Yesterday was a day of no plans, which is an oddity for this group, so after the earlybirds woke up, we trekked off to Pinnacle Peak, just North of Scottsdale, for a fun little hike through the desert.

Juvenile cactus wren at Pinnacle Peak

On this hike you know you’ll see interesting geology, flora and fauna indicative of the Sonoran desert. You’ll also see a lot of trail runners, which is actually a lowlight because the trails are narrow and not all of the runners are that polite.

The only bird we saw up close was a cactus wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus). It was sitting on a rock probably waiting for its mom to bring it some food. We guessed it was a juvenile due to the large amount of down on its back.

On the hike up, I was mentioning to Gary and Tawni that I have yet to see a rattlesnake on any of the trips down here. I’ve also never seen a scorpion, but they tend to hide, the little buggers.

For this trip I bought a new lens for my Nikon; an 18-200mm zoom. This lens allows me travel with just one lens, rather than my whole backpack of photo equipment. The lens isn’t incredibly fast (in photography terms) but it makes up for that with a vibration reduction feature that counters any camera shake due to my hands or a slight breeze.

Western diamondback rattlesnake at pinnacle peak

Near the end of our return trip, there was a large group of people blocking the path. The majority of them (about eight) were from a film crew that was working on some sort of small video production. As they let us through, we noticed, and heard, that everyone was looming over this little western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox). The rattler was maybe 12- to 14-inches long and about as big around as your thumb. It’s tail was rattling away and it looked extremely pissed off at all the humans blocking its path to its nest. Luckily there was a park official there keeping an eye on everybody and trying to keep people moving. As I passed by, I zipped out the camera, framing for a shot my first rattlesnake. We came to find out later that the little guy had recently had dinner of fresh mouse (take a look at the slight bulge in his midsection).

Overall it was a great hike and I am happy that I purchased my new lens and that I was able to use it to capture such a great (in my opinion) shot of my first rattlesnake.

Teddy Bear Cholla at pinnacle peak

Saturday I had a nice slow morning around the house and a nice walk downtown. I met up with Gary for lunch at Lumberyard and we had a great meal and a couple of beers on the patio. The day was very sunny, making it feel warmer than it really was.

Julie, Gary, and I regrouped in the evening to watch the sunset fro Ecola State Park. I had my full camera setup and Gary had his point-and-shoot. It is always a learning experience taking pictures with Gary. He has such a great eye for composition and knows the park so well.

After our shooting session at the park, the three of us had a great Thai dinner at Cannon Beach Thai. All three of us tried a new dish, which is practically unheard of for us; and we were all very happy with our choices.

Sunday was a work day for Julie and Gary, so I had the day to myself. A long walk on the beach, a long sun-soaked lunch on the deck at the Warren House and nice nap prepared me for my drive back home to get ready for the week and the Autumn rains that are coming back to Oregon.

Snoqualmie Falls and Salish Lodge

Day two of our TV show tour of Washington took Tawni and me to the town of North Bend and Snoqualmie Falls to visit some sites familiar to fans of Twin Peaks.

David Lynch filmed portions of Twin Peaks in the two small towns of North Bend and Snoqualmie. The former is the home of Snoqualmie Falls which appears in the title sequence of the TV show, as well as an episode of Northern Exposure.

Our first stop was the main street of North Bend, where the only easily recognizable site is the “Double R Diner” that served a damn fine cup of coffee and cherry pie.

I was surprised when I went to the Tourist Information and asked for any handouts they had about Twin Peaks, and they didn’t have anything. Of course, after the realizations from the Roslyn tour, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure both first aired in 1990. (hmmm, what other great shows debuted that year?)

After a quick walk-through of the town, Tawni and I went up to Snoqualmie Falls.

The lodge at the top of the falls is Salish Lodge, which was deemed the Great Northern in the show. Most of the interiors of the Great Northern were filmed in Poulsbo on Bainbridge Island in the Puget Sound.

We had lunch at the very fancy lodge with a view over looking the falls. The food was pretty good, but it didn’t live up to the expectations set by the fancy setting and price.

With lunch, I did try another local beer, a Snoqualmie Falls Summer Beer; not a very original name, but tasty. A slightly hoppy pilsner, with an appearance and head that reminded me of a cream ale, such as Boddingtons.

After lunch, Tawni drove through the town of Snoqualmie. This town definitely looked like it would adequately represent a town that comes out of David Lynch’s imagination.

After this little tour to Twin Peaks an Cicely, I’ll need to go back and watch some episodes from both series.

Tawni and I drove East from her place to this small town that has had an interesting past. Founded as a center of the coal-mining industry in Washington, Roslyn next became a forestry-centric community and then most famously hosted the film crew for Northern Exposure. Today, it is hard to say what the population of 1000 souls can call its specialty. There is a fancy-shmancy new golf resort just West of the town, but I’m sure that the current economy is not passing on much of a benefit to Roslyn.

It is interesting to walk around the town of Roslyn with the layout of Cicely so permanently etched in my head. There is still a store front for KBHR that has a lot of set pieces from Chris-in-the-morning’s exterior shots , but it is not in the middle of the main street as I so clearly remember. One store still has “Dr. Joel Fleischman” painted on the outside and at least one store that could have been Ruth’s market.

We decided to have lunch at the Brick. Unfortunately Holling and Shelley were out of town, but we still received great service. Their cross-cut fries and onion rings were quite tasty. I even had one of the local brews: Roslyn Brewing Dark Lager. It had a nice hop/malt balance. (Don’t let the look on my face fool you, it was an enjoyable beer.) As we sat and ate our lunch, watching some locals come in and a few other tourists, I kept expecting to see familiar scenes and faces. But, I had to keep reminding myself that all the interior shots were on a set, not in the real Brick.

Tawni and I were surprised that we didn’t see more Northern Exposure paraphernalia around town or in the shops when we realized that it has been almost 20 years since the show premiered and that Roslyn/Cicely doesn’t feature prominently in America’s collective conscience any longer.

Tomorrow, we’re going to track down Agent Cooper and maybe have some cherry pie and a damn fine cup of coffee. Just as long as there isn’t a fish in the percolator.