The Salt Lake

On our way from Yosemite to Yellowstone, we stopped midway in Syracuse, Utah at the Antelope Federal Park. It looked like no one knew it was there, just like another federal park we’ve stayed at a few times in Maryland called Asetique Island. The town of Syracuse, Utah got it’s name because Syracuse, New York was a huge salt producer city and when they started producing the salt there, they named it after that. So we went from Hannibal and Syracuse in different states. Our campsite was a short bike ride up from the “beach” where there’s an entrance to the Salt Lake. The reason I say “beach” is because no one lays out there in the sun or even stays down there too long. There’s billions of microscopic shrimp in the lake, therefore the smell is unbearable in some spots. Grandpa says it’s the smell of life…then life stinks. When we went down I noticed no one had towels or anything in their hand that were headed down there. I decided not to bring my towel and book because we forgot sunscreen so I couldn’t lie out there anyways. The sand looked like it got darker the farther out, and it did unfortunately. The shrimp flies swarm the area because they eat the tiny shrimp. They are blown around because they’re so small and you walk through a layer of them while the others are going around the rest of your body. If you ever go down there run to it water and back, but keep your mouth shut so they don’t fly into it. I’m the one that is afraid of bugs, but Amelia was freaking out about it. I found it funny that we had no idea this is a regular thing here. As soon as you stand still or set anything down they cover it. Once we got in the water they thinned out, and even more when we splashed around. Despite how disgusting the flies are, it is worth it to go in the water. Someone asked us if we were on inner tubes because everyone floats. It’s indescribable and an experience that a lot of people wont have, so if you ever get the chance take it. To top it all off we met the parents of an editor to the new show on MTV called “16 and Pregnant”. Their son’s name is Rob Hales.

Our camper wouldn’t start along with many other issues we’ve been having with it like the AC breaking. So when the smell came in last night, and my bed being the couch near the two biggest windows, I couldn’t shut the windows because it was too hot. I tried sleeping on the floor, spraying perfume on my pillow, and putting blankets over my head. Nothing worked and then I heard footsteps near the camper and a man talking. It freaked me out so much that I woke up my grandparents. My grandpa went to check it out and there were two tenters having a conversation at 2:00am near us. The footstep noise was actually the awning shaking from the smelly breeze. The breeze died down shortly and we took the binoculars outside to look at the stars. The big dipper and the cancer formations were so clear. I saw two shooting stars and wished for the camper to start the next morning on both stars. And sure enough the mechanic came and solved the problem. One of the fuses was blown. The AC still doesn’t work, but we don’t need it where we are now. We’re staying in Idaho about forty minutes away from Montana, and then from there twenty minutes away from Yellowstone.