Em and Stu do America Part 15: Cascadia, home of The Goonies, Twin Peaks and The Shining
Reading time: 5 minutes
Cascadia. As magical as it sounds. This region of loosely defined boundaries, otherwise known as 'the northwest', has inspired generations of filmmakers with its endless vistas of mist-shrouded pine forests, its jagged, wild coastlines and the chilling remoteness of its snowcapped mountain ranges.
The drive to Twin Peaks locations: you really could not ask for more atmosphere than this.
Our national parks tour was drawing to a close, time growing short and the weather dropping below freezing. But we couldn't leave Colorado without a visit to Estes Park: home of The Stanley Hotel. This grand old hotel fired up the imagination of Stephen King when he and his wife were its only guests one night, and The Shining, one of the world's most famous horror stories, was born.
Stanley Kubrick, however, chose the Timberline Lodge in Oregon to film at in his adaptation, one famously disliked by King (also disliked, less famously, by me). That version, which departed radically from the text of a complex and emotionally truthful novel, prompted King to write the teleplay for another version, a three-part miniseries. This version is lesser-known and hard to find (we bought it here). But it is excellent and worth tracking down, and was filmed at the Stanley, showing off its creepy beauty to full extent. So imagine how excited we were to visit!
There was a Halloween masked ball on while we visited - that just seems like flirting with danger to me!
Next on the Nerds' Tour of Cascadia comes Twin Peaks locations! The real home of Twin Peaks is the Snoqualmie Valley in Washington state, but budget travellers should note it's more affordable to stay in Cle Elum, about an hour's drive out. The drive was laden with atmosphere - mists, snowy pine forests, fall colour, rain - but the downside was that fog and cloud were obscuring the Twin Peaks themselves. Not to worry - we had a bunch of locations to visit that day...
The bridge Ronette walks over, injured and traumatised, in the unforgettable opening scenes of Twin Peaks, episode 1.
It’s the Sheriff’s station! Now a driving school.
They keep the Twin Peaks car out the front of the driving school!
The Double R Diner, which is Twede’s Cafe IRL. Interior is virtually identical to the show, which is really cool, and en route to the restrooms is a wall full of cool filming photos and news clippings. Very worth the visit, but unfortunately Coop was being a little overgenerous in his estimation of the cherry pie. Order coffee and feast your eyes on the decor.
These were all awesome, and there are more locations you can visit as well, but the highlight was definitely Snoqualmie Falls, which features in the series' opening credits. They are overlooked by the Salish Lodge and Spa, which in the series is the Great Northern Hotel, and in real life has a restaurant not only with this incredible view but also excellent food. Not cheap, but totally worth it; if you're on a day trip and tossing up between lunch at Twede's and here, choose the Lodge.
The iconic Snoqualmie Falls, with Salish Lodge visible at the top.
The valley was breathtaking, ablaze with fall colour, but we had to move on; we had a date with Stu's parents in Vancouver and so we drove straight there, skipping Seattle (I know! Next time, Seattle!)
After a relaxing few days off from our breakneck pace we drove south again from Vancouver - and only later discovered there was a new Twin Peaks-themed bar in Vancouver called The Black Lodge. Damn it! In order to make it down the coast on schedule, we were, unfortunately, also obliged to blow off Portland (I know! Next time!)
Effective sightseeing requires careful preparation.
No matter - nothing can dampen the excitement of a pilgrimage to the home of my most favouritest movie in all the world, The Goonies. For those unforgivably ignorant, Steven Spielberg's 1985 cult classic follows the story of the Goonies - a lovable bunch of nerd kids - who search for pirate treasure in an effort to save their homes in Astoria from foreclosure. The excitement began immediately, as the bridge we drove over into Astoria is the one seen in the distance from Mikey's house, in the opening scenes.
LOOK IT’S THE BRIDGE.
Foggy and rainy, the weather was perfect for atmosphere, the movie having reportedly been filmed in the fall to capture the kids' sombre moods at the prospect of losing their homes. Astoria turned out unexpectedly beautiful, a misty fishing town of pretty Victorian homes snuggled into hillsides, a working fishing pier and lots of nice restaurants and little shops for tourists - the economy pretty much runs off Goonies tourism, as far as I can tell.
The owners understandably don’t like people snooping up close, but you can see Mikey and Brand’s house up on the hill.
We prepped with a screening the night before (sorry, Stu) and in the morning set off for a full day of Goonies location visits...
The former jail where the opening scene of The Goonies was shot, is now the Oregon Film Museum. It’s ostensibly devoted to all the hundreds of films made in Oregon (including One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Stand By Me, Point Break, Free Willy, Batman Forever, The Ring, Into the Wild) but really it’s an ode to all things Goonies.
Bit excited.
Inside!
Lol. I had to include this.
The working fishing pier from the opening credits of The Goonies, where Stef helps her dad sort crabs, and Data ends up falling into a garbage can while testing his latest invention.
The bowling alley, scene of Chunk’s first line over spilled milkshake: “Ah, shit!”
The museum where Mikey’s dad, hard at work, waves to the kids as they set off.
We also visited Mouth's house and the store Rosalita exits in the opening credits, now a cute cafe and gift store. But the most exciting part of our tour was the next day, as we drove south out of Astoria. Thirty miles south lie Cannon Beach, where the car chase was filmed, and Ecola State Park, where the kids bike to the restaurant that marks the entrance to the underground tunnels where the rest of the movie is filmed.
“The lighthouse, the rock, and the restaurant all fit the doubloon!” We couldn’t get to the angle where Mikey shows us this, because the cliffs are unstable and roped off, but you can see the lighthouse behind me in the distance!
The drive to Indian Point, Ecola State Park, where evil Troy chucks Brand off his bike.
OMG! Look! It’s exactly matching the movie! I’m such a Goonie I actually shed a few happy tears.
I knew it would be awesome. I just never understood how beautiful it would be!
Haystack Rock. This is where the car chase was filmed.
I hated to leave Astoria. At this point I felt like I could happily live there, even though the nice checkout lady at Safeway told me it's not unusual for it to rain for 180 days in a row. But we had to go, and I was comforted by the fact that Oregon's entire coastline looks like this: wild, windy and majestic. I drank my fill as we drove hundreds of miles south towards California, its redwood forests and its iconic Pacific Coastal Highway.
StuMobservation: Cascadia
I am going to be so annoying to watch TV/movies with now. #beenthere
What we're reading
Both of us: Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey; The Midnight Line and No Middle Name, Lee Child; A World Without Princes and The Last Ever After, Soman Chainani; Behind Closed Doors, A. B. Paris
Em: The Big Nowhere and White Jazz, James Ellroy; Incurable and Circle of Flight, John Marsden (Ellie chronicles, follows the Tomorrow series); They Found Him Dead, Georgette Heyer; The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson; The Art of Travel, Alain de Botton; DIY Super for Dummies, Trish Power; A Year in Provence, Peter Mayle; Unshakeable, Tony Robbins
Stu: Tears of Requiem, Daniel Arenson
What we're watching
Stephen King's The Shining, The Walking Dead S8, Rick and Morty S3, Master of None S2, Aziz Ansari's latest standup special; and movie prep for LA! Clueless, Sunset Boulevard.