Summer Road Trip

I went to Twin Peaks!

Or more accurately, I went to Snoqualmie, Washington. First, my son took me to the waterfall. Most people on the viewing platform seemed to be people who wanted a beautiful waterfall. Fair enough, I suppose! And yes, it is lovely, isn’t it? There’s a reason David Lynch and Mark Frost picked the scenery. But I was there, obviously, to see the world of Twin Peaks. (And my son is good enough to humor me.)

After the waterfall, we tried to find the Welcome to Twin Peaks sign. Turns out the information I had was very out-of-date. The sign was stolen (again) back 2017 and not replaced. I can’t blame them. Why replace something that keeps getting stolen?

So we headed to the Double RR, or, as reality keeps insisting, Twede’s Cafe.

Finding no parking in front, we drove around and ended up parking a couple blocks away. This meant we approached the diner from the back instead of the front, and as we walked by, I noticed a group of people milling about in the alley.

I should preface this with how a block away I had spotted the theater promoting a Twin Peaks event.

And also I follow Michael Horse on Instagram (but had not been checking Instagram). So, I recognized him first. I stopped. “That’s the actors from the show.”

“What?” my son asked.

The three actors from the marquee where just feet away. I ventured over and snapped a picture. I debated trying to talk them, but I’m not that kind of person. So, I took my snaps, overheard how the artist of the Twin Peaks sign mural had finished the mural (almost) that very morning, and casually walked away.

If anything about our day had gone differently–if we had left as early as I had wanted, if we had found parking out front, if I hadn’t been paying attention–I’d never have known Hawk, Andy, and Bobby were standing outside the Double RR.

And just that morning I’d finished reading the book Lynch on Lynch. “You’ve got to let accidents and strange things happen – let it work, so it’s got an organic sort of quality … By trying to remove yourself you can see some fantastic things sometimes.” Lynch talked a lot about happy accidents and how often things aligned to help the right thing for his movie or series happen. Gosh, how I felt it that beautiful day.

The weather was great, the timing was perfect, and the cherry pie was delicious.


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