Spiral Jetty and that Salty, Salty Lake

I've been wanting to go to the Spiral Jetty for awhile now. It was on my list when we did the summer of Utah randomness, but we never made it up there. It's about 3 hours away, and I didn't know if it would be worth the drive on a hot, summer day. Life has seemed pretty busy, crazy, and little bit stressful lately, so we decided to take a spontaneous road trip overnight on Friday. We told the kids we were all going to dinner, and they thought that was weird at 4:00 in the afternoon. Anyway, they weren't super jazzed to learn where we were going, because most parents surprise their children with trips to Disneyland. Ha.

We spent the night in Brigham City, watched some cable TV in the hotel room, swam, ate, and yesterday headed out to the desolate wilderness to see Spiral Jetty. I packed coordinating clothes just in case a photo opportunity presented itself, and boy howdy, did it ever. The jetty itself is pretty cool. It's just weird and different, and so very far away from all the things. The Great Salt Lake, however, is spectacular. Also weird and different and so far away from things. It's such a crazy, awesome landscape out there. We walked around the jetty, which only takes a few minutes. Right now, the lake is about 1/2 mile out from the jetty, so the ground is dry and salty. We walked to the edge of the water, and the kids had to get in and play and splash, and dig in the salty sand.

The weather was true perfection at 64 degrees! We lucked out. The day couldn't have been more perfect. Our whole family enjoyed it out there, which is really saying something. These days, enjoyment for everyone is difficult to come by. After a tiny bit of coercion, we got this cool family pic. Everyone was a salty mess by the end, but it was totally worth it.