Historic Columbia River Highway And Multnomah Falls

I traveled to Portland during the Thanksgiving weekend. The flight from Fargo took me about 6 hours. Multnomah Falls is about 32 minutes from Portland. It's the tallest in Oregon and the drop is about 620 ft (upper fall is 542 ft,  lower fall is 69 ft and there is a gradual slope between the two of about 9 ft). The fall gets its name from the Multnomah tribe who lived around this area. The fall is fed by the springs of Larch Mountain, an extinct volcano. Legend has it, that a Multnomah woman sacrificed herself by jumping off the cliff of the mountain to save the tribal village from the plague. After the village was saved, it is said that water started to trickle down the cliff eventually forming the waterfall.

The Portland to Multnomah takes route 1-84, a part of which is the first planned scenic route in the US. It is called the Historic Columbia River Highway. The historic route spans between Troutdale and The Dalles

Google Earth aerial views of the waterfall

Upper and Lower Falls

Lower Falls

Multnomah Creek in the Columbia River Gorge

The Mississippi River

The second longest and second largest River in North America is The Mississippi. It is 3766 km long. Mississippi -Missouri water system is also the 4th longest water system in the world. This river flows across 10 states and there are at least 42 cities along its banks.

The origin of the name comes from the Native American name of the river Ojibwa-Misi-Sipi, The Great Waters. The river is said to have been formed some 70 million years old as per studies done on zircons found in the river. The river is supposed to have been formed from the Laurentide Ice Sheets (Large sheets of ice that covered parts of North America during the Ice Age). As it melted it formed lakes and surface springs. Today the river is fed by The Itasca Lake and the springs that form the lake.

Headwaters of the Mississippi are fed by this lake system

The Story of The Mississippi

We went on a camping trip to Itasca a few years back during the July 4th long weekend. Itasca Park is a state Park in Minnesota that is built around Lake Itasca. Lake Itasca is the source of North America's second-longest river, The Mississippi. Legend has it, that the lake was originally called Omashkoozo-zaaga’igan - The elk lake in the Native American language. Schoolkraft rechristened the lake as Itasca which meant 'True Head'! Other legends say, that the lake was formed by the tears of Hiawatha's daughter Iteska, hence the name Itasca.

Marker at the headwater

Headwaters

We, camping in the park

Fishing, boating, rafting, and multiple activities are allowed on the park premises. We rented a motor boat for a lake tour

110-foot tall Fire / Observation tower in the park. We climbed up to the top. The view is worth it. Shall look up the pics and update them here

A common whitetail male dragonfly / Long-tailed Skimmer. Though common all across North America, they are one of the oldest insects on this planet

The Mississippi Delta or Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Pillottown is the last town where the original pilots were built. After the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina, the pilots were rebuilt in Venice, a town up north 

5 Days Trip To Las Vegas, Zion National Park, And Grand Canyon

Getting to Vegas from Fargo was one of the easiest in 2008. There were quite a few low-cost deals to Vegas on the weekends - fly down on a Friday and head back on Sunday evening. Now, things have changed but you still do get pretty good deals once in a while. If I remember well I got an under-100 deal for a ticket. It was our grad school friend's meet and we planned 5 days at a rented Villa, located close to the Vegas downtown.

Day 1

The first day was much spent relaxing, hanging out in the villa, and catching up with everyone. The villa was well-equipped with a full pantry, a great bar, a pool room,  and a backyard swimming pool. The rooms were pretty, cozy and comfortable. 

Airbnb home we rented for our stay

Day 2

On the second day, we headed out for Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon. We took a tour bus. It was January but I thought, Vegas being a desert wouldn't get too cold. I was wrong! While I packed light clothes, good for summer, it turned out a miscalculation. My jacket from Fargo was my savior. In fact, it was snowing at Grand Canyon. The snow-covered Canyon looked gorgeous, a lot different from the usual pics I had seen of it. Trekking was not allowed due to bad weather conditions. We visited the viewpoints only.

