Made the trip from Enterprise, OR today. Original plan was to go through Hell’s Canyon (in the daytime this time) and go to the Overlook point to take some pics. It was closed, however, due to the fact that it was basically on fire. Not sure if the area was actually still on fire or not, but they weren’t letting mere tourists anywhere near it. Even still, we had to take the drive through the canyon to at least take the chance, plus it was kind of on the way to Twin Falls. That drive was, well, let’s see if I can give you a mental picture. You know that Zoom Zoom commercial from Mazada where the road spells Zoom Zoom? This was kind of like that, only it was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious – about 20 times. Fun to drive in the mini tho, and practically no one around ;).

So we get through that drive and cross over into Idaho at this funky old earth/concrete dam (Mare has pics, don’t worry). After that, we’re driving down what looked like a road covered in dirtballs. Then Mare sees a crow fly down, pick up a dirtball and fly off. Hmm. Then we take a closer look and the dirtballs are moving. Great. Time to pull over and check this out. Turns out crickets like to use the road to hang out in Idaho. Not just normal crickets… black mondo crickets the size of my thumb:

Imagine him thousands of times over a couple of kilometers. Fun.

Anyhow, finally cross into Twin Falls (after Mare driving while I did a major powernap for 2 hours). We came across this great bridge, way up high over Snake River and a canyon. I look down and what do I see? A GOLF COURSE! Way cool – Canyon Springs Golf Course, to be exact:

Tons of pics to post on Flickr when we get back, but that gives you an idea. Wild, would have loved to have given it a shot.

Wouldn’t be Twin Falls if we didn’t go see some kind of waterfall, so we headed to Shoshone Falls – the “Niagra Falls of the West” (well, that’s what the brochure in the hotel said):

Again, many pics including a nice sunset right at the falls. No clouds tho, so not super-colourful. But hey it was a beautiful day and a great way to end it.

Off to Craters of the Moon National Monument tomorrow, then to Yellowstone Park. Should be a good photo day…

Yup, that’s what it’s called. It’s 10:30pm and we just got here. Those of you that know me are probably expecting some kind of rant at this point, but I’ll keep it short and just say FIVE hours at the border. Radio said TWO, reality said FIVE. ‘Nuff said.

Anyhow, drive was pleasant, didn’t stop much through Washington and the small part of Oregon that we saw before the sun went down. Went through the Scenic Byway of Hell’s Canyon in the dark, but I’m sure it was spectacular (like Hell, only darker). Good news is we’ll see the other side of it tomorrow in the daylight on our way to Twin Falls, ID.

Pictures? OK here’s a couple for now (it’s late). Waiting for the border (did I mention it was FIVE hours?) we saw this guy in the field, pretty far away but got him:

…and here’s a sunset pic from Yakima – haven’t had much time to play with it, so hopefully it looks alright:

I’ll post again from Twin Falls, hopefully earlier ;).

Heading out on the road for a while for a much needed break. We’ll be going south as far as Las Vegas in Mare’s shiny new Mini. Long trip, something like 6000+ kms but really looking forward to seeing what there is to see out there and taking many pics with the Nikon. Especially looking forward to putting my new lens through its paces (see a review here).

I’ll be posting as often as I can, including links to my Flickr pages so that you can check out any new pics. Feel free to look at the others, of course, and post your comments.