Tatonka and the Buffalo Burger (Thursday's Utah Adventure)

Utah is the place for outdoor fun. When Angela told me about her bike and my near by cousin's bikes and kids trailer, I couldn't get bike ridding out of my head. Everyone doubted the idea, but I stayed strong and true. I engineered this master plan which involve a strange amount of rope and finagling. I confess I had thought that more would fit in the back of the van, but the roof proved large enough. Once we were loaded into the mini van, we were ready to go. The loading part was longer then expected which meant we hit the road hours after we intended. Antelope Island. Stink aside, it was the closest venue that offered a plausible route. Using the new iphone, we read up on possible trails and the restaurants on the island.

Side note, I hate repeat HATE uninformative websites. There are millions of them out there. Why waste the time and money if you aren't going to update or even have any helpful info at all. It is because of such a site that we ended up eating at Buffalo Pointe Cafe (=$$$$)

and had our own little handcart pioneer experience on "The 2-mile Lakeshore Trail is well suited for novice riders or for families with children. Start at the White Rock Bay campground and pedal around the base of Buffalo Point along the shore of the Great Salt Lake. Turnaround where conditions get too rocky and watch the sun set from a trail-side rest bench."

What this translated to in real life was at least a 3 mile boulder riddled narrow trail that really was probably meant for hikers only though we did see some horseback riders. Our bad. The short distance fooled us into thinking it wouldn't merit bringing water. And we rationalized that the insane boulder field was the only one like it on the trail. Wrong. Tenacity isn't always a good thing. We finally got to the point that Tiago and Mia had to hike seeing as how the bumps in the road were bumping into their bottoms. They also seemed to be the human equivalent of a pinball machine. Therefore, Fernando became our beast of laden. He finished the trail hefting his bike and the bike trailer in various precarious manners. My dad and the kids forged ahead.
That is to say my dad kept finding new animals, reptiles, bugs, and what have you to get the kids to keep going. What kept us going forward was the idea that the end had to be near. In fact each time we "came around the bend" we were sure we would be home. Unfortunately, that was far from the truth. What made matters worse is when we met up with my mom and Talia, she told us we still had quite a ways to go. We made it through and even with all the let downs of the unbikeable trail, it was a peaceful ride. A gentle breeze kept the temperatures pleasant and the view was incredible. Furthermore, how often to you pass a buffalo, pronghorn deer, and lizards on a family outing?