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Last BusRailway termini...are our gates to the glorious and the unknown. Through them we pass out into adventure and sunshine, to them, alas! we return. |
   
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Saturday, September 6, 1997
Today we had a Cacophony event, Last Bus to Snoqualmie Falls. We met downtown to catch the Metro bus number 211, a route which will be changed soon, so one will no longer be able to take the non-stop trip that we took today. At first it looked like it would just be Nick and me, but Tobin and Christina arrived before the bus did. I had purchased a jam-filled croissant before boarding, which breakfast pastry was over-quota for jam. There was a strong breeze blowing through the vents in the back of the bus, so there was shortly jam in my hair, jam on my cheek, and jam on my fingers. It was yummy, though!
The bus went east along the highway, then over the back roads to Snoqualmie Falls. This is the famous site of the falls featured in the opening for the TV series Twin Peaks. We wandered around there for a while, then walked down the road about half a mile to the town of Snoqualmie itself. We got some lunch from a cute store called Isadora's, a combo antique store, espresso stand and sandwich shop. They apparently also have performances there in the evening! We ate at a park that was beside the Snoqualmie river and were rewarded by a kingfisher sighting.
Then we took the train from Snoqualmie to North Bend. This is a small railroad run by the Puget Sound Historical Railroad Association, that runs from Snoqualime to North Bend on the hour, and the reverse trip on the half hour. They have quite a number of old cars and engines in various stages of decrepitude, in addition to the working ones that make the short trip between the two towns.
We wandered around North Bend for an hour. Only our crew would have wound up in the North Bend branch of the King County Library for part of that hour! But it's a very nice building, newly built. We spotted the orginal of the Double R Diner from Twin Peaks. They had merged locations from several towns in the region for the fictional town in the series. Then it was time to retrace our steps: train, then bus. A fun trip, and Nick made a very nice booklet to go with the trip.
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Notable happenings at Vanguard, our monthly fannish gathering: Tommy Ferguson, Irish fan, was visiting Seattle, staying with Lesley Reece. They had produced a one-shot zine for distribution at the party, leading off with the conceit that they had been discussing the question: "If you had one shot to shoot at Seattle Fandom, who would you shoot?" Funny!
Jane and Luke are doing some renovations in their half of the house, so the downstairs area had the kitchen, bedroom, and hall totally empty, and the living room and garage totally full of everything that had formerly been in the other rooms. All the ceiling tiles had been pulled down, because new plumbing was going it. It gave the place a very strange appearance. Since the downstairs was out of commission, the smoking area normally there was moved to the tiny backyard. Negotiating the puzzle of stairs and doors to get back there took some doing!
Vonda got her painting (the original from her book, The Moon and the Sun ) hung over her mantle, with the assistance of a committee of folks. The frame is beautiful! Very heavy gilt carving, with a green suede border on the inside.
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