Our Spiral Jetty Adventure

Yesterday (Sunday) we went with friends to explore the Spiral Jetty. I studied it at Wellesley College in art history way back when and it was fun to actually see it. Plus I loved learning about the artist and his work with the kids before heading out there (thanks, Wikipedia). I love how art makes you think. I love creativity. I love that the artist, Smithson, got this crazy idea of building a spiral jetty and actually made his idea into reality.

Here's how the Spiral Jetty looks when it's fully exposed (with salt crust all around)

The Jetty was partially submerged thanks to all the snow runoff from our crazy wet winter but it was still quite remarkable and there's something other-worldly about the silvery stillness of the Great Salt Lake. After having people ask me all my life about the Great Salt Lake when I said I was from Salt Lake City (it seems most people around the world learn about this lake in geography at some point...) and having no personal experience to share, I've got a couple now (yesterday's Spiral Jetty and a great trip to Antelope Island last May that I really should blog about someday...).

Here's how it looked yesterday

It was a beautiful day. There's nothing like the sun in the fall when there's enough coolness in the air that the sun us always so welcome.

We all headed out to explore.

Some people (my boys) got WAY out there!

Sometimes it looked like we were walking on water.

Oliver tripped as he waded and ended up with a bunch of nasty super-salt water mixed with dead brine shrimp in his mouth and nose. He declared that he felt like he was going to die. But after a lot of spitting and nose-blowing and some nice hot chocolate one we reached the shore, he did survive.

I didn't pack well for the outing. The water would be freezing and I thought the kids would just wade so I had them wear shorts and sandals and didn't bring extra clothes. Silly me. Of course they were going to insist on getting all the way out to the end of the jetty and end up getting totally wet. But they stripped down to their undies and put on the sweatshirts I brought with towels around their waists (or an attractive mini-skirt look in the case of the twins) and all was well.  All was especially good when our friends pulled out a little camp stove and whipped up some hot chocolate for everyone.

See that nice salt crust on their faces and their lovely mini skirts?

We all ended up crusted with salt - at first, it made our skin glisten like we were covered with glitter - then it turned into piles of salt in ears and solidified on legs.  So interesting.

this was after I wiped off the hot chocolate all over his chin - there was way more salt!

for once, we remembered to have someone take a photo of the photographers!
 (plus our fearless hot chocolate maker and Kaleigh who was wandering by
- when you have kids take photos for you, you never know what'll end up in the photo!)

I'm so grateful for friends who plan great outings like this and who are up for some wild adventures!

We left as the sun was starting to dip and everything was going golden.