The Salt Flats of Bonneville

Peter, Jonathan and Robin at the Bonneville Salt Flats, 8 August 2015

I have an unwritten bucket list of Utah things- either things in the state, or in a bordering state. Now that the time is potentially coming that we might move from Utah (no word yet on anything), I am feeling a need to get through some of this bucket list so I don't feel like we missed out on our time here. One of the things on this mental list was to go see the Bonneville Salt Flats.

One Saturday, we did it! Peter slept almost the whole way up and much of the way back. I was grateful for his napping because it's about an hour and a half drive, and a sleeping boy for that drive is much easier. Also it was nice because then Jonathan and I had a good time of a drive to talk about important things and just spend time with each other without a small person interrupting every 5 seconds. It was a pretty drive and we saw the Morton salt factory on the way. We also saw this cool sculpture:

Jonathan and Peter walking towards the "Tree of Utah" sculpture
Read more about it here.

We wanted to stop at this sculpture that we'd read about online. Maybe it looks weird, but it's pretty cool. You drive along to the same desolate yet beautiful views then out of nowhere, there is a this sculpture that grows as you near it. We just pulled off on the side of the road, there isn't any parking lot or anything, just pull over, and look in awe at this massive strange structure. Each of the big spheres are covered in minerals and rocks from a different part of Utah. 

Peter woke up when we were about 5 minutes away, so it was perfect timing to let him out of the car and eat a sandwich while he wandered around. He and Jonathan touched the water, and played on the "boat" a little bit and got some wiggles out before we finished the rest of the drive. 

Peter and his "Boat"

It's gorgeous. We went on the most perfect day.

As we got closer to the salt flats, the ground got whiter and whiter. It looked like it had snowed. It was such a stark contrast to the dark mountains. 

I love that this picture almost looks like it's split into two different pictures, but it's not!

We got to the official Salt Flats area, we wandered out past the dirt and into the salt. It was the strangest thing to me. The texture was very different than I expected it to be. It looks like snow, but it's not that feel at all. I thought it would be super grainy, and that I'd be able to kick it around. I imagined it would be more like someone had thrown down tons of loose table salt and the ground would be more movable. Instead, it was dense and crunchy. It was a little wet in some spots, and those areas were a bit mushy. It had a lot more texture than I expected. 

Salty Texture

Peter loved the mushy salt the best.

It was eerie to just wander around the salt flats because it looks like nowhere else I've ever wandered. It was so bright white with huge mountains around. It was so barren. No trees, so animals, just a handful of tourists amazed by salt. Kinda weird. Also, Peter started eating it, so we had to keep an eye on him. 

I really wanted to get some good family pictures while we were there. Unfortunately, I didn't make us do them until we were done and ready to go home. So, Peter was a little crazy and not loving the idea of standing still. But, luckily, we had a digital camera, so we could just take a ton of pictures and check them on the spot, and once one was pretty good, we called it a day. 

Best family picture of the day with a wiggly two and a half year old.

Maybe this one is the best, everyone is looking at the camera!

It was a fun time at the Bonneville Salt Flats. We went, we saw, we all left happy. Peter slept some of the way home. We stopped near Tooele, and grabbed some food in the quietest McDonalds we've ever visited and took advantage of their play place to give Peter some more running time. We did some errands in Salt Lake which included buying our new tent and sleeping pad, and going to the maternity clothes store to exchange a pair of white pants I've been terrified to wear and get some shirts for excellent clearance prices. Then, after a long long day, we headed home. 

He is the most handsome.
"Hipster enough for the hipster club?" -Jonathan-

4th of July Parade!

Provo City Parade!

We got to the parade around 8:15 am, and had an hour before the parade was going to start, but that was a great decision because the parade route was filling up fast! We found great seats though! We were right across from the Provo City Library. Also, they had a "pre-parade" which kept Peter fantastically entertained during the wait time. I really don't understand what a pre-parade is...it seemed just like a regular parade. There was a firetruck, and people giving out candy. Peter got a little Chick-fil-a stuffed cow and a fire hat. He learned to wave to all the people, and almost learned how to go grab candy- he was a little hesitant about getting it, but loved eating it.  

Fire Marshal Peter

 Jonathan went and got "breakfast" for us. Basically he walked down the street until he found something open- it was Subway. Sandwiches for breakfast is okay with me! (Actually, I really love Subway, and was thrilled when we found one in China, and found that it tasted just like America.) By the time he got back, we only had a little bit of time to kill before the actual parade. So, we ate and entertained Peter and then soon enough, the real parade started!

Peter loved waving at all his parade friends.

Leading the band with Lisa and Louis!

Peter most loved the high school marching bands (there were 12 total, and Peter loved them all), the ponies, the police motorcycles and the firetrucks. There were also military vehicles for all of the big wars, the Provo and Orem missionaries, a couple of parade balloons, floats for Ms. Provo (and tons of other nearby cities, cars for the mayor and governor, BYU and UVU had groups, storm troopers, theatre groups, and a bunch of other businesses. It was pretty fantastic. One of the theatre groups had everyone in costumes- princesses, Aladdin, Peter Pan, the cast of Wizard of Oz, the cast of Mary Poppins, and so many more. That was fun to see!

