When we were in Utah, I told The Dormouse how you could swim in the Great Salt Lake and the salinity of the water is so high (12% in some places) that you pretty much just float.  She was incredibly anxious to try it, so on our way back through town, we tried to find a place to stop and swim.

"Look kids, it's the Great Salt Lake," I told my kids while we were driving back on I-80.  Only this isn't actually the Great Salt Lake; it's on the wrong side of the road. I realized that a few minutes later.


This is the Great Salt Lake. I don't know what that other thing is.
I'm a fantastic tour guide.

We tried to find The Shortlings somewhere they could swim, but here's the thing about swimming in The Great Salt Lake:  it's icky.  There aren't really many beaches and most of it is smelly and... just... well, it's yuck.  It is, after all, a SALT lake.  We thought we might go to Antelope Island but it a ways out of our way, so we finally just stopped at the marina in Mangus.  That's where I dropped my phone in the parking lot while trying to figure out when the Great Salt Lake Open Swim was supposed to be held and did this:


I cried a silent tear... which may not have been so so silent.

I eventually repaired my phone screen after returning home, but not before purchasing an iPhone, switching my service over to it and then experiencing buyers' regret after spending three days trying to love it and failing and becoming even more regretful the more I looked at the price tag of the iPhone that I didn't really like.  I eventually returned the iPhone and instead purchased a $12 part on ebay and replaced the screen.   

By that time I was pretty cranky, it was hot, we couldn't find any place to change clothes  there was no place to shower off after, and when we finally did get down to the water, it was even yuck-ier than normal.  We still had another hour's drive and I didn't relish returning the rental car smelling like The Salt Lake, so I nixed the idea of full on swimming.   

The Dormouse was pretty disappointed until she got near the water and took a big whiff.  

"Mom!  Why does it smell so bad?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you.  It's not like a regular lake; there's not a lot of stuff living in there."

"Maybe we don't swim after all."

Exactly.