Quirky Northwest Vacations

Ask any of my friends and they will probably tell you that I am not "average" or maybe even "normal" whatever that means.  As such I have always been intrigued by interesting, out of the ordinary, "Fortean" phenomena.  Thus I was pleasantly surprised, when roughly 10 years ago, I first moved to the Pacific Northwest (Puget Sound) area.   Having left the Puget Sound area slightly over a year ago because of a divorce, I am still in awe of the unusual and unappreciated enigmas that native Northwesterners take for granted.  

Movies and television have celebrated this quirkiness.  Two shows in particular noted for their quirkiness, though neither is still on the air, continue to host local festivals for fans.  Unfortunately this year both are being held on the same weekend in July, July 28-30.  The first is the Twin Peaks Fan Festival, for fans of both the movie and the television show, Twin Peaks, as well as of Director David Lynch.  It is being held in North Bend, Washington, between 20 and 30 miles due east of Seattle on Interstate 90.  On the main street of North Bend is a cafe called the "Twin Peaks Cafe" in honor of the show, which proudly served as a location for the show and still serves "Twin Peaks Cherry Pie."  The mountain which was called "Twin Peaks" on the Show is actually Mt. Si and just to the west of north bend is a spectacular waterfall called Snoqualmie Falls which is a 100 feet taller than Niagara.  

Fans of "Twin Peaks" know that the plot of the movie and the show revolved around a quirky and almost supernatural hunt for a serial killer.  One of the less savory but certainly more intriguing things about the Pacific Northwest is that it has been host to much more than its share of serial killers including Ted Bundy and the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history, Gary Ridgeway, who was known as the Green River Killer.  With over 40 victims, whose bodies were found all over western Washington and perhaps elsewhere, almost anywhere is likely at least near the site of the last resting place of one of his victims.