We arrived at the visitor center to be greeted by our first Bison. We had read that some people see 1 of 2 and others see herds, so we were excited to see one so soon.
This fella hung around the visitor center the whole time we were inside buying the requisite tee shirts, viewing the exhibits and enjoying a short film about the area. Nick and Max were anxious to get to the Lake so off we went. The temperature had risen dramatically since we left the 7000 foot altitude of Park City. It was sunny and hot and we were glad for our sunscreen and cold water bottles. We drove to the access point for one of the beaches and hiked through hot sand quite a distance to the water. When we got there we found the large hordes of brine flies that are everywhere…they don’t bite but are annoying…and the smell of the briny water. We walked, seemingly forever, to the place where several people were in the water. It was very shallow and the boys opted to wade in knee deep rather than try to float to avoid having to walk quite a ways out into the water. They tasted the salty water, picked up some rocks to take home and in Nicks words “ now I can say for the rest of my life that I was in the Great Salt Lake”. The return hike to our car was especially painful when we noted that if we had driven just a little further, there was a much shorter path!! After gratefully drinking more water, we drove to Buffalo point seeing another Bison on the hill in the distance. The views were spectacular – facing the lake on the other side of the island. Antelope Island is but one (the largest) of the 9 islands in the lake.
We then drove back to have lunch at the, you guessed it, Buffalo Grill! And, of course, we all had Bison Burgers and tall drinks. .The boys were given the choice to leave now and go to the Kennecott Copper mine south of Salt Lake City or to stay and, hopefully, find some other wildlife. They chose to stay so off we went to find the Ranch Road. As we drove along the edge of the lake, the boys saw a large number of,what looked to me as rocks in t he distance and were sure they were bison. We kept driving until even I recognized the animals. We pulled over to the side of the road to take pictures and Nick discovered a Prong Horned Antelope in the green brush closer to the car. 
We counted about 50 bison and felt really lucky. Off we went to the Ranch – restored to it original state – the Ranch was owned by the Church of the Latter Day Saints to raise cattle, horses, etc.with the income used to expand the church. Max was excited to learn that the small bedroom in the house was used by 12 year old MAX, the son of the owner at that time. We saw a Wringer Washer, and other appliances of the time as well as the Spring House and cellar pantry. It really was interesting to consider how isolated the Ranch was and to talk about how they passed the little free time that they had. Even 12 year old Max worked a 12 hour day as a ranch-hand!
Max sat on Max’s - A sign said that this was OK! We decided to head back to Park City after we left the ranch and on the way back to the park entrance, we again saw the herd of bison; this time they had moved closer to the road and one was still standing on the salt flat which looked like the world’s biggest salt lick. 
Very satisfied with our experiences on this amazing island, we headed back to Park City to shower and change for dinner at Jean Louis, a very nice restaurant where Art and I had eaten before. A very nice end to a wonderful day. Today's pictures
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