The Great Salt Lake is eight times (!) saltier than the ocean and second only to the Dead Sea in salinity. Since there's no outlet to the ocean, salts and minerals carried by rivers and streams get deposited in the lake, and as the water evaporates, it becomes even more concentrated. The water levels were really low on the shore where we went, and it was pretty mucky--I was hesitant to dip my toes in there, but really, will I ever come here again? 
The other place in SLC we visited was Temple Square, where Brigham Young chose to be the headquarters of the Mormon Church. Salt Lake City is the spiritual capital of the Mormons (LDS) and the temple here is a sacred pilgrimage destination for them. We also paid a visit to the Beehive House, Brigham Young's very large house. According to one of the LDS sisters giving the tour, he lived there with only one wife. Not sure where the others lived. The tour was a little heavy-handed with the God stuff, I have to say. We were a little freaked out, but at least they were super nice.
Aside: my very first experience with Mormons occurred when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I was in Taiwan visiting my grandparents (in what is now my mom's very bustling town of residence) and my sister and I were walking around the busy markets when we saw the only two white people in town. No lie. There were literally zero white (or any other non-Asian) people. One of the guys was pretty cute, and we saw that his name tag said "Elder." So we spent the next few days trying to spot Elder again, but alas, he was never seen again. It wasn't until years and years later that I realized 1. he was a missionary, 2. he was Mormon (I'm from MN--we don't have Mormons there), and 3. his name was not really Elder. I always think of that when I think of Mormons. That, and their weird undergarments...
Oh, and one last thing, Salt Lake City is a really clean and really great smelling city (must be the kind of trees they have planted?).
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