Day 5: Salt Lake City, Antelope Island, and Tatanka

Today we wanted to explore the downtown area of Salt Lake City. First, we drove to the Utah State Capitol, which is located on a hill in the north of the city. It is a magnificent building that offers a great view of the city and the surrounding mountains. On the way there, we noticed that Salt Lake City is a very clean city with many well-maintained green spaces and beautifully arranged flower beds along the sidewalks and streets. Another must-visit was the Salt Lake Temple. Unfortunately, we could only see it from the outside as 'non-Mormons' are not allowed inside. No problem, it was still an impressive complex.

We then made the obligatory stop at Starbucks. The code for the restroom is 3, 4, 5 in case anyone wants to know.🙃

What else do you do when you're already there? Eeeexactly. You go and see the Salt Lake. We chose the Antelope Island State Park for that. It is an island in the Salt Lake that you can reach via a causeway. At the entrance, there was a sign saying 'Gnats has been hatched.' We quickly looked up what that means....oh oh....seriously, after a few meters, you could already see columns of mosquito swarms rising from the edge of the causeway. There were millions of them. And eventually, half of them ended up stuck to our car. Nature is attacking me once again! Mosquito corpses smeared our windshield. Really not nice. But the upcoming highlight made up for it. Our first encounter with wild Tatankas! Bisons! Two of them were peacefully grazing by the roadside. Others were relaxing by the saltwater's edge. Of course, two Chinese people had to leave their car and get too close. No no.

The island was very beautiful. Totally quiet, the sun was shining, and the birds were chirping. Unfortunately, you could hardly get out of the car. The mosquitoes wouldn't allow it.

All in all, it was a city and environment that we really liked.

Our destination for today was Jackson, Wyoming. Many hours of driving awaited us once again. We took Interstate 15 and then Highway 89, which led through partially snow-covered mountains and green valleys with meandering rivers (one of them was actually called Snake River..uhhh). Our route (which is highly recommended) took us from Utah through Idaho to Wyoming. Not bad. 6 states in 5 days so far.

Finally arrived in the touristy Jackson, we settled into our cabin and then went out for dinner. We noticed that there were dozens of cars from various county sheriffs, state troopers, highway patrols, and whatnot. They all seem to be staying in our neighborhood tonight. Next to us, the sheriff was happily grilling. Reassuring. Or not?

Alright. That's enough for today! Just one more hour to upload pictures, and then off to bed...

~ Evi