The Spiral Jetty

Jeff and I have been anticipating the long President's Day weekend, and naturally we wanted to take advantage of the extra time to go on an adventure. We considered heading to Southern Utah and even tossed around the idea of going to the Grand Canyon. Both were tempting, but we realized this would be the perfect opportunity to visit a destination that had been on our list for quite a while. The Spiral Jetty has actually been on Jeff's list for a few years, so it was high time to make the trip. This famous earthwork artwork by Robert Smithson is quintessential in the art world. It was created in 1970 and was one of the first of many earthwork artworks around that time. Smithson was fascinated with salt water lakes. There are only a few in the whole world and The Great Salt Lake is one of them. A unique feature of Utah's salt lake is an algae that blooms to a redish hue. To Jeff (and many others), The Spiral Jetty is just as iconic as The Mona Lisa. It is located on the north end of the Great Salt Lake about 20 miles from The Golden Spike historic site. It so large it can be seen by satellite. The three hour drive to this monumental piece was quite a reasonable distance to travel to see this impressive spectacle. We had a fun bunch go along with us on this day trip. We explored The Jetty, waded through the salty flats, got the kayak out into the lake and had a lovely picnic. On the way back we stopped by the Golden Spike historic site. It was a much anticipated trip and we enjoyed every minute of it.