Road Trip Day One

The start of Friday morning meant saying goodbye to beautiful Seattle and hitting the road for Portland, but not before we made a few notable stops in North Bend and Snoqualmie, where the Pilot episode and establishing shots were filmed for David Lynch's early '90s cult TV show, Twin Peaks.  Now, before I convince you to watch the show for yourself, I will be completely honest and inform you that it is absolutely not for everyone.  If you know anything about David Lynch, you probably know he's a weird one.  His style is completely unmatched, the Dali of motion pictures.  His films, and Twin Peaks, are very outlandish, but created in an impeccably classy and dreamy manner.  I am currently re-watching the show right now, because the first time Jason and I gave it a go, I lost interest halfway through the second season.  I wish I hadn't because apparently right after I stopped watching, it got super creepy and amazing.  I just started the second, and final, season for the second time, and I am loving it so far.  It's even better now that I've been to the "RR Cafe" or Twede's Cafe, as they call it in real life, and tried a "damn fine cup of coffee" and a piece of pie, albeit we tried the chocolate instead of the cherry - still delicious.  The inside of the cafe has changed quite a bit since 1991 due to remodeling after an arson incident, but it was still pretty neat to be there.  The scenery in North Bend, where Twede's is located, is breathtaking.  There is a calmness in the air that you just don't come across in most places.  After lunch, pie and coffee, we drove down the street to see the famous log in the show credits and then up to Snoqualmie to steal a glance at Salish Lodge & Spa, or The Great Northern hotel, as it's called on the show.  Post Twin Peaks geek-out session, we made the three hour drive down to Portland.  I must say, the drive from Seattle to Portland significantly beats the drive from Austin to Houston due to the unbelievable scenery....just look at those mountains and trees!