Lauren, Keith, & the Yellow Car

...it may look like snow...but you definitely wouldn't want to melt and drink this. They're the salt flats out near the Utah/Nevada border...out by bonneville where keith's friend Shane sets speed records on his motorcycle.

Apparently this Swedish artist Karl Momen built the "Tree of Utah (Metaphor)" back in 1986. The inscription by the piece states the following: "A hymn to our universe, whose glory and dimension is beyond all myth and imagination". It's right off I80....and we just had to stop. Roadside America told me to. :)

The salt lake has very little to offer. We pulled up at this building called the Saltair which was once a beautiful event hall and swimming area back in the early 1900s...and is now a giant run down building with a sad gift shop selling taffy and little else. We walked out to the "water" and it smelled like a giant Porto-potty. There were gnats everywhere and brave souls were testing out the floating properties of the water. Needless to say, the smell quickly drove us away and we've decided to skip our night in SLC and instead start making our way across the exciting state of Nevada. Our goal is the beautiful city of Elko, a couple hours into what would have been an excruciating drive tomorrow. Keith is at the wheel practicing for his turn at the Bonneville salt flats. What's amazing though...is no matter how fast we go, someone keeps flying by us at least ten miles faster.

We stopped by Temple Square in SLC to see the Mormon Temple and surrounding grounds. The other pic below is a beautiful old historic assembly hall with original pews and structure dating back to 1877. the original settlers who built the hall didn't like the look of the local wood available for use, so they painted every piece of wood to resemble oak, using fingernails and forks to complete the look. Even the wooden columns in the hall were painted to look like marble.

German anyone?

Jimmy johns now sells icecream. J/k. Building is a historic site which meant they couldn't tear it down, so they painted it black.

Out of Idaho about 7 minutes later. It looked exactly like Wyoming. Carry on. Sent from my iPhone

Just crossed te border into Idaho. It's real and not the reason for declanation adjustment on a compass. (Keith)

Under the antelope antler arch

There are bison everywhere...and they just walked across the road by us. Can't wait to post pics from my camera and not just my phone! :)

Absolutely beautiful.

There's basically zero cell service in the park so this is the first post we've been able to make. We're now waiting at the old faithful lodge waiting for old faithful to start since we walked up right when it was ending. Fortunately it goes off every hour or so. Yesterday we drove in from Cody and saw a herd of bison in the park, one about twenty feet from the car. We've yet to see a bear but keep trying as we drive through the park. The geysers throughout the park smell of sulfur and make strange bubbling sounds...like a rumbling stomach. There's motorcyclists absolutely everywhere and Keith and I are thinking we might invest in some leather outfits so we fit in better...or not. We're guessing they're all on their way to sturgis for the big motorcycle gathering. Yellowstone is huge...we drive for miles and miles and the damage of the past fires can be seem everywhere. It's a beautiful park with so much to see.

People here are extremely nice and they even say howdy pardner. Very cool. Off to yellowstone! Sent from my iPhone