep, coyotes, jackrabbits, and bison. Bison aren’t native to the island, but were introduced. The only mammals we saw were the bison, but we were lucky enough to see those up close.
I would have liked to have seen Pronghorn, but I’m not complaining. What the trip was missing in animals, it made up for in views.
The pictures are pretty–but they don’t do it justice! There were moments when the Viking and I gasped because the view was so good. It was like the Scottish Highlands or Basque lands. The hikes and views were something out of a nature documentary–and it was all an hour from where I went to high school.
Sometimes, you take what’s close to you for granted. Travelling around the Intermountain West with the Viking, I’m learning all about the amazing places that I have taken for granted all these years.
