Recent trips, part 1: Washington state

We recently took two trips, and I've been wanting to write about each individually, even though at this point they are both starting to feel like old news. In fact, I've got a back log of about five blog entries and counting that I'd still like to write, so bear with me if I end up a month or two behind real time.

If our second trip this season took me out of my comfort zone, then the first trip was squarely in it. We traveled to an area of our country that has appealed to me for a long time: the Pacific Northwest. My interest in this region has sort of manifested itself over the years in the form of Twin Peaks, but it didn't start there. It began during a trip to Washington I took with my parents while I was in junior high. The place was inspiring to me then; it's inspiring now; and when I discovered Twin Peaks sometime in between, the mystery and the mood that inspired me were directly tied to the location.

R was attending a conference in Seattle at the end of May, so we decided to extend her stay and fly me up for Memorial Day weekend. We spent our first full day exploring the city (Space Needle, Pike Place Market, underground tour) and the two days after that in and around Snoqualmie, a small town where "a yellow light still means slow down, not speed up". This is where they filmed much of the pilot episode of Twin Peaks and quite a few exteriors that were used throughout the series. Keep in mind the show was made over 20 years ago, so things have changed a bit. It's also a little deceiving when you recognize the outside of a building and then you walk in and realize an entirely different set was used for the interior scenes.

I am proud to say we spent two nights at the Salish Lodge, pictured at he top of the waterfall above, which is a key spot in the show. And, as cheesy as it sounds, having a cup of coffee and a piece of cherry pie in the Double R Diner (called Twede's Cafe in reality) was an absolute highlight of the trip for me, despite the changed decor (Tweety Birds hanging from the ceiling?). You could say being there was the realization of a dream for me.

It's hard to complain about the weather in Santa Barbara, but maybe I needed a change because I found myself welcoming the rain we experienced in Washington. It was more of a steady drizzle that bounced off you than any sort of downpour. It enlivened the greens and provided the tree tops with some haunting mists. We saw a lot of this during a hike to Rattlesnake Ledge on our last afternoon up there. R once again impressed me by handling the four mile round trip and 1200 feet elevation gain quite well at about 19 weeks into her pregnancy.

As usual, our photos go into much more detail than I could ever describe. Check them out here to see more about our weekend getaway.