Vacation All I Ever Wanted...

"this city's made us crazy and I must get out..."

Earlier today... err, yesterday... when I blogged - I wanted to talk about all this, but I didn't have time.

I woke up at 730a yesterday and decided to catch up on reading New Moon for the 2nd time while I watched the Travel channel. The first thing on the Travel channel was this awesome special on Niagara Falls. I learned so much about it that I had no clue of!

After that was a special on the Colorado River which stretches from Denver all the way down to Lake Meade, which is 20 miles from Las Vegas. There were some areas in the special that I almost felt compelled to find and take photos of. A ton of spots were in Glen Canyon National Park, Utah/Arizona. (If you look on Google Maps, both the highway and the railroad follow the river, cool!) Of course the Grand Canyon - which is something I've always wanted to see - and I have seen it... I've seen it every time I've flown over it to go to Vegas... but I would like to get down there and touch it.

After that was a top 10 amazing places in the Northwest... I can't remember which number it was, but I recognized it instantly... Multnomah Falls, Oregon.

Of course, I only recognize it because it's visible from the baseball scene in Twilight - but as soon as I saw it in the movie I instantly wondered where I would be able to find such a gorgeous waterfall... I started wondering about it and if it was just some random waterfall somewhere, or if it had meaning... Luckily for me, it was the latter.

Multnomah Falls is visible from the Oregon or Washington side. The baseball scene in Twilight was filmed on the Washington side as the vampires do live in Washington. Of course, in the movie it looks like Edward just took Bella to a random field to play baseball in which there just happened to be a 620ft waterfall in the background. In reality, Multnomah Falls is almost 5 hours from the tiny town of Forks, Washington where fictional Bella resides... I don't think Edward is going to have her home by curfew.

I started researching Twilight filming locations when it was still in theaters, hoping to plan a road trip up there with my camera to catch all of this wonder in real life. It wasn't hard to find Multnomah Falls. Once I saw it, I knew that I had to go there.

I've always adored waterfalls. Such wonder they give; their cascading waters somehow capture you in awe and suddenly you feel insignificant in this huge world where things of such beauty exist.

Origin Legend of Multnomah Falls:

There is a Native American legend that explains the origins of the falls. In this legend, a tribe was infected with a deadly disease and was in danger of dying. The daughter of the chief went to the top of a cliff and prayed to the Great Spirit to find how she could stop the epidemic. She was told that to stop the epidemic, she would have to throw herself off the cliff and sacrifice herself. She did this and died. The next day, the chief found his daughter's body at the bottom of the cliff. He wept bitterly and cried out to the Great Spirit to give him a sign if this sacrifice was not in vain. At that moment, water began to fall from the top of the cliff, forming Multnomah Falls. The legend also says that under the right conditions, you can see the daughter's face in the waterfall.

10 minutes from Multnomah Falls is this little inn where they filmed the prom scenes for Twilight. You can actually stay at the inn, and get a little Twilight tour of the area. ;)

It's definitely on my list of 'shit to do' this year... to make a trip up to Washington/Oregon. I had thought about flying, because it wouldn't cost too much, but the areas that I want to go to area pretty secluded and once you get out there, you really need a car in order to get around, so I'll probably wait it out a bit, rent a car and make a road trip of it. Not sure if Jennifer will come. She hasn't seemed into it really... I can always bring her back the incredible photos, but I have a feeling that nothing will compare to the real thing here.

Also on my list of places to visit, of course Forks, Port Angeles and La Push, for their obvious Twilight reasons. Seattle and Portland as well, just because they're places I've always wanted to go. I've thought about it and I might not make it out to the Northwest until September, in which case I might as well until September 13th, Bella's birthday - and also Stephenie Meyer day in Forks, Washington.

Multnomah Falls (click photos to enlarge.)


First Beach, La Push, Washington:


I cannot wait until I can stop staring at these photos and make seeing them a reality. I imagine these places to be quite peaceful and wonderful. They sound like the perfect vacation spot for me, rainy, dreary and secluded.

xoxox

Jodie