From Nevada to Idaho

So, you walk to the middle of

this bridge, see. Then you jump

off the bridge, pull the rip cord

and float to the ground or the

river or wherever. Maybe you

float to the golf course, which

is at the bottom of the canyon!
Listen up guys, I've got a new sport for us to add to our golf games, cigar smoking and wine drinking. It's called parachuting and, unlike Georgia Lynch, you don't need a plane. You just walk out to the middle of the Perrine Bridge— which spans the Snake River Canyon in Twin Falls, Idaho—and jump off. Don't forget to pull the cord and you need to do it rather quickly. It's about 500 feet down to either the river or a little tiny parcel of land near the river with huge rock walls flanking the sides.

About 5,000 young, crazy people do it each year and it is the only bridge in the world where it is not illegal to do it. They don't arrest you when you do it, they just look at you funny and hope you don't date their daughter or grand daughter.

Watching this is unbelievable. I only wish I had a really good camera to capture a close up of them climbing over the railing and flying out into the thin air with that treacherous canyon far below. We watched five people go off the bridge, one time a twosome. One of the guys didn't quite make the landing spot and wound up in the bushes at the side of the river.

We arrived in Twin Falls late this afternoon and I wasn't even going to do a blog because we had spent most of the day driving through my home state of Nevada (straight for 26 miles, slight left turn, straight for 32 miles, slight right turn, couple of mountains, lots of desert) and there really wasn't much to report.

We drove just under 500 miles today but, honestly, it really wasn't bad. There are parts of Nevada's terrain that are pretty awesome, especially the Ruby Mountain rang near Elko. Rugged mountains and there is still snow at the top of the highest peak, which I think is about 9,000 feet. I pointed out all the little towns to Joan as we drove, places I played football and baseball in high school, usually driving there in a school bus for a long distance. We were from the big city and the little town boys really didn't like to lose to us. Anyway, I'm pretty sure Joan was impressed! I didn't take photos of the ball fields so they won't be in my slide show when we get back.

You come into Twin Falls from the South on Highway 93 and it appears rather flat—they call it the Snake River Plains— and you can make out in the far distance to the north some mountains, which are near Sun Valley some 80 or so miles away. You are up about 5,000 feet or so, but it looks flat and there was a haze in the air that screened the mountain views. Then you drive to the Snake River, which runs through Twin Falls and you come upon this beautiful (and deep) gourge and it takes your breath away, particularly driving across this bridge and looking down into the canyon. Then you see those crazies leap off the bridge and you are amazed that people do that.

Twin Falls is a fairly big town (about 130,000) and pretty spread out. Two golf courses are located at the bottom of the canyon and they are simply gorgeous looking (nope, didn't play it or get close to it but it sure looked good). What you do is set your tee time and then tell the starter you'll literally be "dropping" in on the first hole.

Just when we think we've seen it all, we head for the Tetons, Jackson Hole and Yellowstone the next three days. Ought to be awesome, don't you think?

Happy Trails.