Holiday USA West Coast Road Trip in Aug 2022: Day 3 – Afternoon and Early Evening in Twin Falls

We had a long nap when we had settled into our room and then we talked about what we wanted to do here.  It’s such a nice place to spend some time. First off, we decided to head down to the Visitors’ Centre and take in the views. 

Whilst looking around the Visitors Center, we saw a team prepare for some base jumping from the bridge.  A bit later we watched that same team of 4-6 base jump from the bridge and land on the side of the river. Wow!

We found the memorial to Evil Knievel. He is described as an American stunt performer and entertainer. Apparently he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps and was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.

So why does he have a memorial in Twin Falls? Thanks to his attempted jump over Snake River Canyon. He had a rocket-powered cycle specially built called Skycycle X-1 to jump across Snake River Canyon.

After initial tests, he deduced that he needed more power and he had Skycycle X-2 built which was more like a jet propelled cycle.

The launch took place at the south rim of the Snake River Canyon, west of Shoshone Falls on 8th September in 1974. Ultimately it failed due to his parachute opening too early. But it put Twin Falls on the map! We ended up seeing the jump site on a bike ride later in our stay at Twin Falls.

Interestingly, stuntman Eddie Braun recreated the jump using a replica of the Skycycle X-2. Braun’s jump took place on 16th September 2016 and was completed successfully.

One of the main reasons we came back to Twin Falls was due to a restaurant we found called Elevation 486, which overlooks Snake River Canyon.  So we had to book there again and we were lucky enough to be given one of the best tables in the house; probably because Vick booked it 4 weeks ago.

We walked to Elevation 486 from the hotel; it took about 15 mins – we couldn’t face another drive in the Mustang!  It was also an opportunity of stretching our legs and burning off a few calories, even though it wouldn’t have had that much of an impact.

Wow – what a view; we were both so pleased we had come back here.  We saw a large bloke propose to his partner just below the restaurant; naturally the restaurant burst out into applause.  Shame we didn’t get an invite to the wedding!

We tried to be relatively good in terms of the food we ordered.  We both went for a side salad as an appetiser, followed by the meatloaf.  We were virgin meatloaf eaters and it was tremendous.  Highly recommended.

We wandered back to the hotel well satisfied with our evening out in Twin Falls and feel asleep happy!

Follow the whole story here: Holiday USA West Coast Road Trip in Aug 2022