Friday, November 25, 2011

Snoqualmie Falls


This past summer, Mom and I traveled to the Pacific Northwest to attend the Seattle Bloggers' Fling and to visit a good friend of Romie's and mine. Jim was such a gracious host, as we spent five more days after the Fling being chauffeured around one of the most beautiful parts of our country.

No visit to the Seattle area would be complete without a stop at Snoqualmie Falls, 25 miles east of Seattle. One of Washington State's most popular tourist attractions, the water plunges a dramatic 268 feet to the Snoqualmie River below. The word "Snoqualmie" is the English pronunciation of a Salish word meaning "moon."


It was a drizzly day when we drove to the falls, and that, coupled with the spray from the falls, gave them a sinister ambience. This may have contributed to the decision to use the lodge as the stand-in for the Great Northern Hotel in the popular TV series, Twin Peaks.



As you can imagine, a waterfall like that creates an immense amount of energy. There are two hydroelectric power plants at the falls. The world's first completely underground power plant, built in 1898, is embedded in the rock at the base of the falls. The second was built in 1910 and is located a little ways downstream. Together, the power plants generate enough energy to provide power to approximately 16,000 homes.


The Salish Lodge was built in 1919 and remodeled in 1988, with the fireplace being the only remaining part of the original structure. A beautiful gift shop stole a little bit of my time and I purchased some slate coasters with ferns imprinted on the surface.



Images from
Snoqualmie Falls










Rose petals left behind from a wedding...







______________________________
Information about the falls and lodge was taken from Wikipedia.

5 comments:

Alison said...

I'm so glad you got to visit the Falls. It's such an amazing place!

@SolakNC said...

Great pictures, Kylee! I was there one time, about 18 years ago. Only then, it was during a dry spell, and there was very little flowing. Nice to see what it can look like :)

Tom

FilipBlog said...

What a nice waterfall, love the spray.

Greetings,
Filip

Sue said...

I love the "misty-ness"--just beautiful!

CommonWeeder said...

What a wonderful trip - and a beautiful post. Waterfalls are always fascinating.

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