Washington Wanderings: A Trip to Seattle, Olympic National Park, Snoqualmie, Forks and Port Angeles
- Lisa Hanly
- Jun 30
- 6 min read
Some people might listen to music from their high school years to feel young again. It turns out I felt the same way while listening to Angelo Baldamenti’s “Twin Peaks” theme as we drove from Seattle to Snoqualmie, Washington. While I may have received an eyeroll from my 21-year-old daughter over my musical choice, it was worth it to have Laura Palmer’s song playing on our way to Snoqualmie Falls, featured during the opening credits of the show.
That’s the power of David Lynch’s trippy and bizarre storyline—I still wanted to visit “Twin Peaks” more than 30 years later. The show’s soundtrack being on my Spotify list didn’t hurt. Nor did meeting Ray Wise in Hollywood once (he played Laura Palmer’s dad). And there was the time I won second place at a Halloween Twin Peaks party dressed as Nadine (remember her eye patch?).
But I wasn’t the only one with memories and pre-set images in her head and her heart. My daughter would enjoy the same feeling on our Washington trip when the imagery from the Twilight movies and books came to life.
I’m happy to report that Washington is even more impressive in person than it is on TV or in the movies. There is plenty to enjoy on a trip to Seattle and Olympic National Park.
SNOQUALMIE (about 30 minutes outside of Seattle)
You will hear the 268-foot Snoqualmie Falls before you can see them. There are two viewing spots with parking at the base of the falls and at the top—both worth visiting. If you were a Twin Peaks fan, you will easily recognize the view.
The hotel at the top of the falls featured in Twin Peaks is the Salish Lodge, a high-end, award-winning resort. It barely acknowledges its TV link other than a few Twin Peaks merchandise items in the gift shop. We decided to pass on a fancy lunch here and head into town.
I was worried a trip to the famous diner would disappoint, but the “Double R” diner, now known as Twede’s, did serve a damn fine cup of coffee, a delicious salmon burger and a fluffy pile of pancakes, hash browns and bacon. The place looks just like it did on TV so long ago, and the walls are covered in Twin Peaks memorabilia and framed photos of the show’s stars. The town seems to embrace their Twin Peaks legacy, and you see references to the show all over the place.
Our half-day jaunt into my TV memories was fun and Snoqualmie was enjoyed by my husband and daughter even though they don’t care at all about Agent Cooper or Laura Palmer.
SEATTLE
I'd heard about Seattle's famous market, but it was even bigger than imagined. Eating your way through Pike Place Market is a little bit like a trip around the world. There are 500 businesses here! Go early, go hungry, share one serving among three people and you can sample multitudes. Our favorites included:
Pike Place Chowder for amazing seafood chowder in a sourdough bread bowl
Mee Sum Pastry for a char siu pork bun
Beecher’s Handmade Cheese for a generous scoop of mac and cheese
Hellenika Cultured Creamery for lemon frozen Greek yogurt (tastes just like cheesecake)
Victrola Coffee Roasters for coffee (we’ve already tasted that other famous Seattle brand)
L-R, top: A heartful mocha at Victrola Coffee, amazing Pike Place Chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, the famous fortune-telling chicken machine (it was funny). L-R, bottom: Fish, seafood, it's all here on ice and at Beecher's, you can watch cheese being made.
Seattle Art Museum
After stuffing ourselves at Pike Place, it was a great time to slow down and reflect at the Seattle Art Museum. While the museum has something for everyone with 25,000 works, I was focused on seeing Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei. The limited time exhibition features 130 of Weiwei’s pieces and is the biggest showing of his work in one US museum. I admire his provocative artwork, some of which are upsetting and thought provoking. We also spent time in the contemporary and European collections.
Seattle from the Bottom Up—The Underground Tour
L-R: The view from underground looking up at the sidewalk, the view from the sidewalk, one of the many underground views on Bill Spiegel's Underground Tour.
