Twin Peaks

The weekend has finally come to a close. We just dropped off Jordan at the airport after an eventful Birthday weekend (she has just joined the ’26’ club!) in Seattle, North Bend and Bellingham. We checked out the tourist spots in the big city, visited the filming locations of one of our favorite shows Twin Peaks, and went whale watching in the San Juan Islands near the Canadian border.

Overall, and I think Jordan might agree, the best part of the visit was our tour through North Bend and Snoqualmie Falls to check out the filming locations of David Lynch’s 1990 show, Twin Peaks. Although many of the filming locations have changed a lot over the years, a few remained seemingly unchanged.

Stopping off at Twede’s Cafe, or the RR Cafe in the series, we had burgers and topped it off with cherry pie and a ‘damn good cup of coffee’. The original interior of the restaurant was damaged in an arson-related fire in 2000. Now the interior decor channels more of a classic 50’s style. Even though it was rebuilt, the interior maintained a layout true to that in the Twin Peaks series.

While we were hunting down the rural location of the ‘Welcome to Twin Peaks’ sign (which obviously doesn’t exist), we found Ronette’s bridge. Since 1990, the railroad tracks on the bridge have been removed. It now serves local runners and cyclists as a trail into the adjacent woods. The river below was no doubt the one used in many stock shots in the series, usually for credits. With the flowing river below, and the thick woods adjacent, this spot couldn’t have been more peaceful.

The mill and Sheriff’s station were the most difficult locations to find even though they were on the same property. Their appearance has changed a bit since 1990, but they’re still quite recognizable.

The exterior of the Great Northern Hotel has changed little, except that in reality it’s called the Salish Lodge and Spa. With the weather unremitting, it was difficult to get a clear photo of the lodge and the falls.

The cool weather also prompted the clouds to hang low enough to obscure the peaks of the mountains. Which is why my Twin Peaks intro photo looks a little bit askew. The area was also a bit overgrown, and now had a cement barricade on the shoulder of the road. Why I expected the site to be identical to it’s 1990 appearance? I have no idea. Wishful thinking, I suppose.

Finding all these locations would had been nearly impossible without the map we purchased at Twede’s Cafe. I highly recommend stopping off there first if ever you find yourself on a Twin Peaks Tour. They seem to get a lot of Twin Peaks fans stopping in, we were just a few.