WWII half track

 Our friend Louis and Lisa came to the parade and sat with us for the last half of the parade. They are getting married this weekend, and we won't be able to come to their wedding, so it was great to get to spend some time with them on the 4th. They always try to get Peter to love them- and when he was a baby, that was a cinch, but now that he is older, he is not always willing to go to anyone. But, they sure try! They are great with him, and he had a fun time watching the parade with them. He got one fingernail painted red by Lisa, some candy, and lots of tickles and snuggles.

Enjoying the parade with Uncle Louis

The bands were his favorite. He would dance to the music.

Making friends with the neighbors.

Peter is in a phase right now where he wants to be friends with people, all people, regardless of their feelings toward him. He will say hi to any kid that he sees and wants to know their name. He constantly says, "What's that name?" (we're working on changing that to What's his/her name?) When Peter was dancing to one of the bands, this man with the green umbrella caught his attention. The man started leading the music with his umbrella- up and down, up and down. And Peter started to copy him- his little hand began to go up and down. So then the man moved his hand left to right, left to right. And Peter moved his hand in the same way. Then the man twisted his hand, and Peter twisted his hand. It was great. Then Peter asked, "What's your name?" The guy said, "I'm Mark. What's your name?" And Peter said, "I'm Peter." And then Peter just stood there and watched the guy for a good minute without saying anything. Kids are so awkward, and so fantastic.

We had a great time at the parade. Peter made some friends and saw some cool things. We got to see our friends, and eat some great sandwiches. We got to have one last hurrah in Provo on the 4th of July. Maybe we'll be here next year, and give it another time, but in case we are gone, I'll know we had a great 4th of July this year.

After the parade, we visited our friends, Crystal and Ben and their boys Marshal and Noah (Noah was just a couple weeks old, and these guys lived in Nanjing with us). Peter and Marshal are the same age and they play great together. I got to hold baby Noah and be reminded how small babies start out. This family is moving to California at the end of the month, so I'm really glad we got to see them before they move.

 Then, we headed to Aunt Jean's house, and ate lunch while we visited with Jean and Arlean. These two ladies are some of my favorite sisters to be with. They have so many amazing stories and are so much fun to be around.

Then, we had one last visit with Lisa and Louis before heading back to Bountiful. After they get married, they are headed to Philadelphia, so again, it was great that we got to spend so much time with them before they head east. Everyone is going a million places.  I was glad we got to see so many of our friends while we were down there. It made for a really long day, but it was worth it.

The 4th of July was fantastic. We had a blast!

Hot Air Balloons!

We started the 4th of July really early. Jonathan and I were up by 5:15am with the goal of leaving the house by 5:30. We left by 5:40, so we were off to a good start. We left so early because I really wanted to see the Balloon Festival in Provo. I had seen so many fun pictures of my Provo friends at the Balloon Festival where about 20 hot air balloons get inflated in a big field and then take off and do some air games (dropping bean bags on targets and jousting regular balloons- not other hot air balloons), and then they all go for a float around the valley. I saw so many cool pictures, and since we don't know if we will be in Utah next year, I really really wanted to take advantage of our proximity and head down to Provo. Also, I wanted to have at least one more time at the parade in Provo. Provo does an extremely good job celebrating the 4th of July, and I wanted one more go with this city I'd grown to love and now miss. 

Peter slept like a champ the whole way down and we got to the field before any of the balloons started inflating! I was super excited to be there and see the balloons, and I knew Peter would love it once everything got started. 

Starting to inflate the balloons 

 One of the coolest things was that you could walk among the balloons in the field. We thought we would be sitting on the sidelines of the action, but in reality we were right in the middle of everything. We just roamed around as all the balloons were growing and inflating.

Balloons are growing!

Peter was mesmerized. 

Demonstration of the burner!

 We learned that the balloons were a little late going up due to winds and possible rain coming. As a spectator, it didn't seem like there was that much wind, but we figured these guys do this way more than we do, so they should probably be the ones to make all the decisions. It was amazing to walk among all the balloons as they were inflating. There were so many colors dancing in the sky. It was neat too to watch them go from flat on the ground to towering above our heads.

I said, "Peter, look at mom! Smile!"
All he would give me is this crazy side eye smile.

Watching all the balloons

So many balloons, so colorful!

 After all the balloons had inflated, the official call was made that no balloons would be taking off that day. There were storms threatening and it just wouldn't be safe for the aeronauts. So, we didn't get to see them take off into the clouds, but that was okay. It was still super fantastic to see them on the ground inflated. And, since Peter didn't know any better, he thought the inflated balloons were super cool, and he didn't care if they flew or not. Balloon mission was a success! After the balloons, we headed for University Ave to claim a spot for parade!

Peter, Jonathan and Robin with all the balloons