Antelope Island State Park

While I was writing my last blog post, I couldn't help noticing the Chips Ahoy truck sitting idle on the highway a distance from our window. He was sitting there for about an hour, I'm assuming doing something related to the construction going on next door. Snacks, maybe? Whatever the case, I started thinking he was mocking me with his pictures of yummy Chips Ahoy cookies. I can recall eating them by the bag full with a big glass of milk when I was younger and able to get away with that kind of behavior.

Heading out and back toward home, we passed through some flat, flat, flat land in Utah. When we reached the notch where one passes through the Wasatch Mountain Range, the landscape started looking more like what we'd been seeing earlier...only minus the red color.

This portion of the drive was lovely.

We began to see red fall color dotting the hillsides.

After a harrowing drive on I-15 through Provo, Salt Lake City, and various other Utah urban areas (lots of traffic, driving really FAST), we finally made the turn off at Syracuse, Utah, toward our final destination of Antelope Island State Park. This was quite a treat.

Antelope Island is the largest island in the Great Salt Lake and home to free-roaming herds of bison, mule deer, and pronghorn antelope. Also, there are California Big Horn Sheep, although we didn't see any. Passing through the gate, this sign was posted, so mind your manners.

Our campground reservation also covered the fee to cross the causeway to the island. We worried before leaving Moab about this road since it was described as "narrow." I could find nothing that warned us about RV's using the road, and so we decided to go ahead. It turned out to be perfectly fine and even had wide bike lanes on both sides.

We stopped off at the Visitor's Center where I scored a refrigerator magnet and a shot glass. From there, we had a nice view of the causeway we'd just crossed.

Looking in the opposite direction, we could see one of the other islands in the Great Salt Lake.

Now what's going on here? Well, they're waiting for Mike to hang the catio, of course. Cats have not been endowed with a great deal of patience.

Our campsite was truly lovely. Here's a pano of the surrounding area, taken standing on our concrete and covered patio slab.

We could see the same island off in the distance, and there was a path leading out to the lake.

It didn't look as if it was very far to walk. The lake level is down right now, this being the end of the summer season. It was something of a mirage, however. A portion of the path was soft sand, and the farther we walked, the farther away the lake seemed. Along the way, we passed this very large buoy left high and dry by receding waters.

Standing at the lake's edge, it was beautiful. The Great Salt Lake is the largest lake west of the Mississippi River, and one of the saltiest lakes in the world. I had the great pleasure of going for a swim here, when I was 18 years old, and indeed, one does bob like a cork while in the water.

Salinity levels are too high to support most aquatic species. However, brine shrimp, brine flies and several types of algae thrive in the lake and are a primary food source for millions of migrating birds.

Prehistoric people inhabited the island more than 6,000 years ago. More recently, Fielding Garr established the first permanent residence on the island in 1848. It was inhabited until 2002, making it the longest continually-inhabited residence built by a settler. Now, it is available for visiting.

Looking east from where we were standing, it looked like this. It was very pretty and peaceful here, and the campground was very, very nice. We would definitely return here, although there is a warning that invisible biting flies (also known as "noseeums") are present during the months of April through June. We found some hungry mosquitoes at our campsite, which was kind of surprising because the nearest standing water was at the lake, quite some distance away. Also, one would have expected the breezy weather to offer some protection.

Looking back from where we stood, we could see our camper just above the buoy we'd passed on our way out.

Back at our campsite, I noticed these little yellow flowers growing all around. They look like dandelions, but they are a succulent of some kind.

As the sun set, we were treated to a colorful sky.

Day is done.

This morning, we awakened to cloudy skies and some rain. We had a short day of driving today, and so I spent some time on my slow stitching. Now the chicken is completely stitched.

I can't quite fit all of the remaining portions into my hoop, and so I'm starting with the vine on the left.

Looks like I'll have plenty of stitching to take me back home.

As we were leaving the park, we passed by several bison grazing near the lake's edge.

Returning on the causeway, we saw the millions of migrating birds mentioned earlier.

We were heading north to the state line with Idaho. Along the way, we passed by several abandoned structures.

Eventually, we crossed the state line.

We find ourselves at a state-owned RV park in Heyburn, Idaho. This is a very nice park with reasonable fees, and we've stayed here many times before. There is a lovely river walk along the Snake River. I blogged about during a previous stay.

Here, Smitty is positioning himself as inconveniently as possible. A long cat, it's fairly easy for him to take up all the available floor space if he gets a mind to.

We have a longer drive tomorrow, and we'll end our day in John Day, Oregon, at another park where we've stayed many times. The next day...home, sweet home.

I'll keep blogging as I can, but cell and internet are always iffy in these out-of-the-way places. I could have written this post this morning except for the little matter of no electricity. We'll have electricity in John Day, but I'm not sure about cell or internet. So, I'll just keep on keeping on until we get home.

Right now, I have an appointment to bake a skillet cookie. With just a few days left on our vacation, it seems a good way to end the trip.