Atop a glorious hillside near the tiny town of Vantage, Washington and bordering the Columbia River Gorge sits a very peculiar art installation: Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies. Created by David Govedare as an homage to an ancient Native legend about how horses first roamed the earth, the exhibit is awesome though surprisingly incomplete. Originally planned as a series of horses emerging from a man holding a basket the funds ran out sometime during the process. The result: 15 horses and no man with a basket. No matter, with horses this strikingly beautiful what we do have in Vantage is breathtaking and awe inspiring in spite of its incomplete status.

Billed from Interstate-90 as "Wild Horses" it is easy to see why: this pack of steel horses look real. With each bearing its own unique pose getting wrapped up in this strange occurance of art in an otherwise serene and barren area is par for the course. Surrounded by a gorgeous vista it isn't beyond the imagination to spend an hour merely ascending horse hill, inspecting the broncs, and staring into the distance at the stunning gorge.

Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies, though hardly well known outside the Central Washington area, is nonetheless one of my favorite art pieces ever. The fact that there is more work to be done (which may or may not ever happen) only adds mystique to its legendary status.

If you're ever in the Central Washington area, Grandfather is a must. You won't be disappointed.