Since this was our first trip to Seattle, a friend recommended Bill Spiegel’s Underground Tour to learn a bit more about local history. Our experienced guide was animated and informative, and he brought 1880s Seattle to life as we toured Pioneer Square’s underground tunnels, learning how the city was built after it burned down in 1889. The experience felt like a combination of a walking tour and a Broadway show. Filled with dad jokes, cringy puns, and surprising access to the 'underworld,' we all laughed and enjoyed ourselves.
Our Seattle Airbnb was in Little Saigon, allowing us to walk to two great nearby spots. The Boat restaurant offered Vietnamese Cornish hens covered in a crisp glaze and garlic toasted crunch coating and banh kep, a killer dessert waffle served with coco egg whip and salty sesame peanuts. Hello Em Coffee offered a filling breakfast bahn mi sandwich and delicious coffee with sweetened condensed milk.
L-R, top: Breakfast bahn mi sandwiches at Hello Em, the Little Saigon Creative center, scallops and shrimp at Salty's. L-R, middle: Gorgeous mural outside of the Little Saigon Creative center and The Boat's signature glazed Cornish hen with noodles and soup. L-R, bottom: view of downtown Seattle from Alki Beach and the famous Alki Beach flower houses, nestled in among the high-rises and condos.
To admire Seattle’s city lights at night, we took a trip to Alki Beach in West Seattle to catch the view of downtown from across the water. We had a fantastic seafood dinner at Salty’s and during our island drive, we checked out the famous “Flower Houses,” two 1914 houses planted in flowers and greenery by their thoughtful owner.
PORT ANGELES AND FORKS
To complete our Pacific Northwest adventure, we journeyed far north and west to Port Angeles, Washington. This charming small town was the perfect base for our adventures into Olympic National Park and to carry us into scenes from Twilight.
Businesses in the Olympic Peninsula region embrace the tourism that the Twilight series has produced and nearly every menu has a nod to Bella, Edward or other characters from the movies. Visitor centers offer Twilight maps and plenty of merchandise, plus Bella’s truck is available for the obligatory selfie.
Our hikes included La Push and Rialto Beaches, the Hoh Rainforest, numerous waterfalls, and a drive to Hurricane Ridge—where snow was still feet deep in May. We learned to adapt as fog ruined the view on one day. Surprisingly, on another day when we expected to be soaked, it was sunny and dry in the rainforest.
Check out those tree roots! We naively did not expect fog to obliterate views or snow to be on the ground in May.
In Port Angeles, we highly recommend Yodelin, a restaurant focused on “honoring the whole fish.” The yellow curry bowl with udon noodles had shiitake mushrooms, roasted red peppers, kale, and cilantro over a lovely coconut wild halibut bone broth.
L-R: Highlights of the best eats in Port Angeles, Washington: Fish curry bowl at Yodelin, all the appetizers at Spruce and the New Zealand style scoops at Welly's Ice Cream really did make us happy.
We also had to make the pilgrimage to Port Angeles’ best-known restaurant, Bella Italia, featured in the Twilight movies. I ordered the wild mushroom ravioli, just like Bella, and was pleased with the rich umami flavor offset by a light cream sauce.
Another great choice was Spruce—an intimate cocktail bar with a great menu of small plates. The food was surprisingly gourmet for a bar, and we made a dinner out of shared appetizers like brussels sprouts, fried chicken biscuits and beets and goat cheese over hummus.
The perfect ending to our meals in Port Angeles was a trip to Welly’s Ice Cream downtown. Welly’s makes ice cream in New Zealand style (who knew!) with a machine that mixes the ice cream on site: your choice of frozen fruit and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It felt lighter than ice cream but no less delicious.
Our final farewell to the Pacific Northwest was a dip in the hot tub of our Airbnb. As our hiking-weary muscles relaxed, we could see our breath and the stars in the night sky, and watch the deer wander through the yard while we spotted a cruise ship heading from through the Strait of Juan de Fuca on its way to Alaska. It almost felt like something out of the movies.
Comments