I woke up this morning and it was FRIGID. I was warm under the down blanket, but it got down to about 21 degrees last night and I found frost in my car this morning.
As usual, I grabbed my toiletries to head in to Cracker Barrel. I started walking to the door and WHOOSH I ATE IT. I fell on black ice. No one was around, but two video cameras were pointing at me and I only hope someone at Cracker Barrel can watch my magnificent, graceful fall on replay.
I decided to head north and ended up in Layton that connected to Antelope State Park. It was a beautiful drive and I saw Bison!
I then headed to the Bonneville Salt Flats. Basically, I went from a place with lots of people and pretty wildlife to the dreaded, boring Route 80. It was a boring drive and I had to pee pretty badly, so I stopped at one of the only rest stops (there are very few services between Salt Lake and the Bonneville Flats) only to find it was closed for maintenance. I looked over and saw like 12 port-a-potties and decided I would hold it. I detest port-a-potties. I also detest automatic flushing toilets…I have a weird thing with toilets. There was this cool sign I saw when I started leaving:
If I had time (or if it were earlier in the year, I totally would have looked around for scorpions and snakes.
When I was nearing the Salt Flats, I began wondering if it was worth trekking out 1.5 hours. Some locals (and my dad) recommended checking out The Great Saltair. I asked what the difference was and some locals said The Great Saltair was closer but the salt was more gray whereas the Bonneville Salt Flats were more white. I decided, based on time, that I could go to the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Along the way there, there were some hilarious “art pieces” right along the highway to make the route more fun. For example, someone strapped a fake laughing skeleton with a cowboy hat to a plastic chair sitting and tied a fishing rod to its hands to make it look like it was fishing.
I saw lots of glass bottles made into initials or words, and sadly a handful of crosses to mark people dying there (at least that’s what I could surmise from the crosses and flower posts)
The Bonneville Salt Flats were cool! Definitely a great photoshoot spot and fun to drive on!
The sun began setting so I wanted to get back ASAP. I’ve seen more than a dozen decapitated deer along the highway and I’m terrified I’m going to hit one at nighttime 😓.
I had to stop and get gas and I accidentally hopped on the highway the wrong way going west instead of back east. I was so mad. I had to go 12 miles to the next exit to turn around so it added ~25 min additional to my drive time😡.
Provo, Utah
I got into Provo just fine and got some Pho for dinner. A perfect meal for this chilly day.
After dinner, I walked around historic downtown Provo. Many of the shops had their own charm.
But then I saw this GD sign.
Y’all know how much I despise MLMs. They are super predatory. Seriously, Google “NuSkin MLM Reddit”
I am staying the night in Provo and plan to hit up one of the Mighty 5 (Bryce Canyon) tomorrow and Saint George tomorrow night. Thanks for reading and joining along my journey!
today's memoir 