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It starts off with a familiar horror movie theme. A traveler’s (Laurent Lucas) van breaks down on a stormy night in the middle of nowhere and he accepts help from a creepy local, who leads him to an inn where he can spend the night.
The innkeeper turns out to be a degenerate who thinks his new guest is his wife, Gloria, reincarnated, and sabotages the traveler’s plans to leave. Then things get bloody. The guest is tied up, shaved and forced into the departed wife’s floral dress. There’s a crucifixion and other tortuous acts, all of which are conveyed without any gratuitous close-ups of blood gushing or flesh being ripped apart.
Then things get surreal and nightmarish. The innkeeper is in town with the locals, then the locals are at the inn firing off rounds. I’m sure I missed a lot of metaphors but I thought this was a bizarre but thrilling film.
Haven’t horror movie victims learned not to trust the creepy locals?
Afternoon in Roslyn, Wa
We revisited Roslyn, Wash., a former mining town nestled in the foothills of the Cascades, about an hour east of Redmond. Northern Exposure was filmed in Roslyn, which depicts the fictional Alaskan town in the series. It definitely has a small-town feel, with its 19-century storefronts and quaint homes. The City Hall and library are housed in an old, wooden building.
Roslyn Post Office
Drinks at the Roslyn Cafe
Roslyn City Hall and Library
Leavenworth, WA
By 4 pm on Friday, the weather had turned so misty, murky and miserable that it was hard to get excited about driving through the Cascade Mountains. The goal was to arrive at our hotel – the one I had not yet reserved – by Friday evening, and spend all day Saturday sightseeing. But the risks of driving through Stevens Pass at night on Highway 2, under slick weather conditions, put us off.
The skies were in our favor Saturday morning, so we decided to drive to Leavenworth, the German-inspired town in Central Washington, and be back home by nightfall. Of the destinations we had considered for the weekend – including Spokane, Winthrop, the Grand Coulee Dam – Leavenworth was the closest to Redmond, and the most reasonable choice for a daytrip. We could easily explore the valley and be home in time for dinner, without stressing ourselves out. But we packed an overnight bag, just in case.
The drive to Leavenworth was agreeable. Traffic was fluid once we got out of Monroe, and the scenery was ever-changing and often spectacular. From the craggy, snow-capped mountain ridges and the Stevens Pass ski area, to the roaring rapids of the Wenatchee River, there was lots to keep us entertained. We spotted a bald eagle, not far from the town called Startup, which, incidentally, was built at the turn of the century. We also drove by an old church, which had been turned into a gift shop. The snow on the peaks was melting fast and water gushing water plummeted down the sides of rocks. The rivers and streams on both sides of the road were moving swiftly.
Leavenworth is a great stopping point when exploring the Wenatchee Valley: it offers decent food and distraction and impressive views of the Cascades. After finding parking, we ate lunch in a windowless with a German theme (the food and distraction) then walked around town (the impressive views). Even on a balmy afternoon late in May, the main street looks like scene on a Christmas card, with quaint storefronts and hand-painted signs. I stopped in a nutcracker store because a colleague told me that she and her husband travel to Leavenworth every to buy a nutcracker. Leavenworth must be paradise for nutcracker enthusiasts. Not only did this store showcase seemingly every fashion of nutcracker imaginable, there was a museum dedicated to nutcrackers upstairs from the store.
David wasn’t impressed. He reasoned: why drive some 120 miles to look at trinkets? We’re here to see the town. I retorted that the boutiques are part of what make the town quaint. Vendors sold everything from unusual hats to hand-carved wooden toys. Of course, I have seen more interesting boutiques, like the gnome boutique in Stockholm, Swe., and the tassel store near Bastille in Paris, Fr., but if we had more time to browse, I would have loved to take home a Christmas ornament from Leavenworth.
It’s a cheesy place, but the quaint shops make it charming and more interesting than just a Disneyland-inspired town set up to attract tourists. And you can’t go wrong with the views of the Cascades and the Wenatchee River roaring through the valley. One reminder that it is a place for tourists were the number of dogs out and about, dogs who would have stayed at home, had their owners not been on vacation. We saw dogs in strollers, dogs sharing strollers, a puppy tied up outside a restaurant waiting for its owners to finish dinner.
Cashmere, Wa.
Wenatchee, Wa.
We stopped at the Safeway, just outside town, to stock up on bottled water before driving through Cashmere and Wenatchee. Lots of apple trees.
We returned home via I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass. Although U.S. 2 is more scenic, I-90 is quicker, and took us through Cle Elum and the City of Roslyn. After a quick stop at the factory stores in North Bend – Tiggy needed a potty break and I needed to satisfy my curiosity – we drove past Snoqualmie Falls and headed home.
Exploring Zion Canyon National Park
Zion is some 150 miles east of Las Vegas. From the Flamingo Hotel parking lot, we headed east in our renal car towards St. George, Utah, stopping half way in Mesquite, Nev., to eat breakfast. Before heading back on the road, we stocked up on food and water at a local grocery store, since there was no guarantee we’d find another store en route. Just outside Zion, however, we passed an outlet shopping center. What a contrast: the juxtaposition of the majestic stone formations with the designer outlets was both amusing and awkward.
Mark and Ayuko mapped out a reasonable hiking itinerary for our day at Zion. Since cars are not allowed in the park in the high season – April to March – we parked on the street near the entrance and walked past the Visitor Center to catch the free park shuttle looping the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. The goal was to hop on and off the shuttle until we hit all the trails that were on our list. Our first stop: the Zion Lodge. The trail to the Emerald Pools is across the street from the lodge, which incidentally is the only overnight lodging in Zion Canyon. The trail to the lower pool is easy – provided you don’t slip, trip or roll over the side – with views of vividly orange rocks and a misty waterfall above. We turned around when real hiking was required.
For our last hike, we took the shuttle to Riverside Walk, leading to the Narrows. We walked alongside the river, past the hanging gardens and more impressive rock formations.
Who Carved Those Rock Formations?
Mark and Ayuko, who we met up with in Las Vegas, sent us their photos from our trip to Zion Canyon in southwestern Utah, and the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
M&A’s pictures were so different from ours you’d think we visited different attractions. They saw details we overlooked and photographed iconic scenery from angles we didn’t think of. They also took pictures of rock formations that were so striking, it’s hard to believe that we missed them on our trip. I didn’t even see the winged statues near the Hoover Dam. No doubt, we were distracted by other attractions.
It’s good to travel with extra sets of eyes.
Zion Canyon
3:10 to Yuma
We saw 3:10 to Yuma this weekend. It’s a remake of a 1950s Western about a rancher in Arizona who inadvertently helps capture a notorious outlaw and is propositioned to help put the prisoner on the 3:10 train to Yuma Prison.
I didn’t see the original so I had nothing to compare it to, but lfound a lot of the themes familiar: medical procedures being performed without anesthesia, shootouts, and outlaws being brought to justice. The acting was incredible and I still can’t Christian Bale’s weather-beaten face out of my mind.
We just recently returned from a trip to Arizona so I also particularly appreciated the landscape.
V, A, A, T and D family blog 