Subject: TP visit experience (long)
From: sjohnson@texas.vlsi.sgi.com (Scott Johnson)
Date: 1991-09-23, 18:33
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks

Whew!  What a trip.  I'll try to make this short 'cause otherwise I
might go on for too long.  I just got back from the Snoq/North Bend
area.  I spent two hours or so there Friday the 20th, and one hour
there Saturday the 21st.  I forgot to print out and take with me
all my suggestions from the netters, so we wandered around a bit
at first, not really knowing where to look.

It was eerie just entering the area, recognizing the mountains, but not
really much else.  The area itself is much more open than I imagined.
I guess I imagined a tiny little town surrounded by the ubiquitous
cloying forest.  Beautiful, none the less.

First we headed to the Falls, since there were signs for it.  The
Salish Lodge (Great Northern's exterior) seemed nice, but pricy.  The
view of the falls was perfect, and gorgeous.  Inside there was a
wall of magazine articles (near the bathrooms down from the registration
desk) mostly about the Lodge, but one was about where to go in the
"real Twin Peaks."  It was quite informative, telling where a lot
of the sites are, as well as other information like where they shot
Pete's sighting of LP (somewhere *west* of Seattle), the insides of
the Great Northern (Kianu Lodge in Seattle), where the cast stayed
during the filming of the show (Cypress Inn in Seattle), etc.  It
also pointed us to the RR Diner (Mar-T Cafe).

Heading to North Bend, we stopped by the RR to check out the inside
and outside, only (with MUCH dismay) to find out they were filming
there ALL day Thursday, the day before (what a pisser).  It was amazing
how much different it looks on the inside, while still looking the
same.  The layout of the RR is different than the Mar-T (i.e. they
shot things to make it look bigger, and the kitchen and bathroom are
in different places because of the way the did the shots, if that makes
sense).  But the owner said they did all of the shooting there, and
didn't change a thing.  They did leave that big ice cream cone behind,
but otherwise she said there were few props added, save a few posters for
consistency (they had covered the TP posters located on the walls).
Had a turkey sandwich there (dollop of mayonaisse), but no cherry pie
(I'm not a big pie fan.)

Down the street a few yards is a store which sells tons o' memorabilia,
including a map to the local TP sites.  Using this we saw: the Ronnette
Railroad Trestle (more later), the Sheriff's office building (an office
bldg at Weyerhauser, aka. the Packard Mill), the site of the James/Donna/
Laura home movie (at the winery; gorgeous view of the area), the
Roadhouse (the Colonial Inn, more later), the "entrance" into Twin
Peaks (a road leading towards the railroad trestle, no sign, obviously),
and TP High (Mt. Si High, more later).  Couldn't find Big Ed's Gas Farm
(didn't try very hard, actually a kite store).

Our first encounter with filming was near the Polaski trestle.  We
nonchalantly parked behind this old Roadmaster, then realized something
was funny.  A woman with blonde hair was sitting in the car by herself.
In front of that was a pickup with two guys standing around it.
Then there was a cop.  We walked towards the cop, and as we passed him,
he wouldn't let us go any further 'cause they were shooting a drive-by
there.  Bingo.  Looking back at the Buick, we realized that the woman
in the car was supposed to be Laura, but actually looked nothing at
all like her.  But from a distance, who can tell?  While we were there,
they filmed that darn drive-by at least six times.  It was maybe a five
second clip, based on the distance that the cameras could see.  I couldn't
figger out why so many cuts, but I'm no movie expert.  Since there were
no real stars here, we headed on.

Our next encounter was at the Roadhouse, aka the Colonial Inn.  This
looks very little like the Roadhouse, 'cause they use just one side
of it for filming.  Here they were setting up for a night shot.  Lots
of guys (and girls) in leather were hanging out.  We decided not to.
We talked to one of the crew for a sec, until the subject turned
towards the Huskies and the Stanford shirt I was wearing.

Leaving the Colonial Inn, we spotted a van with a L/F productions
placard on the dashboard.  We followed it, coming upon a crew in the
Fall City neighborhood.  We parked and watched a crew filming (supposedly,
we could see none of the actual filming) inside a house there and
telling everyone to be quiet everytime they started rolling.  About
ten minutes later, Dana Ashbrook (Bobby Briggs) and Sheryl Lee
(Laura Palmer) walked out.  They were taking a fifteen minute
lunch break, piling into a van ten feet in front of us.  The scene
must have been emotional, Sheryl looked sad with runny makeup,
but when a guy next to us called her name, her face lit up with
that (absolutely, amazingly, undescribably) incredible Laura
Palmer smile.  Wow!  We were floored.  Dana seemed kinda like an
uncaring jerk, but it's hard to say.

On the way back to the car, we just happened to walk by Mr. Lynch himself
talking to someone in the street.  I turned around to make sure my friend
recognized him, then turned around again to have him walking right at
me.  I shook his hand, and I'm sure I said something fawning, but I
don't remember what.  If I was prepared, I would have gotten his auto-
graph and maybe even asked him about a.t.tp.  I did get a chance to
get his picture.  He looked like he could have been out fishing, and
was the nicest guy.  I didn't know what to imagine, but I kinda assumed
he'd be an arrogant jerk.  Totally the opposite.  Very polite and
seemingly caring, but it's hard to say.

After that, we headed out, and came back Saturday only to find that
they were filming up at Snohomish, about 25 miles north.  According
to the Mar-T woman (who seems to know everything about the filming
schedules) they couldn't use Mt. Si High 'cause it changed too
much since the series, so they use a high school up there.  I guess
they probably head up there every Saturday, so school will be out
and since they take just Sunday off.  The owner of the diner is very
nice and willing to talk about TP, especially, I assume, if you give
her your business.  She seems to know quite a few of the cast as well
as David pretty well.  She had the utmost of respect for Lynch, saying
what a professional he is.  She says his shooting schedule lasts
from early morning to sometimes as late as 2:30am.

So, if you are planning a trip (and if you live close, you should),
you should check out these things, and look for the filming.  But
hurry, the filming according to Ms. Mar-T is over in two weeks
(hopeful release in 6-9 months) for this area, then back to the
studios.  The best way to find the filming to to check all the
known TP spots, and look for tan and blue vans with L/F TP placards
on the dash, and follow them.  My guess is Snohomish on Saturdays,
and Snoq/NB/Fall City on M-F.  I even have the number of the Mar-T
diner, and if you are a capable phone politician, you might be able
to weasel some info out of them without making the dash over there.
I don't, however, want to advertise her number all over the net.
Also, check the article at the Salish Lodge.  It gives a lot of good info.
And find the map at the store across from the Mar-T in downtown North Bend.

Well, sorry to be so long winded.  Enjoy the trip while you can.

sj