North Bend: Twin Peaks Cafe

Just down the road from Snoqualmie, another quintessential small town is loaded with charm, along with that creepy feeling you got when you watched Twin Peaks back in the early 90’s. North Bend, Washington has a nice, walkable downtown, centered around a restaurant where you really should consider having a slice of cherry pie and a damn fine cup of coffee.

In Twin Peaks, Twede’s Cafe was known as the R&R cafe, and some of the quirky show’s memorable scenes played out here. Yes, they were really shot inside the cafe — but don’t be disappointed if the inside looks different than you remember. A fire in 2000 gutted the place, and the remodeling work that followed made some changes.

The rest of downtown North Bend is nice and tidy…

… with businesses like the Dairy Freeze (with a nice neon sign)…

… and of course, a Washington State essential, the drive-thru coffee shop.

Oh, and North Bend has one more landmark you can’t miss. Mount Si towers over the town. Its peak (which you would be able to see, behind the coffee shop, if not for the clouds) is at 4,167 feet. While that’s a miniature mountain compared to the bigger Cascades peaks further east, Mount Si stands alone, which allows it to stand out.

There’s a popular hike to the top that’s 4 miles, one way, and gains about 3,700 feet in elevation. I’ve read that you can reach some nice viewpoints by hiking less than a mile. Or, if you’re limited on time and energy, you can climb “Little Si”, a smaller peak next-door to its bigger brother, which only has an elevation gain of about 1,000 feet. This website has hiking info for both routes.

Drivelapse Video

Here’s the time-lapse, dash-cam video of the drive from Snoqualmie Falls, through Snoqualmie and North Bend, then over Snoqualmie Pass and into Roslyn, Washington:

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