The Choo-Choo to Ice Cream

Today Ernie took his grandparents on a scenic ride on an antique train. We began our journey at the station in North Bend, WA.

Part way through our journey we made a stop at the Train Shed Exhibit Hall at the Railway History Campus. There were a lot of trains to see and learn about.

We hit the other station in Snoqualmie and then turned around.

Afterward we explored North Bend a bit. My parents were complaining about food costing too much in the Seattle area, which I suppose is not wrong. I took them to this little burger joint called Dairy Freeze which is the classic sort of Route 66 place. Afterwards they complained that this place was also too expensive. Ok.

Skiing Some More

I've been gaining a bit of skill and confidence with all of my ski practice.

I gained so much skill in fact that Lydia insisted we try a different slope. We've just been going up the same one over and over thus far, which was good training. She found another green one for us to try that hypothetically should have been the same skill level as the one I'm used to. Well "somehow" we ended up on a blue slope, which was pretty much impossible for my ability. I fell enough times that I ended up taking my skis off and walking the rest of the way down. I hurt my neck pretty bad but despite Lydia's efforts I did not die. For the next couple weeks I was walking around with my head leaning on one shoulder because it hurt to hold my head up straight. It also hurt to drive when I had to turn my head to look at mirrors and traffic and such. I will never forget this betrayal.

Twin Peaks Sightseeing

We'd finally been in the Seattle area for two days in a row and now that everything was unpacked we were able to check out our surroundings a bit. The nearby towns of Snoqualmie, North Bend and Fall City are the primary filming locations for cult classic Twin Peaks' exterior footage.

It was strange being over here. This sort of environment with this sort of vibe is literally something out of a tv show or movie, and nothing like a place I ever dreamed of living. So not only were the places cool on their own but I feel like I had some small amount of ownership or something now that I lived nearby. I wasn't just a tourist here anymore.

Our first stop was Twede's Cafe.

In Twin Peaks it was known as the Double R Diner.

The place was packed and even had a bit of a wait. When I saw the in-FBI-costume tour guide standing out front I realized a lot of these people were here on a Twin Peaks tour. Not bad for a show that premiered in 1990.

The menu was pretty classic diner fare.

There was a ton of Twin Peaks memorabilia on the walls.

Biscuits and gravy is a kind of trash food that I will never get tired of eating.

I had to get a piece of pie before we left, not because I was still hungry but because according to FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper, "This must be where pies go when they die."

We quickly went on a hike of Mount Si before I died of pie poisoning.

The Salish Lodge & Spa near Snoqualmie Falls plays the show's Great Northern Hotel's exterior shots. There's another hotel in the area where they shot some of the interiors and I'm going to need to stay there!

The hotel was clearly in on the fun.

There was a scene where I think this Ronette Pulaski escaped a rape or something and then was like creepily half dead walking across this bridge. I looked way better on the bridge, not gonna lie.

I think these might be the twin peaks in question.

I think in the show the Roadhouse was kind of a rough bar but in reality it was a nice sort of restaurant and inn. We stopped for dinner.

Amazon Go is kind of wild. You sign up once then afterwards you can beep yourself in at an automatic gate, pick up whatever groceries you want, then just walk out with. The gillions of cameras everywhere know what you took and automatically charge you. The future is now!

I single handedly saved Central America with my recent trip to Honduras.