Failed to Breathe

The band we were set to see is called Breathe Owl Breathe. I had first seen them at Harvest Gathering in Michigan where they put on a great show, at least good enough for me to stick around Park City for another day to see them again. Katie and I had a slow morning, again the night was more important to us than the daytime. Though we did have many plans for keeping ourselves busy, even having back-up trips planned in case others didn't work out for us. We left Megan's about 11:30 a.m. and swung by downtown to see if a store was open downtown. This place was called F'n Hot and was a hot shop reminiscent of the San Juan Hot Shop back in Washington, equipped again with a full tasting bar. With much disappointment we drove passed the shut door and dark windows to find they were closed. Their door had no hours

listed and we figured that this was on purpose so that the owners could come and go as they saw fit, depending on the season and their mood. After this we left Park City and headed out to Antelope Island, the largest island located in the Great Salt Lake. Megan had recommended this island to us as we had both expressed our concern about visiting Salt Lake City and not seeing the actual Great Salt Lake. The islands main attraction is its controlled buffalo herd which they round up every November, bring in a vet to do a checkup, then auction several off in order to keep the herd at a constant population. The roundup had happened the previous week so most

of the herd was in the corrals when we visited but we still saw about 10 males out roaming about that are apparently allowed to graze freely during the winter months. We drove up to Buffalo

Point where we ate an extremely healthy lunch of chips and beer, then headed down to the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake. As we walked toward the water, we couldn't help but notice how long the beach stretched. It seemed as though we walked through 3 different beaches, each with varying sand compositions in order to get to the edge of the actual Great Salt Lake. When we finally did, we saw that the lake was extremely shallow for a long ways. I instantly gave in to the

temptation to jump in the water and began to wade out into the glass like lake. I got about a hundred yards out before the lake water was cold enough for me not to want to go any further. Katie was reluctant to come in and join me, either because she was

wearing shoes or because of the thin layer of dead brine shrimp just below the surface. After a moment of asking her to join me, she overcame whatever obstacle she was afraid of, and came into the water with me. We walked out together and stood in the lake, the water reaching out all around us, still as any sheet of ice. After a bit we decided to head back to shore where we collected our shoes and walked the never ending beaches back to CJ. Our next plan was to go to the Golden Spike National Historic Site which marked the spot of the completion of the transcontinental railroad. It was about an hours drive from Antelope Island and we reached the site about 30 minutes before it closed for the day. We walked around the museum then went out to the railroad tracks and saw the actual spot where

the last spike was driven then took a side road back to the main highway which followed a portion of the old railroad tracks through the sides of the mountains. Though the track is no longer in use and most of it was torn up during WWII to help the war effort, it was really interesting to be at the spot where the two

railroads converged. Since we got such a slow start on the morning, this was the last place we were able to visit, we had to get back to Park City by 7 p.m. in order to make the 9 p.m. show in Salt Lake City and also have enough time to grab dinner beforehand. Megan got home from work shortly after we got back ourselves and after a few minutes of getting ourselves ready for the night, we hopped in Megan's car and headed into Salt Lake City. Megan had planned for us to visit another brewery for dinner which was near the concert venue called Desert Edge Brewery. We sat down and quickly ordered drinks and food when the bar, which was not very packed at all, erupted in cheers and applause; the Giants had just won the World Series. None of us were even aware the game was on, but instantly Katie and I thought of Kyle and Angella in SF and wished we had brought our phones so that we could call them. The food and beers were great and we were having so much fun in each others company that we lost track of time. It was already 9:30 p.m. by the time we left the brewery and got to the show. The concert was at an awesome looking venue nestled back in an alley. It looked as if someone gutted their garage and through a small stage inside. When we reached the ticket booth we were informed that Breathe Owl Breathe was already done with their set and were putting on their last song right now. We were shocked and after talking with the guy at the booth we discovered that they had made a mistake in their online listing then he let us in to see the last song for free. We were happy that it was free and that we at least got to see one song, but were ultimately sad that we hadn't seen more of the show. When they finished their song, which was about werewolves, we left the venue with everyone else and headed back to Park City. That night, Megan and I sat down and we went through her entire library of itunes music. She wrote down 4 pages worth of artists that she thought I would like and that I didn't already have. I spent the rest of the night, staying up until 1 a.m., downloading all of the music, giving Katie and I a new lineup of songs to fuel our drive with.