Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Mountain Shadows RV Resort, Part II
September 6, 2006
Wednesday we couldn't go visit Steven Jones, since his office hours were on Thursday. I had suggested to Brian that he call Dr. Jones and schedule an appointment, but he was reluctant to do so. I guess it would have been a little awkward. We decided instead to go to Salt Lake City. I already knew how to get there, of course, both the long and the short way. Ugh.
In any case, we set out and drove into the city. We were somehow under the impression that the Great Salt Lake would be within Salt Lake City. After driving around a bit without seeing any signs for this landmark, we pulled into a gas station and asked. They directed us a half hour west of the city. As we drove out into the Utah desert, I searched expectantly for the Salt Lake. I thought I saw it, but couldn't be sure. Then we saw a strange mosque-like building fast approaching. The definition of incongruous, but it must be the Great Salt Lake welcome center! So we pulled in. I think there were maybe four cars there, and none of the doors seemed to be open. Finally, we found one around the back and walked in.
It was dark, high-ceilinged, and empty, or seemed so, and no one answered when we called. After a minute or so of creepy wandering around, we saw a souvenir store within the building. A video about Salt Lake was playing on a monitor, and all the lights were on, but, still, no one was there except one other confused tourist who had also just arrived. Brian, Ian, and Zorah continued to look for someone to ask about the lake while I went to the bathroom. It was around the corner from the store. I found the light switch and harsh fluorescents buzzed on and flickered. I don't know if you have ever seen the movie Silent Hill, or played one of the games, but I was expecting one of the twisted creations from them to jump out of the stalls. Or maybe something from the first Alien movie. Adding to that was Zorah's plaintive voice calling "Mama!" a few times as I was washing my hands.
When I came out of the bathroom from hell, Brian had managed to find an employee! He said that we were free to walk down to and/or into the lake. In the past two days, apparently, the lake had dropped from close to the obvious shoreline, to a level like low tide in Hilton Head. Also in the store was a model of the mosque as it used to be. Seems that the Great Salt Lake was
quite the resort destination at the turn of the century. After a little Wikipedia research, I found out that the place was called Saltair, and was built in 1893. It burned down twice. The horrorshow version we visited was built in 1981, of course to none of the former glory of the original, further evidence that they just don't make things like they used to.
But enough history! We decided to walk down to the water, of course.
Since the water level had dropped so low, we ended up walking quite a long way. I took off my shoes to feel the sand, which was grey to black in color, and dry and crusty with salt. In parts, salt deposits had dried and hardened into sheets which Zorah had fun crumbling with her hands and crunching with her feet. As we walked, it seemed as if wind was blowing a layer of sand across the surface of the beach. But it wasn't sand. It was bugs! Millions of sandflies swirled and eddied away from our feet. I took this picture of them. With the feathers there, it looked like they had all swarmed onto a bird and eaten it. Seriously.
As we came to the water, the sand took on almost a quicksand consistency. If you stood in certain areas, you would sink at least a couple of inches into the fine muck, and a faint
sulphurous smell would rise out of the water as I pulled my feet out and churned up the stuff. The water was nice and warm, though, so Brian and Zorah decided to go swimming. We hadn't planned on it, so they went nudie. Ian and I declined to participate, for obvious reasons.
Fortunately, more people appeared, ant-like at the distance we had to walk to get to the water, so Brian put on his shorts. If you would like me to get rid of this picture, or post it with black rectangles in the appropriate places, feel free to leave a comment stating as much. :-)
Zorah frolicked, sat, splashed, made sandpiles (or muckpiles, as the case may be), and smushed others. She didn't want at all to leave, and had salt crusted on her face, hair, and everywhere else when we left. If you want to see more pictures of the Salt Lake, perhaps the Silent Hill bathroom, or the weird things people drew or made on the beach, feel free to comment.
One other odd thing was that very few of the people who visited while we were there, and took the time to walk out to the water, didn't take off their shoes and wade. I mean, wouldn't you want to see what the water felt like? Maybe with the bugs and Saltair's unique ambience they felt like they would get sick from it. Funny when you consider that it is actually supposed to be a restorative.
