This is not Twin Falls, Idaho

Terra Sigillata

In my previous post on race-based vitamins where I invoked the bitingly satirical publication, The Onion, I noted something funny about their frontpage photograph that accompanied the article, Man Returns To Place Of Birth To Mate. BTW, it’s quite a clever article, as usual:

TWIN FALLS, ID–In one of nature’s most stirring and mysterious rituals, human male Michael Forrester journeyed back to his place of birth Monday in order to pair off, reproduce, and ensure the propagation of his species. . .

. . .With his readiness to mate signaled by a loss of hair around the crown and a swelling of the abdomen, Forrester set out on his arduous trek early Thursday morning. As he left the coast and traveled inland, the sexually mature male navigated his way through a complex system of interconnected streets onto an adjoining highway headed north.

But then I took a close look at the accompanying photo that was intended to represent Twin Falls, Idaho:

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Although Twin Falls, Idaho, is quite beautiful, this picture is not it.

Can you guess where it is?

I spent many summers in this mountain town teaching laboratory workshops. In fact, that restaurant on the left in that nice old bank building is where a few Qiagen reps bought me dinner as a rebate on the thousands of dollars my lab has spent on their DNA and RNA prep reagents.

Let’s just say that the Pharmboy family really wishes they were there right now.

Comments

#1 MiddleO'Nowhere
July 21, 2008

Telluride, CO?
#2 Abel Pharmboy
July 21, 2008

You’re getting warm (or cold, depending on the time of year.).
#3 Rhea Miller
July 21, 2008

My guess is Frisco CO.
#4 Abel Pharmboy
July 21, 2008

Good guess, Rhea but Frisco is not quite as historic as this town and lacks the concentrated downtown that this town has.

Keep the guesses coming!
#5 MiddleO'Nowhere
July 21, 2008

Breckenridge?
#6 llewelly
July 21, 2008

Leadville, CO.
#7 Lindata
July 21, 2008

Don’t think its Leadville – but leadville is a pretty neat place too.
#8 Abel Pharmboy
July 21, 2008

Both Breck and Leadville are about the right age. The mountains aren’t high enough to be near Leadville but the buildings could be that age. Leadville also lacks a downhill ski area that close (nearest, I think, is Ski Cooper near Tennessee Pass), although there is killer x-country skiing around Leadville and the Arkansas headwaters area.

Breck lacks a density of such buildings but does indeed have the ski area right next to town.

Hint: this town shares with Leadville the history of the silver boom and 1893 crash following repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act.

All great places to spend time any season of the year. You people are making me homesick!
#9 Elena
July 21, 2008

it looks like the ketchum/hailey/sun valley area of Idaho to me
#10 Will TS
July 21, 2008

That’s Aspen. That’s Aspen Mountain in the background. Little Nell is the big run on the left. You can see the lift up Ajax above it. The run on the right is where I used to ski as a kid after school with the Aspen Ski Club. If we ran from the middle school we could just make it to the lifts before they closed and get one free ride up. After that, we walked. My childhood home was up this street, about two blocks beyond the park which is just obscured by the building on the right side of the street. Later we moved out of town and lived about a mile directly behind the camera position. It’s been a while, but I still think of Aspen as home.
#11 Abel Pharmboy
July 21, 2008

Will TS shoots and scores!!!

I’ll add more context later.
#12 Will TS
July 21, 2008

I had an unfair advantage.