Antelope Island with Ana

     Today we set out for another adventure further afield. We thought it would be fun for Ana to see and learn about the Great Salt Lake while also seeing the American Bison roaming like they used to. Our first stop was the little museum where the boys had a great time with the hands on displays of bones, horns, salt and rocks. They learned about the salinity of the Lake (27% at it's highest concentration, compared to the ocean's 3.5% and the Dead Sea's 33.7%. 

     Then we headed to the beach for our Little Caesars picnic. Little did we know what was in store for us once we started the LONG trek to the water. Poor Tiago was the first to start crying and that's when I saw them. Tiny little black biting flies all in his hair. I could then see clouds of them and we ran a painful run to the water's edge. Painful because we'd left our shoes at the van and the 'sand' was hard and crusty with salt and rocks. Ouch. Once we got to the water, we saw more flies. Paranoia set in. Tiago was miserable and I felt helpless in protecting him. I should've come prepared for he and I to get in the water, but I only had suits for Dez and Cai. They escaped to the water and had fun catching brine shrimp. Ana got in as well and was surprised at how warm it was. Definitely warm enough to take a swim, which I hadn't anticipated. I walked around as much as jean shorts and a baby in my arms allowed. Soon enough, it was back to the misery of the shore. I tried to cover Tiago as much as possible before the sprint up the never-ending beach back to the van. Somehow, Cai didn't realize he was supposed to wrap himself in his towel and he was soon crying and throwing a fit while being attacked by the evil biting gnats. That was definitely part of the adventure I'd like to forget, but we'll have to remember it so if we ever come back, we can time our trip when it is NOT "no see-um" or brine fly season. 

     We were so sapped from the beach experience that we just drove around a bit to see the bison. No more hiking and chance encounters with biting bugs for us! Just driving, snapping photos, and picking up our souvenir bottle of salt from the Great Salt Lake.

     On our way out, we stopped at a WalMart for Ana to do some more shopping. I needed to feed and change Tiago and figured that would be the perfect timing for her to do some shopping, but...an hour plus later, we finally saw her. I had to remind myself how interesting it is to go shopping when I'm in other countries. It's not like you have a list...you kind of want to see EVERYTHING. Pretty sure she went down every aisle just to check things out ;)