Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Made it to Salt Lake City

1a

We were on the road by 7:30, and the landscape had not changed….but the skyscape was looking good.  And yes, it is a word….click on it and see…

1b    1c

Yep, the sky was our canvas this morning, that is for sure.  (It surely wasn’t the green grass!)  But from my friend Joe in Pine Bluff is this quote pertaining to yesterdays transition from California to Nevada, “This post defines transition — from towering green to widely scattered, scraggly bushes. The lesson is, without contrast, life would be a terrible bore.”

2a

One thing I remember in going through Nevada as a kid were the letters up on the mountains near the town……”L” for Lovelock, “W” for Winnemucca, and yes, “BM” for Battle Mountain.  Even as a kid we wondered who would want to live in a town with “BM” all over their mountain.  As an adult, one still wonders such things…..

2b   2c   2d

Well, there were a few neat rock formations, and we even ran into a few trees after we passed Elko and climbed up and back down a thousand feet or so.

2e

And now and then we would see snow capped ranges, which brought a lot of character to the mountains.

2f

And as we got close to Utah, Marcia found a mountain that she really liked.  I told her that she needed to enjoy Nevada….because very soon, we would be in…

3a

…Salt Country.  Yes, the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah, where land speed records have been set and reset.  Craig Breedlove broke the 400, 500, and 600 mph speed limits about 7 miles out from this point. Gary Gabelich broke Breedlove’s 600.601 mph record set in 1965 by going 630.388 mph in 1970.   Later land speed records surpassed this, but they were made in Black Rock Desert in Nevada.

3b

The salt flats go on and on for many miles in all directions, and I don’t know what it is about them, but it seems to make people do stupid things…..

3c

….and it makes artist make silly things.  Metaphor: The Tree of Utah, an 87-foot sculpture created by the Swedish artist Karl Momen, who was moved to create the tree after having a vision of a tree while driving across the desolate Bonneville Salt Flats.  It has been a laughing stalk, I mean landmark of the flats since the 1980’s.

4a

And as you get closer to the Great Salt Lake, you sometimes get mirror perfect pictures from the small ponds to the south of the Interstate.

We did hook up with Stephanie tonight, taking her out to dinner to the DoDo Restaurant near our hotel.  Did not get any pictures today, but will get some tomorrow.

9 comments:

  1. Glad you arrived safely....enjoy your time there.
    We have seen the salt flats on TV...thanks for a photo. Quite impressive! And oh those beautiful reflections!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Because it is so flat, it is hard to capture in a photo the vastness of the Salt Flats.

      Delete
  2. Very nice drive:) I love the snow capped mountains. Beautiful reflection photo! Glad you arrived safely to visit with your daughter!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can you believe that Marcia captured that reflection while I was driving 75 MPH down I-80?

      Delete
  3. Hi Dave and Marcia:
    I was enthralled with the skyscapes (my spell checker just added a red line under the word - what does it know?) in Utah. And, I agree with your follower who suggested that life would be a bore without changes in land- and skyscapes. I love the arrangement of your photos; still having trouble with my blog with respect to inserting photos. Enjoy your daughter, Ryan, and the great state of Utah.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Mary-Pat, but my son Ryan is going to have a fit....daughter is Stephanie. lol

      Delete
  4. Beautiful scenery! Have a good visit with your daughter!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are going to go home to Florida in January, perhaps we can get together sometime this year.

      Delete
    2. That would be nice. See you in Florida sometime! Plans made in jello as they say. ;-)

      Delete

We love to hear comments from our readers. All comments are moderated by Dave before added to the website. Spam, advertisers and rude comments are deleted, and due to high spam attempts, Anonymous Users cannot post, sorry....register for a Google ID, it is free and it is easy. Go to: Get Google ID