Bucket List and Adventures

Growing up in Reno has given me the life, experiences, and strength I need to eventually grow into the woman that I desire. With the upsides of living in a twenty-four hour town with friends and family, I seem to find myself often wondering what it would have been like to live in the Great Salt Lake City, Utah. Over half of my extended family lives in the great lands of Utah or have at some point or another which makes visits rare and special. Family reunions were always necessary for the fact that we sometimes go years without seeing one another. However, it is always a tad awkward to be in a room of people that see each other on a regular basis and or at least recognize one another. (Who's the girl with black hair?) This leads me to one of the best weekends I've had in awhile.

Flying away from Reno and into Salt Lake always gives me a sense of coming home. While I have never actually lived in Salt Lake, it feels that I am an honorary member of their society. I can find my way around downtown, as well as, some of the outside cities and I also know the extensive rivalry between Utah and BYU sports. I can hang with the crowd and not get lost when they pronounce mountain like mah-wnn. Most of all, I can it my home away from home- always a welcome door mat and even if Reno sometimes follows me to my safe place, I can usually find my way out of the garbage.

Either way, the weekend was filled with family activities such as: watching soccer games, going swimming, chasing the little ones around, and having a traditional breakfast at the Crackle Barrel. However, this trip was going to find itself a tad bit different than the last. About two hours away from the Salt Lake Temple is an earthwork called the Spiral Jetty ...  

I was asked what I wanted to do this weekend... and sure enough I had an idea. Since my recent report on Robert Smithson  and other earthworks artists in America I've been a tad obsessed with seeing as many as I could. Part of my bucketlist is dedicated to seeing certain art pieces and when I finally find myself in the vicinity of them, I can't find myself happier. However, this isn't a happy or lucky story, while on our way to the top of the Great Salt Lake, listening to the Eagles on repeat, we found ourselves driving through lands of cows, grass, and weeds. No civilization to be heard of for at least an hour, the small signs proclaimed that we were about fifteen minutes away from our destination. With excitement we stopped at what we thought was the Spiral Jetty. For the last few years, the Jetty was submersed in the surrounding water and with this thought in the back of my mind, I figured that I could only see a section of her. In the picture above you can see a small beach that lies to the right, for about an hour we walked around this small beach perplexed with the small pieces of beauty that lie around the area. The pictures were amazing and the beach was calm. Hardly any noise along with the slow moving water brought a sense of surrealism to my life. My smile was huge until we got back in cell service and realized that, lo and behold- we didn't actually see the Spiral Jetty, that the Spiral Jetty was actually about five minutes past our amazing beach. With less than a third of gas in our tank and the sun about twenty minutes from setting, I started to cry. For years I have been waiting to see this, it had been over three hours of driving, we were hungry and yes... I had to pee for about  the last two hours at this point. With faith in our hearts and a little encouragement from my father we found ourselves on the road back to our destination, often times finding ourselves in neutral to save some gas. We made it, barely, and the joy that I felt can't be compared to anything else in this world. I know that this is my calling on this world, I am meant to keep the art alive, I am meant to fight the fight, I am meant to see and experience and share and WARN EVERYONE GOING TO THE SPIRAL JETTY THAT IT ISN'T ON THE FIRST BEACH YOU SEE!!! KEEP DRIVING, SON! haha. Here is some pictures that I took, most on the beach but a couple of the Jetty herself. Thank you Smithson, for your passion and for a work that has lasted over 40 years. I bow to the great.

With love,

Katy