Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The Tree of Utah Has Balls




 Metaphor: The Tree of Utah....what?

I-80 mile marker 26



Dedicated in 1986 by a Swedish artist with the inscription; "A hymn to our universe whose glory and dimension is beyond all myth and imagination".



What the what? I have no idea what an 87 foot concrete tennis ball tree has to do with myth and imagination but then again, I'm not Swedish. Although, once I did tour a Swedish Navy ship and those were some of the best looking people I have ever seen. They were all clean and shiny and milky looking.

This landscape is beautiful without the Ball Tree, I think. It's stark, endless, surreal. One hundred miles west of the mountains of Salt Lake City and all of sudden you're in the middle of this great expanse of sky and flatness.


I wouldn't want to live on the great salt flats. But sometimes I think beauty is where we find it, how we find it.

I just love looking into the distance on the highway. I feel like Wile E Coyote. Anything's possible!


Great Salt Lake Desert



The art could be worse, I guess. It could have been Freddy Krueger hands in Iowa.



The Great Salt Lake.
This is where Sea Monkeys come from.
Really.




6 comments:

  1. You've been all over the U.S. and this is the first tennis ball tree you've found! Great stuff

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  2. We're hoping to see a huge ball of twine next! ;)

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  3. That was I on that Swedish navy ship!

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  4. You're thinking of the Swedish Chef!!

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  5. i wonder if they put that fence around the tennis ball tree, to keep people from hitting the balls?!

    oh i miss those mountains!
    and...i have a picture of myself somewhere...floating in the great salt lake...when i was like...22...wow! i remembered!

    Freddy Krueger hands?!! ha! also on I80...what's with that road??

    love your post! love laughing so hard first thing in the morning...that my coffee comes out my nose!! :]

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  6. Laura you better get a keyboard protector for all that snorted out coffee!!

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