Can you believe it? We've lived here for years and have never been to the famed Salt Flats. On Monday (Labor Day), Tracie, Angel, Janeen and I made the pilgrimage to go there so now we can say, "Been there! Done that!"
A google search on this hideous monument on I-80 near Wendover yielded the following on roadsideamerica.com:We give some credit to the State of Utah for at least tolerating experiments with environmental comedy. "Metaphor: The Tree of Utah" can't be serious. Metaphor is an 87-foot tall sculpture poking up out of the white plains of the Bonneville Salt Flats.
The Tree was created in the early 1980s by European artist Karl Momen. It is also known as "Metaphor: The Tree of Life." It was dedicated in 1986 as "A hymn to our universe whose glory and dimension is beyond all myth and imagination." We guess the Mormons like this sort of thing, or it wouldn't be here (though it is pretty far from Salt Lake City...). Artist Momen doesn't have to look at it; he bought patch of land, built the thing, and went back to Sweden.
Near the base of the Tree, there are several fallen "leaves" -- large spherical segments intentionally scattered on the salty ground. It's where your traveling companions would pose if this were a tourist attraction instead of a work of art. As dumb as it is, Metaphor is the only thing for hours worth photographing.
Welcome to the Bonneville Salt Flats!
Strike a pose!
Ta-da!
At the flats ...
Moving? Don't forget the hula hoops!
You too? Hula hoops and a tandem bike? What are you, circus people?
Got to the Saltair, just in time for closing. See ya next time ...
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