One of my main goals with this trip has been to visit places that are remote, secluded, and tucked away. Not necessarily places I wouldn’t want to visit, but rather the harder-to-reach locations. I plan on spending some time in Seattle later on in life, so even though I passed through the city today, I didn’t feel a need to go to the Space Needle or A Sound Garden or the Hendrix memorial. What I did need to do on the outskirts of Seattle was celebrate that landmark of American television, Twin Peaks. Allow me to indulge myself for a paragraph.
The “Welcome to Twin Peaks” sign? Gone, but the area still delivers views of the towering Cascades. The waterfall beside the Great Northern in the title sequence? Snoqualmie Falls is a slightly overdeveloped park with a wonderful hiking trail. The Double R? Actually Twede’s Diner, which served a pretty good breakfast along with an okay cup of coffee. My morning tour was silly and a bit sophomoric, but it made me happy. And what is this trip if not a gigantic period of wish fulfillment?
Another trip to the laundromat, and I was off to the Washington Ferry station, located right in downtown Seattle along the Puget Sound. The justifiably grumpy workers guided me into a long grid of cars; after a solid half hour of waiting, we boarded the ferry. I toured the parking lot and the passenger deck during the thirty-five-minute crossing. Some people lounged in booths reading; some people slept in their cars; others just sat in the driver’s seat. This was a commute, and very few people were out on the observation decks watching the journey.
I’m holed up in the surprisingly normal-feeling islands west of Seattle tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll check out Olympic National Park and maybe, finally, see some rain in Washington.
“My log has a message for you…
“The owls are NOT what they seem.”
Twin Peaks, YES!! When Jeff and I visited Marc and Chrissy in Seattle more than 20 years ago, they took us to see the diner and the traffic light and the falls. I think we ate at a restaurant next to the falls, as a matter of fact. As I remember I had pheasant because it just never shows up on menus of the kind of restaurants I ordinarily go to. It was a good but pricey meal. In 2018 Jeff and I went to Olympic National Park on a ferry from Vancouver. We had just finished a cruise to Alaska (don’t ever go on one of those monster cruise ships; they are too big and too germy). We did not see any of the rain forest! I thought it was all rain forest but we saw more rain forest in the Seattle area than at the park. I guess we should have investigated the park in advance. Anyway, I hope you find the rain forest and enjoy exploring the park. Love, Grandma