Bonneville Salt Flats

So we were roadtripping out West without a planned stop in Utah other than the random bathroom break when we started seeing signs for the Bonneville Salt Flats. We had heard of this place before and knew  people broke speed barriers there, but that was about it. At this point, we had already been on the road for several hours and still had a long way to go before reaching our reserved spot to camp for the evening. I suggested that we take a quick detour to drive out onto the flats. My husband decided that we should stay on course so we could set up camp before nightfall. We passed our opportunity and drove in silence for a few minutes… then he said “that would have been kind of cool to drive fast for a few minutes and to be able to say I did it.” I sadly agreed. This prompted a few more minutes of silence before he couldn’t take it anymore and turned the car around. The drive back to the flats only took about fifteen minutes but it felt like much longer. We found a place to enter onto them and as you would expect, HIT THE GAS!! We took our overloaded Subaru Outback up to a satisfying 120mph. The area was open and felt like it could go on forever. It was so exciting that for a moment I wished we could just defy reality and take flight. The flats themselves were beyond what I would have imagined. The salty ground was firm, crusty,  and white as snow. Oddly, they were covered in stink bugs. I can’t imagine much being able to live in that environment but I guess it’s just right for stink bugs….who knew!?! Entering the flats transported you….it was as if we had gone to another world. Before our spur of the moment u-turn the Bonneville Salt Flats were of no real significance to us but since, we have dreamed about them and hoped to one day return just to experience it again. Just in case you were wondering – we did get to our campsite after dark and yes it was an inconvenience but the salt flats were totally worth it 🙂