Day 281 – North Bend, WA – Twin Peaks!

[Mile zero to 130]   
This is it! We officially left the nest and started on our US road trip (after a bit of rethinking due to COVID shutting down the world). We wanted something light for our first day out so we drove down to Seattle to the beginning of I90 and drove over to North Bend, WA for some early dinner. Then over the Snoqualmie pass (elev. 2,726ft) to Lake Easton State Park where we’ve camped for the night. Tomorrow we’ll drive to Spokane, WA for another stop.

 

   

North Bend, WA

North Bend is a small city of about 7,000 people within King County at the edge of the greater Seattle metropolitan area incorporated in 1909 and sits in the shadow of the impressive Mount Si (elev 4,167). Before white people arrived in 1851, the area was home to the Snoqualmie tribe for thousands of years.

I’ve visited the town several times over the past 10 years and I have to say it’s doing much better than when I first came there.

Aside from the beautiful wilderness, breathtaking mountains, and a variety of nature activities, the town is known primarily for two things. It’s the site of Nintendo’s main north american production facility, Nintendo North Bend. And most interesting to me, the primary shooting location for the pilot of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks television show, the movie Fire Walk With Me, and the Twin Peaks reboot series.
 

   

Twin Peaks

Shot in 1990, Twin Peaks was a cult drama television show by writer/directer/actor David Lynch. The fictional city of 51,201 people was supposed to be located in eastern Washington but the decidedly western looking city was chosen. Most of the primary locations of the pilot were shot in or around the town while the interior of the lodge and exterior of the fishing cabin were shot on Bainbridge Island. Interiors of the Roadhouse used a gay cowboy bar in Seattle (now a theater center) and the Palmer house was actually in Everett. After the pilot, all of the interior sets were rebuilt in LA but the Twin Peaks prequal movie Fire Walk With Me was shot in the town and the reboot 20 years later also used the actual town.

Nearly ten years ago I visited North Bend and Snoqualmie Falls to seek out all of the shooting locations used in the show but this visit was a bit shorter. We had dinner at the diner and headed out. But I’ve included some photos from a previous visit for fun. Apologies for the low quality images.
 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

   

Pictures from a previous visit. Poor quality.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

Lake Easton State Park and our first night on the road

After our dinner we drove another hour over the Snoqualmie pass where Katy had booked us a great spot on Lake Easton. We finally got to try out our hookups, set up our chairs, watch an episode of 30 Rock to test out our TV setup, eat some snacks and get used to the new digs. All in all a great first day.