Salt Salt Salt

Today we took the lite rail which stopped right in front of our campground to downtown Salt Lake City.  We saw Temple Square which included a short organ recital in the Tabernacle.

We ate lunch across from the square at Blue Lemon.  It was really fast and really good food.  I would go there a lot if it was available in Iowa.

We visited the marina at the Great Salt Lake.  We learned a lot about the lake.  It has no fish (like the Dead Sea) only brine shrimp and brine flies.  It is between 14 - 25% salt.  The ocean is only 3.5 % salt.  The lake is actually salty because there are 3 rivers that flow into it, but none that flow out.  The water then evaporates and leaves the salt minerals.  Essentially it is like a dirty, salty puddle.

Originally we were planning to stay for 2 nights in Salt Lake City and drive 10 hours to Klamath Falls, OR tomorrow.  We decided after along day of driving yesterday that 10 hours (which would likely be more like 13-14 hours for us) was too much for one day.  We were able to cancel our second night at KOA in SLC and get a late check out for only $5.  Tonight we drove 2 hours to the border of NV and UT.

On our drive today we saw the Bonneville Salt Flats!!  They were really interesting.  It was like walking on snow that is really sticky and does not melt.  It was also 100 degrees outside and the sun was blinding out on the white salt surface.  As a side note, we drove 50 miles on a flat straight line on I-80 before getting to the salt flats.  I don't think I've ever driven that long in a straight line with no elevation change before today.

Tomorrow is our big day of driving, probably the longest of our entire summer....528 miles.

John's bike ride today:

Campsite tonight: