At 212 feet high, Shoshone Falls in southeastern Idaho, is taller than it’s grander cousin, Niagara Falls. But Niagara, at 3,409 feet across, is broader in the beam than Shoshone Falls. Both are remnants of the last ice age—Shoshone Falls was born of the massive Bonneville flood, which scraped its way through basalt volcanic rock to create the Snake River plain and geological smiley face across southern Idaho.
In 1907, the first hydroelectric power plant in the Magic Valley was built at the Milner Dam, just upstream from Shoshone Falls. Now the water flow is controlled by Idaho Power for the purposes of irrigation and power. On February 14th, the power company doubled the flow from Milner Dam, creating the crowd pleasing drama of rumbling rainbows at the falls. 
The crowd expanded throughout the afternoon, along with the volume of water cascade over the rocks. 
The falls provided family entertainment as well as a romantic picnic outing for the lovestruck.
I suspect the family that planned a wedding at Shoshone Falls Park for Valentines Day, had not anticipated Idaho Power’s unfortunately timed decision to turn up the faucet and jam the park with sightseers and tourists.
Perhaps most entertaining however, was the local KMVT (Fox affiliate) news crew.
Note the heels under the Valentine red dress. Camera man bringing up the rear.
Now, imagine negotiating the iron grating that makes up the staircase to the viewing platform!
She made it safely down. Her bravery is commendable. I wouldn’t have attempted that for any price. I applaud her professionalism.
She is a professional at wearing heels. But what do spike heels have to do with the news? Why must she wear a pencil thin dress and risk her neck wearing inappropriate shoes to deliver the news? Oh, excuse me. I’m so silly. It’s not news we want. It’s “feature stories.” We want romance! We want pretty, sexy reporters!
Given the American public’s expectations, is it any wonder that our news “personalities” become victims of their own need to make the news?
Rangewriter 
you dress for the job you want, not the one you have.:) We’re still living in the age of Ron Burgandy, despite the fact that film send up was based on media of the 80’s. But if you glance at the women of fox, you can see to what this young woman aspires. IN some ways the glibness of Brann Williams is just another version of what has become of the fourth estate and reflective of what much of our news media have become — the continuing conversations about personalities rather than reportage that informs of public matters and options to make things better. From my view, news should be the public’s intelligence report. Today much of it, is simply junior high caliber gossip.
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As always, Sid, I couldn’t agree more, and you say it all way better than I do! Thanks.
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Looks like a beautiful falls. Lovely photos. Thanks for sharing.
I used to work with a guy who often wore tie, shirt, suit jacket, and blue jean to work. When he had to attend a meeting, he would arrive early, and leave late. No one had noticed his blue jean since it was hiding under the table. 😉
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That’s funny. I think a lot of news and weather casters used to wear jeans below and suit/tie or nice blouse/jacket above. But that was before the the sets were designed for them to walk around in front of maps and whatnot.
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My wife lost many a heeled shoe to an iron grate walking downtown. We would laugh and go fetch the snagged shoe. Since they are showing torso shots, wearing high heels does not do anything for the broadcast, I would think.
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Perhaps not, but it’s a significant part of the “package.” And particularly comical to me because in this very rural part of Idaho, the gal looks completely out of place. Now, in New York or Seattle, maybe you could say she was just fitting in. But here, she’d have been more appropriately dressed in a bright red blouse, jeans, and cowboys boots.
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Linda, you are entirely correct about what she should have worn. I remember when the so-called serious national news outlets went to good looking young people over people with experience. I recognize that it would be unfair to say they are mutually exclusive, but when people who know what questions to ask are replaced by people who do not know the information is shallow or based on a sketchy sources, then it does not make for good news. One station was bragging about having Oliver North on as an expert in foreign policy. Oliver North was the fall guy for the Iran-Contra affair that saved President Reagan from being impeached and he is being portrayed as a foreign policy expert? Good comments on this post. BTG
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Ha! I read the title to your post and thought,
‘Uh-oh.. She was wearing ridiculous heels, tripped and fell, and the news is going to be funny…’
buzzzzzzz! wrong!
i loved the story, even if you weren’t the star performer!
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Ha! I’m not above wearing ridiculous footgear and paying the price for it! http://wp.me/p1JnwK-LG 😉
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The cynic in me gets the feeling the “St Valentine’s wedding” itself could’ve been a stunt put on by the water company in conjunction with the TV company. Hey, why go to all the expense and bother of searching out real news when you can make it up?
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In normal conditions, you might be right, Bryan. But this is Idaho. The news follows the hoard. The hoard was clustered around the water. The bedraggled wedding party was small, tucked away in a more or less quiet part of the park and not newsworthy at all. It would have been a lovely setting for an outdoor wedding without the nonstop car and giant truck traffic cruising up and down the street hunting for parking spots.
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It’s FOX news. Even here in Canada we know it caters to the lowest common denominator. BTW I am delighted to report that “Sun News” Canada’s version of FOX News just went out of business after 4 years due to terrible ratings. Things like that give me hope … but not much.
Hey. Where’s your snow ? It almost looks like the grass is growing. Is it that much milder there ?
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You Canadians are just that much more discriminating than the majority of Americans. FOX rules around here.
When the east coast gets hammered with snow the west coast dries up. Actually coastal areas in Washington, Oregon and California have had their share of rain (on top of hillsides decimated by recent fires, so mud slides and sinkholes result). But inland we are really suffering. Many ski areas have had to close and those that are still open are limping along on snow that fell in December and early January. Usually by the end of February and into March southern Idaho gets a lot of good snow storms. But there’s no good news on the horizon this year.
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Great landscape. And the forces of the waterfall is amazing! Have a happy day. 😀
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Thanks!
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Ha ha! What an opportunity to illustrate your last post. I’m glad you didn’t miss it. I believe that the best dressed people are the people who dress appropriately. A guy wearing gym shorts out to dinner with his wife when it’s snowing out, a lady wearing heels on a trek like what’s above, or a tuxedo around the campfire are all examples of dressing inappropriately, and thus poorly. To the woods, I wear my boots, to dinner with the wife, I wear my oxfords. Simple, no?
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Yes, I was all fumbles trying to snap that unexpected shot through the horde of people! And yes, it is simple. Most embarrassing to me is to confess that I have at least once acted entirely inappropriately to the way I was dressed, the results of which caused this fiasco! http://wp.me/p1JnwK-LG
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Hi Linda: I am always amazed at how some women can walk on those high heels on any land or cityscape! You wouldn’t catch me dead in those shoes, and it makes me sad to think that young woman was likely concentrating too much on walking instead of being at one with nature and enjoying the natural environment that she was blessed to inhabit.
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Doreen, I had to give the poor gal a lot of credit for her high heel skill. I wish I could see the connection between the news she was to report and her sexy appearance. To me, the sexy appearance would be great on a dance floor, but in front of the camera for a news presentation it is nothing less than demeaning. Who in the world could take anything coming from her mouth seriously?
I guess I’m just lucky that I never had a job for which my appearance made or broke my success. But I’m saddened that jobs like that still exist.
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Perhaps they should switch her for you! You’d be great as a broadcasting journalist! Yay!
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Oh my, Renee! Thanks for the compliment, but I’m horrendously camera shy, which is why I prefer being behind the lens! Besides, I could never “walk the walk” that is expected of these poor young women. 😉
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