Visiting the Bonneville Salt Flats…
… and Nevada. Ha ha.
After all my talk yesterday about what a great “sorta” planner I am, I have to admit that one of the coolest places my mom and I went to in Salt Lake City – the Bonneville Salt Flats – wasn’t even on my radar as a place to visit.
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Of course, I knew what the Bonneville Salt Flats are, as I come from a family of men obsessed with cars… and married a man who is. Ha ha. Did you know what the Bonneville Salt Flats were before I started blah blahing about them this week?
Brief history lesson – there used to be a huge arse lake covering much of northwestern Utah, called Lake Bonneville (named after Benjamin Bonneville – a French-born officer in the US Army). Lake Bonneville was formed about 32,000 years ago, and “released” about 14,500 years ago, leaving Great Salt Lake and other surrounding lakes as remnants.
This is as close as we got to Great Salt Lake on the drive to the Bonneville Salt Flats. We could sure smell it!
Back to our history lesson… the lake has actually dropped more since the “release” (aka a flood), and you can see different “shelves” on the mountains that represent past water height levels. Coolio!
But let’s get to the fun stuff. DRIVING FAST!
Ha ha. Including driving fast to get there! I was very pleased when I found out the speed limit on the highway was 75 mph. Woo hoo! Someone warned us that the drive out there was “really long and boring” but we couldn’t get over how beautiful it was. Maybe because we are from the flat lands? Do people ever get sick of the mountains?!
So what I know the Bonneville Salt Flats for is setting land speed records (unfortunately, not personally)! The Bonneville Speedway is set up on the western edge of the Bonneville Salt Flats a few times a year. Why the heck do people want to race on salt? And why was is there so much salt? Good questions. I don’t know the answers to either. Apparently, since it’s perfectly flat, and stable, it’s good for racing. And people have been setting records on it since the early 1900s. Like… freakin’ fast records. They race stuff powered by jet engines there, yo. Can you imagine driving something that goes over 600 mph?! What the heck. I didn’t feel comfortable driving the rental car 60 mph. Of course, it was a rickety piece of poo poo (but it got us there!).
And that brings us back to our visit to the Bonneville Salt Flats. My mom brought up the potential of visiting there a week or so before the trip. I hadn’t even thought of it. But I had a rental car, so why not? I even tried to upgrade my rental car to a Camaro just for the drive… ha ha. It wasn’t worth the extra $120 a day.
It rained the entire morning before we went to the Bonneville Salt Flats. I was worried we would get out there and it would be muddy, meaning we couldn’t drive on it and it would be gross looking. Nope, not at all. It was beautiful. We couldn’t get over how gorgeous it was. I am sure that is what everyone is thinking when they are out there for Speed Week. Ha ha.
click image to see larger
click image to see larger
We first stopped at a rest stop at the southern edge of the Bonneville Salt Flats where there was some water. A bridge and groom were there taking their wedding photos. Can you imagine how pretty those would be? WHY DIDN’T STEVEN AND I THINK OF THAT?!?!?!!
Then we drove to the actual speedway. I made the mistake of telling my mom on the drive up about the risks associated with driving out there in bad conditions – water will eff up your car, you can get stuck in the mud, etc. So she was freaking out. Sigh. Lesson re-learned: do not give Mom too much information.
She thought we shouldn’t drive on the flats. Oh hellz to the no. I didn’t drive 120 miles to get there for nothing.
Ha ha. Like I said, I barely got up to 60 mph before I felt like I should slow it down (compared to going 80 mph on the highway to get there). Then after the drive my mom spent quite a bit of time worrying about the amount of salt on the car and “what would the car rental place think?!” Sigh.
Before our drive on the flats we took a ton of goofy photos. The landscape was incredibly unique (to me). In some parts, it seemed like the ground just blended in to the sky. I can see why car manufacturers and models (and just regular people!) go out there for shots!
I couldn’t get over how beautiful and serene it was. We were both so happy we took the drive out there to see it!
And since we were so close, we decided to drive to Nevada to go to the casinos.
Ha ha. Nah, my mom just used the bathroom at the casino, then we went back to Utah, ate at the Salt Flats Cafe and drove back to Salt Lake City.
Have you visited the Bonneville Salt Flats?
Themocracy
Beautiful!! Just beautiful! Never been, but now I want to go!!
I want to go there.
I did know about the Bonneville Salt Flats. There is a Top Gear (UK) episode about it when the Boys went there to test cars. Plus I think they hold (or did hold) landspeed record attempts there in what was bascially a rocket car.
Love salt flats but only ones I’ve been too are in Death Valley including Badwater at 282 feet below sea level.
Wow that is totally gorgeous! And to show you how non-car-savvy I am, I had no clue for several moments why Bonneville had anything to do with cars…
So….did you taste the salt? That’s all I could think of this entire post.
That seriously looks SO GORG!!!! The drive looks beautiful too!!
We kept joking about it, but never did 😉
Glad you didn’t. I did at Badwater, yuck.
Um, I am not cool and had no idea about this. And I’ve never been to Utah either, so there’s that. I did go to the Dead Sea, which is totally not the same but it is because it’s salty.
Very cool. Never been to Utah. Only been out west once to LA (Cali) for basketball tournament in college. Otherwise I have stuck to the east coast. Hopefully ill get out to the west someday.
Wow, those pictures are so gorgeous!!
What a wonderful and unique place to visit! It sounds like a fun time! I bet Steven was jealous.
You know, I think this may be the ONE thing Steven wishes he could have been there for! I hope we make it back! 🙂
I had never heard of the Salt Flats before. Looks amazing!
It has been several years since I last got out on the salt flats. I am very happy to hear it was not muddy. Conditions can vary, especially given the weather SLC had that morning.
The main reason I said the drive was boring and dull is because we drive out to Wendover often and the under 2 hrs to get there (we drive faster than 75 mph) is so norm. Also the smell has something to do with it. Also, the anticipation for my wife to start gambling (and for me to start drinking).
Love the photos. Especially the one of you all alone on the salt flats.
LOL, I wasn’t referring to you about the long and boring part. Sorry! That was my mom’s coworker who really talked down going out there, and we couldn’t figure out why. I appreciated YOUR input and told my mom it might be muddy, etc 😉
Thanks about the pics 🙂
Wow, that is really, really neat. Jealous!
We never get sick of mountains 🙂
I know about them for motorcycles, my bro works for a company
I loved reading about our trip it was so much fun! I want to do it all over again it was the perfect day for an adventure.
Did Steven like the salt you brought back?
He hasn’t tried it yet 😉
I want to go there! That looks like sooooooo much fun!
And no, people do not tire of mountains, well at least I don’t. I’ve lived here for 4 years and I am always looking at them, sometimes it’s a little dangerous to other drivers because I’ll be looking at them while I drive! HA! Forget texting and driving!! “I was looking at the mountains officer, I SWEAR!!!!!”
Never been but it sounds SO COOL!!!
The salt flats look so cool! I knew they used them for racing and setting speed records but I didn’t know the official name of the flats. The pictures are definitely awesome. I imagine the bride and groom got some kickass photos!
That’s great that you guys had the time to drive out there and explore! Definitely a memorable experience.