Since we had another day before we were to meet up with Judy and Mike we decided to make Twin Falls our killing time destination.
We had in mind to visit the Shoshone Falls which we really did visit. The only problem was they are working on the power plant and have the falls shut down. Seems strange even saying that because how can you shut that much water down but they did. They had lots of signs to read so we did learn a good bit.
This whole area is where the water will flow once improvements are made.
Check out the little building - It is very large but compared to this area it looks tiny
Shot facing away from the now dried up falls
Shoshone Falls is known as the other Niagara Falls. After visiting it and using a little, okay using a lot of imagination, I can believe it. Once work is completed (2015) it will be fantastic.
In 1900 a man by the name of Ira Perrine started to build a hydroelectric power plant at the falls. It was completed in 1904. Many improvements have been made since that time. Today the reservoir elevation is 3,345.5 feet above sea level, has1,500 acre feet in the reservoir, and averages 90,000 megawatt hours of electricity each year which is enough power to supply 9,000 households. The plant has a total generating power to produce 1,706,715 kilowatts. And improvements are being made. Now I know you were just dying to learn that tidbit of information. Pays to read those signs.
The snake river flows thru one of the greatest volcanic plains in the world. This plateau extends from Idaho to Wyoming.
Here's another tidbit of info: About a million years ago this gigantic lake (Bonneville Lake) approximately the size of Lake Michigan covered much of the plateau of Utah, Idaho and Nevada. 11,000 years ago rainfall and snowmelt rose the lake level until it's natural dam burst. The entire lake came crashing thru Snake River Canyon causing what is known as the Great Bonneville Flood. Imagine if you can a 350 foot wall of water crashing thru the canyon at 70 mph dumping 350 cubic miles of water down the snake river. The Bonneville Flood lasted six weeks and today all that is left of Lake Bonneville is in what we now call the Great Salt Lake in Utah. That's your flood info for today.
One of the small falls in that area
We did get info that they are constructing some kind of jet ramp at the same location that Evel Knievel jumped over years ago. I guess someone is going to try to jump the Snake River. Nuts don't you think. Suppose to happen in the next couple of days.
Evel Knievel's Jump Site - Yellow Marking
The Perrine Bridge that goes over the Snake River. If you look closely you can see a 5th wheel truck/trailer on the bridge. This bridge was just huge.
The rest of the day we did almost nothing, well I did do laundry. Went to a nice little park and had lunch. We try not to eat out all the time as believe it or not eating out gets old after a while. Our lunches generally consist of a small bag of chips, a sandwich, a granola bar, a cup of fruit or banana and crystal lite or a coke to drink. Tonight we went to Applebee's for dinner and have left overs for lunch tomorrow. No sandwiches yea. Going to have a celebration dinner tomorrow night to welcome Mike and Judy arriving.
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