I had every intention of making the trek out to Poulsbo, WA. This small town is on the Kitsap Peninsula, a slice of Norway in the Puget Sound. It is also home to the Kiana Lodge that was used for the interiors of the Great Northern Lodge on Twin Peaks… as well as offering the site where Laura Palmer’s body was discovered in the pilot (“She’s dead… wrapped in plastic!”)
And yet… the ferry’s fare to get from Seattle over to Bainbridge Island and back was something like $37 roundtrip. There was no guarantee I’d actually get to see inside the Kiana Lodge and while I would love to snap a photo of *something* wrapped in plastic by “Laura’s Log” a natural landmark that’s still there on the water’s edge, the cheapskate in me is karaoking Amy Winehouse and saying, “No, no, no.”
I bet the views of the Seattle skyline and the experience would be something but there’s a little blue bird on my shoulder singing, “cheap… cheap… cheap.”
Sigh. I came all this way… and yet, once more I hesitate and am lost.
I did however yesterday stop on my way out of Snoqualmie at a few final odds and ends on my area Twin Peaks tour.
I mentioned this before but didn’t post a pic — here’s a shot of the serious renovation/construction on Twin Peaks High’s Mount Si High School. What the heck is that multistory building on the right? It’s near the athletic fields so maybe they’re building a massive stadium annex… all this in a town with a population of 13,190 (2016). [Side Note: Twin Peaks claimed to have a population of 51,201.]
I wanted to see the Fat Trout Trailer Park but the address I had for it proved to be just sort of an open field (certainly conceivable the moviemaking magic could have “dressed” the scene with trailers and RVs). Nonetheless, I saw little point in snapping a pic in a field… I had done enough nature shots that morning whilst running the Jack and Jill Downhill Marathon Day 2.
Despite my cheapness, I figured I’d regret not picking up a Great Northern Lodge magnet and Double R Diner bumper sticker. So I made a few return appearances…
Snoqualmie Falls and Salish Lodge were first on the agenda, with only one minor regret:
Parking was a bit of a bear (See what I did there?). Rather than playing “mall rules” and following folks as they ambled aimlessly around the lower parking lots, causing near-miss accidents between pedestrian and cars doing the same thing to stake out a spot from those that were leaving, I drove up to the nearly empty upper lot. The downside to all this was that upon my return from the falls, I was confronted with this:
Stairs… why did it have to be stairs? My post-race legs were NOT happy about this.
I went to the Twede’s Diner in the ill-advised attempt to have a slice of cherry pie. Whilst I emerged sans-pie, I did pick up a bumper sticker for $2. Side Note — the Double R Diner signs on the wall promoting the burger and fries for $8.95 are fantasy — Twede’s Diner charges 10.99 for a burger and fry plate.
My final stop, and I’m not entirely sure why I decided this would be the final stop, was the home of Ed and Nadine. As a Peaker can tell you, Nadine was obsessed with silent drape runners (so much so that 25 years later in the Return revival series, she apparently runs a store called Run Silent, Run Drapes). But as you’ll note in my poorly zoomed in photo of the home’s windows, more Hollywood sleight of hand was at work for the show:
I’m going to regret not going to Poulsbo. But my heart (and legs) are just not feeling it today.