About two months ago I took this picture from my balcony. Sometimes the inversion is just about unbearable. I wish on days like these I was on the beach in Hawaii.
Five days ago I took this photo from Antelope Island. This reminds me of all the reasons I love the Salt Lake Valley. This is just 20 min from my driveway.
Breathtaking.
Nate and I went out to the island for a winter camping trip. Friday afternoon there where whiteout conditions on the drive up to Antelope Drive. I admit I was wondering if we were going to have a good experience. Just as the sun began to set the clouds broke. The western sky was awash with color and the lake like glass as we drove over the causeway.
It was a perfect night.
We sat by the fire talking for several hours. We ate a few hot dogs and climbed into our bags. We learned from our last winter trip and had better ground pads this time to insulate us from the ground. Nate tried out hand and toe warmers for the night which I think he liked. I filled a Nalgine bottle with boiling water, wrapped it in a sock and stuck it between my legs (to warm the blood in the femoral artery). I slept really well. No cold at all.
We woke to deep blue skies and 25ºF.
This was the view from the door of my tent. That much uninhabited space always stirs something in me.
I cooked breakfast in the morning. Now that I'm on the south beach diet (which is really just a program for eating healthy) I have to watch what I eat so we had eggs, turkey bacon, bran muffins and kiefer(thanks dal). We spent the day wandering around exploring this or that and taking pictures. We had buffalo burgers for lunch at a little place on the island.
One quick note about the picture above. Even though the lake has an average of 15% salinity it still froze over in some areas when we were having sub 0 nights. These great shifting islands of ice are the last vestiges of that time.
3 comments:
Antelope Island is one of my favorite places in the world!
Lovely shots and write-up, Tommy... I can see the Eastern slopes of Antelope Island from my office window, but have never been... you certainly paint an alluring picture.
Mr. Thomas,
I recently found your visual diary,"This Is a Place", on the World Wide Web. And indeed it is a place! However, for some reason, it is crudely referred to as a "Blog". "Blog," is the sound made by droll, dim-witted humans clearing their throats. Please, rest assured, I do not hold you responsible for this overly used lower class (and middle class) term. It's just that I feel it is my duty to inform those with taste, that this term should be avoided in polite society and conversation.
Having said that, I wanted to compliment you for photo's well taken. Your words and photographs touched a once blank portion of my soul and left a lasting impression. The experience you shared with your chum, Mr. Nathan, nearly converted me to a life, occasionally, spent out of doors. With little to no shame I admit that I am not one to venture outside to far or for to long especially in the cold. But the photo of you standing in that field stirred something in me... I realized, I want to stand in a field like that. I want to do as Nathan has and examine the cold damp earth.
With a great deal of humility I must commend you for surviving the harsh elements and, what I can only assume to be, an island teaming with wild antelope. I have yet to encounter one of these rugged beasts my self but I am sure coming face to face with one is terrifying.
Equally terrifying was the idea of placing boiling water between your legs. If some one was to ask me if I would like some boiling water between my legs, up until today, I would have declined. In some situations, I see, it is a wonderful idea. I would have also declined an invitation to eat a buffalo burger. Actually, I don't know that I have ever eaten a "burger" of any kind. Let alone wild buffalo. But now, I may consider it, in hopes that it would conjure up visions of frozen lakes and golden vegetation.
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