On Saturday we drove to Bear Lake for the afternoon. On the way there we listened to The Great Brain which was so entertaining. It was like reading Tom Sawyer set in Utah. We felt like we were listening to a time capsule, and there were times Abe was laughing so hard I wondered if he could see where he was steering. The last time we listened to something everyone loved and laughed at so much was How to Train Your Dragon.
On the way back we finished the book and listened to Terry Tempest Williams’ newest book, Erosion: Essays of Undoing. After my book club I spent a lot of time thinking about what it means to connect with the land. I wrote a list of authors who would make amazing mentors on this subject, and Terry Tempest Williams is at the top. I learn so much from her, but sometimes the outrage and sorrow her work evokes are too much for me to take in large quantities. As a dissenting Mormon who passionately loves Utah, she eviscerates the white patriarchy that dominates Utah’s politics and prostitutes Utah wilderness for profit. Utah will break your heart in a million unexpected, peculiar ways. Terry Tempest Williams captures them all.
But most of the day we spent enjoying Bear Lake and feeling grateful to live close-ish to this amazing place. It’s like the most incredible toddler pool imaginable. The shallow part of the lake extends soooooooo far out, the water is a clear, gorgeous color, and the sand is smooth and perfect for sandcastles. The Caribbean blue color of the lake is so startling against the ring of desert mountains around it. You feel like it shouldn’t exist, but since it does it feels like a special gift–an ecological nod to human children and their play.
And, though this has nothing to do with ecology, we love the chocolate raspberry shakes in the nearby store so much. Bear Lake is just fun.
