Hours of Daylight 9:50
Greetings from Twin Falls, Idaho. Simply “twin” to the majority of native or adoptive Idahoans. I’m here because Annette needed to come out to the College of Southern Idaho to facilitate a focus group. Since i’m still in freefall vis a vis employment with Albertson College i decided to play chauffeur for the 138 mile (each way) ride.
Turns out my driving skills came in handy at a couple of times due to some really freaky winter weather along i84. Adding an ominous mood to the drive were the three recent crashes we passed before reaching Mountain Home. One was a pickup truck on its side in the west-bound ditch, headlights still on, a car in our direction had stopped and put on its flashers. A couple of guys were standing around. Next we passed a panel van, upside down in the center ditch. The front end was completely burned away. Then we got to watch as a UPS truck was pulled out of the west-bound ditch by a large tow truck. Ironically there were no further crashes evident once we passed Mountain Home. Go figure.
Twin Falls lives out near the center of the “Magic” Valley. It’s really all the same real estate as Boise; the banana belt of Idaho. The name “Magic” Valley was coined by a developer (surprise surprise) many years ago when he predicted the population would grow “like magic.” Well, that hasn’t really happened. At least not to the same extent of, say, Meridian, back in the “Treasure” Valley. The actual town of Twin Falls sits right near a massive gorge cut by the Snake river. Gorges are one of the hallmarks of this entire high desert. It’s kind of freaky how these gorges simply appear as you travel across a veritable endless sea of sage. If i were an early explorer making my way to someplace else and encountered, say, the Malad Gorge, or the Bruneau Gorge, my two utterances, in this order, would probably be, “holy cow!” and “shit.” Depending at what point i encountered the given gorge it would mean at least a full day, and possibly a week or more added to my travels just to reach the other side. These gorges are STEEP, DEEP and LONG. A mountain goat might be able to just descend one side and climb the other, but that would not be the case for a laden horse.
Now that the snow has finally stopped (it was near white-out conditions only a few moments ago) i’ll try and head back to one or more of the aforementioned gorges and get a few pictures.
Regarding Twin Falls proper there’s not a whole lot to say. The town is largely still an outpost surrounded by feedlots and farms. I’m not sure what industry is still located here, but the number of grain storage facilities, agricultural support businesses and truck/car dealerships i’m guessing agriculture is still pretty prominent in the local economy. Twin is a lot like Bemidji, Minnesota. There is a downtown, but it’s last urban renewal effort was probably back in the late 70’s or early 80’s and while there are still many businesses the customer numbers pale next to any of the surrounding “commercial strips.” Twin, like Bemidji, is a town you experience mostly from inside a car. It sort of makes sense in that there’s little restricting the growth of the fringes so why bother “concentrating” businesses into a “center.” There are a series of great old motels west of town on what used to be the main road before the days of the interstate. We’re going back to Boise along that route before we rejoin i84. I don’t foresee visiting Twin again in the immediate future.