So our overall impression of the Great Salt Lake? It would more aptly have been named Lake Eerie. The whole thing, including Saltair, had an alien quality unmatched by anything else I have ever experienced. Close to indescribable and definitely unique, when I think about the Salt Lake, I feel confused. Everyone else must have too, because after that we returned to the comfortable familiarity of our trailer park. LOL.
In any case, we set out and drove into the city. We were somehow under the impression that the Great Salt Lake would be within Salt Lake City. After driving around a bit without seeing any signs for this landmark, we pulled into a gas station and asked. They directed us a half hour west of the city. As we drove out into the Utah desert, I searched expectantly for the Salt Lake. I thought I saw it, but couldn't be sure. Then we saw a strange mosque-like building fast approaching. The definition of incongruous, but it must be the Great Salt Lake welcome center! So we pulled in. I think there were maybe four cars there, and none of the doors seemed to be open. Finally, we found one around the back and walked in.
It was dark, high-ceilinged, and empty, or seemed so, and no one answered when we called. After a minute or so of creepy wandering around, we saw a souvenir store within the building. A video about Salt Lake was playing on a monitor, and all the lights were on, but, still, no one was there except one other confused tourist who had also just arrived. Brian, Ian, and Zorah continued to look for someone to ask about the lake while I went to the bathroom. It was around the corner from the store. I found the light switch and harsh fluorescents buzzed on and flickered. I don't know if you have ever seen the movie Silent Hill, or played one of the games, but I was expecting one of the twisted creations from them to jump out of the stalls. Or maybe something from the first Alien movie. Adding to that was Zorah's plaintive voice calling "Mama!" a few times as I was washing my hands.
When I came out of the bathroom from hell, Brian had managed to find an employee! He said that we were free to walk down to and/or into the lake. In the past two days, apparently, the lake had dropped from close to the obvious shoreline, to a level like low tide in Hilton Head. Also in the store was a model of the mosque as it used to be. Seems that the Great Salt Lake was
quite the resort destination at the turn of the century. After a little Wikipedia research, I found out that the place was called Saltair, and was built in 1893. It burned down twice. The horrorshow version we visited was built in 1981, of course to none of the former glory of the original, further evidence that they just don't make things like they used to.But enough history! We decided to walk down to the water, of course.
Since the water level had dropped so low, we ended up walking quite a long way. I took off my shoes to feel the sand, which was grey to black in color, and dry and crusty with salt. In parts, salt deposits had dried and hardened into sheets which Zorah had fun crumbling with her hands and crunching with her feet. As we walked, it seemed as if wind was blowing a layer of sand across the surface of the beach. But it wasn't sand. It was bugs! Millions of sandflies swirled and eddied away from our feet. I took this picture of them. With the feathers there, it looked like they had all swarmed onto a bird and eaten it. Seriously.As we came to the water, the sand took on almost a quicksand consistency. If you stood in certain areas, you would sink at least a couple of inches into the fine muck, and a faint
sulphurous smell would rise out of the water as I pulled my feet out and churned up the stuff. The water was nice and warm, though, so Brian and Zorah decided to go swimming. We hadn't planned on it, so they went nudie. Ian and I declined to participate, for obvious reasons.Fortunately, more people appeared, ant-like at the distance we had to walk to get to the water, so Brian put on his shorts. If you would like me to get rid of this picture, or post it with black rectangles in the appropriate places, feel free to leave a comment stating as much. :-)
Zorah frolicked, sat, splashed, made sandpiles (or muckpiles, as the case may be), and smushed others. She didn't want at all to leave, and had salt crusted on her face, hair, and everywhere else when we left. If you want to see more pictures of the Salt Lake, perhaps the Silent Hill bathroom, or the weird things people drew or made on the beach, feel free to comment. One other odd thing was that very few of the people who visited while we were there, and took the time to walk out to the water, didn't take off their shoes and wade. I mean, wouldn't you want to see what the water felt like? Maybe with the bugs and Saltair's unique ambience they felt like they would get sick from it. Funny when you consider that it is actually supposed to be a restorative.
So our overall impression of the Great Salt Lake? It would more aptly have been named Lake Eerie. The whole thing, including Saltair, had an alien quality unmatched by anything else I have ever experienced. Close to indescribable and definitely unique, when I think about the Salt Lake, I feel confused. Everyone else must have too, because after that we returned to the comfortable familiarity of our trailer park. LOL.
