Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Road trip snapshots, Chapter V: Nature, Pop Culture, and The End

We started the third day on the Olympic Peninsula by reluctantly leaving Lake Crescent and headed west towards the Pacific Ocean. Apparently, this is Twilight country, which we quickly learned as we passed through the little town of Forks. That might mean something to those of you who have read Stephenie Meyer's books or seen the movies, but to us it was just a rather sad looking place desperately trying to milk as much as possible from its brief spell of popularity. We didn't care much for the vampire business and moved on to Rialto Beach instead, which was our first real stop of the day. Gorgeous place for a morning stroll!


From the open terrain by the ocean we then headed straight into the deep woods of the inner peninsula, checking out Hoh Rainforest. Looking at my photos from there and similar locations during this trip, I have to face reality: their ambience is not readily translated into pictures. The lush greenery, the softness of the moss. The feeling you get when standing by the foot of the biggest tree you have ever seen, pine cones gently swaying in the breeze far above your head. The sense of years and years transforming into wood. Time solidified.

I tried my best, but most photos look like blah; I guess some things just have to be experienced.



Next stop: Aberdeen, another pop culture reference. This is the town in which Kurt Cobain met Krist Novoselic and formed Nirvana in 1987. Fun! Interesting! However, most people around here reacted in either of two ways when I told them we were going there:

1) Aberdeen? Why on Earth are you going to Aberdeen? or
2) When you get there you'll understand why Nirvana sounded like they did.

Nonetheless, the place was located perfectly for a last night on the road, and we had found an adorable B&B (A Harbor View) to spend it in. I was tired from all the driving and quickly crawled up in my Victorian bed with a cup of tea and season 5 of Mad Men on my laptop, but the parents took an evening tour around town and returned, how shall I put it, moderately impressed. The next morning, the three of us were considerably more excited by the delicious home-cooked breakfast that was lovingly served on the beautiful porch. Well worth the stay!

On our way back to Seattle we decided to take a detour to Twin Peaks (i.e. North Bend and Snoqualmie Falls), having the mandatory “damn fine cup of coffee” and slice of cherry pie at Twede's Cafe. Nerdy but nice. And waaaaaaay cooler than any stupid vampire dump, so put that in your pipe and smoke it!

And then...
And then?

And then it was over.

(But the memories remain.)

4 comments:

  1. alltså naturen!!! det är ju helt sjukt.. måste måste se det! formen på den skogsbeklädda ön i havet är ju helt osannolik!

    Forks alltså ;) den är ju extremt trist i böckerna också så det passade ju bra då..

    åt ni inte Cherry pie på nåt annat twin peaks ställe? eller var det bara när du visade foton från resan kanske... klart mycket coolare än Forks iaf ;)

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    1. Det var samma café som jag instagrammade från. Men alltså ja, naturen! You would like it here - det är allt jag säger... ;)

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  2. Det var alldeles för länge sedan jag läste bloggar och nu hade jag lite att ta igen med dig, men åhhh så mysigt !!
    Så mycket fina beskrivningar och foton, så underbart ni verkar ha haft det och Twin Peaks är SÅ mycket coolare än ngt vampyr-mecka ! :)
    Gud så mycket man saknar dig nu och det känns så underbart att det faktiskt inte är såååå långt tid kvar tills vi träffas.
    Massa kramar finaste Fia

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    1. Saknar dig med raraste! Längtar så efter att komma och hälsa på dig och pyret-to-be. :) Ta hand om dig, så ses vi snart! KRAM

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