The Hoover Dam, named after the 31st President of the USA, Herbert Hoover is counted as one of the 7 industrial wonders of the world. It provides water and electricity to many Cities in three states - California, Nevada, and Arizona

The Hoover Dam is considered a feat because of its scale, location, and the time it was built. It was a massive project for the time when the US was going through the great depression. Built on a rough terrain and the rough waters of the Colorado River which used to flood parts of Southern California and Arizona before the Dam was constructed

The Grand Canyon, covered in mist!

In winter, the snow-covered canyon has an entirely different aura

This canyon is a part of the Colorado River basin and is famous for its geological formation as a result of billions of years of arid-land erosion. The canyon explosion layers of soil strata that data back to Proterozoic and Paleozoic Era

Aerial View of Hoover Dam from Google Earth. It was the highest dam in the world when completed in 1935. Standing tall at 726 ft (221 m) almost 60 stories high above the Colorado River. It is still listed among the largest dams in the world though not the highest.

Aerial View of Lake Mead, the largest man-made lake (640 sq. km) in the US. It is the reservoir formed by building the Hoover Dam

Statistics of water and power distribution from Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. Southern California consumes a major chunk of the water and power allocated. In recent years, Lake Mead's water level has gone down drastically, probably due to temporary drought or more serious aridification. This alarming condition has led to reduced allocation of water to the three states

The course of the Colorado River Via the Grand Canyon, Lake Mead, and down south toward Mexico

Day 3

On the third day, we headed for Zion National Park. This time we rented cars. The drive to the park was beautiful.

Scenic drive on the way to Zion National Park

Checkerboard Mesa, Navajo Sandstone summit at a height of 6520 ft and above, in Zion. Zion National Park is a colorful geological formation of exposed layers of sedimentary rock dating back to as old as the Mesozoic era 

Checkerboard Mesa viewpoint. It was an interesting climb on layers of eroded mountain. It was named by Preston P. Patrow, the 3rd Superintendent of Zion. The name was coined because of the summit's 'checkerboard appearance formed by horizontal cross-bedding of ancient sand dunes and vertical cracking due to the expansion and contraction of sandstone in winter' - Source: information board in Zion

Fort Zion is a game and gift shop with a small petting zoo in the town of Virgin on the way to Zion

Day 4

On the fourth day, we hopped the casinos at the strip and downtown and some of my friends went for the Cirque-du-Soleil show at MGM Grand.

Map of the Las Vegas Strip along a stretch of South Las Vegas Boulevard which has some of the biggest casinos and hotels in Las Vegas. About 14 hotels are among the top 30 largest hotels in the world.

Vegas Strip as seen from McCarran airport

Entrance of Luxor Hotel and Casino. It is designed in the form of a huge Pyramid and the interiors are designed with an Egyptian theme

Leo the Lion is the mascot of MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). In the past, MGM Grand was famous for its boxing matches and Lion habitat. When we visited Vegas in 2008, the Lions were still there. They were moved later to a ranch about 12 miles away. MGM Grand is the largest single-building hotel in the world and is the third largest hotel in the world with 6852 suites

With 7092 suites, The Venetian - Palazzo designated as the busiest hotel is the 2nd largest hotel in the world. It is designed like the City of Venice and much like the romantic city, exudes romanticism and luxuriance

Paris, Las Vegas is designed like Paris and has a half-scale replica of the Eiffel Tower 

Roman-styled fountains in front of Caesar's Palace

Hard Rockers KISS at Hard Rock Cafe

The Colosseum at a restaurant in Ceasar's Palace which is designed after a Roman theme

Downtown Vegas' Fremont Experience along a stretch of Freemont Street which has the world's largest video screen

The 1375 ft long, 90 ft wide Viva Vision Canopy, is the world's largest LED canopy screen in Downtown Las Vegas with 16.4 million pixels. It is suspended 90 ft above Fremont Street.

Golden Nugget Casino has on its displays, the Hands of Faith golden nugget which is the largest, metal detected golden nugget. 

Freemont Street Experience Entrance

Day 5

On the fifth day, we lazed around at the Villa and packed up for the next day's early morning flight back.