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[fennec fox]

Hello gafots,

For this Thanksgiving holiday I intend to spend 5-6 days and take a road trip up to the Northwest US, where I've never been to apart from Seattle. I like road trips that involve lots of countryside, two-lane highways and youth hostelling; I did that across the southern US before (and across Japan before that) and now I'd like to do it a bit up in the northwest.

What I'm asking for is your suggestions on places I should visit, stuff I should do, places I should stay, and so forth around the area. If you have any idears, let me know. (I live in San Francisco and if I can get into Montana by the time I gotta turn back, I'd be more than happy.)

edit: One thing I know I'm hitting are a couple of the places they filmed in for the Twin Peaks pilot.

 

[distantmantra]

Well, once you get away from Seattle and into the mountainous areas and farmlands (Central and Eastern Washington), you out of luck when it comes to youth hostels. Even so, the Olympic and Cascade mountains are beautiful this time of year.

edit: Going to North Bend, eh? That's where many exterior Twin Peaks shots were filmed. I went to the cafe that serves the cherry pie back when the show was on the air, and it was damn good. Not sure if it's still the same place all these years later.

 

[Shouta]

You better visit Seattle Fenegi. I'm gonna take you up to Drinky Crow's house so he can eat you alive or something.

 

[fennec fox]

Well, once you get away from Seattle and into the mountainous areas and farmlands (Central and Eastern Washington), you out of luck when it comes to youth hostels.

Ahh I'll live.

The last time through that time zone I drove across Colorado on US-50 and I'll never forget it. It's just like all those shots in the Coors ads.

You better visit Seattle Fenegi. I'm gonna take you up to Drinky Crow's house so he can eat you alive or something.

Are you, you know, sane?

 

[distantmantra]

Ahh I'll live.

The last time through that time zone I drove across Colorado on US-50 and I'll never forget it. It's just like all those shots in the Coors ads.

I go to graduate school in Ellensburg, WA right at the eastern foot of the cascade mountain range, but commute over to Seattle on a weekly basis to see family and my girlfriend. The drive along I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass is breathtaking.

 

[Shouta]

I hate the drive to Ellensburg. Then again, I've never liked the town much myself.

Are you, you know, sane?

Yes, Yes I am.

*pulls out skinning knife*

 

[fennec fox]

Well, in that case, Pm me yer info and maybe we could do some weekend drinking or sommat.

 

[Shouta]

It depends on when you're coming into town man. When ARE you coming this way =P.

 

[fennec fox]

some weekend drinking or sommat.

You know, like Saturday!

 

[distantmantra]

I hate the drive to Ellensburg. Then again, I've never liked the town much myself.

I hate Ellensburg, but Central has a fantastic School Psychology graduate program, which is why I'm here. I graduate in June, and then it's back to good old King County.

 

[Shouta]

Oh Saturday eh. Lemme call Drinky and see if he and MAF want to do something then.

I'll have to give him all tonight though since he's at work right now I think.

 

[IntestineBoy]

If you have a long time to kill, go around the Olympic Peninsula. Take I-5 to Olympia, get on 101, continue on to Hwy 8, then that will turn into 101 again near Aberdeen, and you can go all the way around the Peninsula, hitting the Rain Forests, Sol Duc Hot Springs, PA, Sequim, Port Townsend, etc. Then you can hit the Hood Canal Bridge, or a ferry over to the Kitsap Peninsula and get back to Seattle, or you can take 101 back down to Olympia, coming through Shelton (where I keep it real). If you're gonna be around here, go on the Ferry and drive wherever the Ferry can take you. Theres a lot of beautiful stuff to see. If you want help navigating/planning, let me know, I know all of WA.

 

[fennec fox]

If you have a long time to kill, go around the Olympic Peninsula.

In fact, this was exactly what I intended to do, as 101 pretty much goes right by my apartment window. Thanx for the idear.

 

[Drinky Crow]

I should be available Saturday if ya wanna hang. I dunno MAF's work schedule; we'll find out what's up tomorrow. Any other Seattlites interested in meeting up for likker and BS?

And no, Shouta isn't sane.

 

[Shouta]

liarz! I'm sane, just not sane in the manner you think!

 

[distantmantra]

I should be available Saturday if ya wanna hang. I dunno MAF's work schedule; we'll find out what's up tomorrow. Any other Seattlites interested in meeting up for likker and BS?

And no, Shouta isn't sane.

Tempting, but I fear my world would implode on itself if I actually met someone from these boards (aside from Jesiatha, who I knew long before I strated coming here). Besides, I'll be staring intently at Neko Case while my girlfriend waps me on the head repeatedly

 

[White Man]

I should be available Saturday if ya wanna hang. I dunno MAF's work schedule; we'll find out what's up tomorrow. Any other Seattlites interested in meeting up for likker and BS?

And no, Shouta isn't sane.

I work 10 to 7PM Saturday. Frowny. Bad time of the year to be stuck in retail hell.

 

[Shouta]

I could argue about Gundams with you distant. 12 levels of geekdom!

 

[distantmantra]

I could argue about Gundams with you distant. 12 levels of geekdom!

Horribly tempting, I would however be up for a big ol' GA Seattle get together sometime between December 22nd and December 29th when the gf heads back to Omaha for Christmas.

 

[White Man]

Horribly tempting, I would however be up for a big ol' GA Seattle get together sometime between December 22nd and December 29th when the gf heads back to Omaha for Christmas.

This would be swell for me. I can't get home for Christmas, so I'll probably be bored and depressed and borderline Gacy after seeing people beamingly happy with people they love around the holidays.

 

[Shouta]

I wouldn't mind a get tgoether around that date myself. My family doesn't really do christmas heh.

 

[distantmantra]

This would be swell for me. I can't get home for Christmas, so I'll probably be bored and depressed and borderline Gacy after seeing people beamingly happy with people they love around the holidays.

That's two people. I'll be splitting my time down in Auburn with the parents and up in Queen Anne at Em's place, but the apartment has extremely strict noise rules (ie. we have the grumpiest old man in recorded history above us), so it would probably have to be somewhere else. A bar perhaps?

 

[Hitokage]

Ugh. Didn't need my urge to return to western washington prodded. :/

Anyway, ride a ferry or two if you have the time.

BTW, Ellensburg does suck, but at least it's better than Mattawa.

 

[White Man]

This will be as shocking to you as Psychonauts on PS2, but I have no problem with bars at all. It would be nice to get a little gaming in, though. Let's see if anyone else chimes in.

 

[distantmantra]

This will be as shocking to you as Psychonauts on PS2, but I have no problem with bars at all. It would be nice to get a little gaming in, though. Let's see if anyone else chimes in.

I've got a TV, an Xbox with four controllers and a copy of Halo 2 (and Outrun 2 for some 4 player link action) I'd be willing to bring with. I totally suck in multiplayer, but I'd be up for it.

I'm gonna be mostly offline for Thanksgiving break, someone should PM me with details if this gets off the ground.

 

[White Man]

I'm only really great at old school shooters. I suck at just about everything else. Especially fighting games. I still like playing them, and if given time to practice, I could hold my own. I'm painfully underschooled at Halo 2 since I have no Live.

 

[distantmantra]

I'm only really great at old school shooters. I suck at just about everything else. Especially fighting games. I still like playing them, and if given time to practice, I could hold my own. I'm painfully underschooled at Halo 2 since I have no Live.

I'm good at single player games, but when you bring another person into the fold (ie. fighting, driving, FPS, etc.) I completely and totally suck. I don't have Xbox Live either, Halo 2 is purely single player aside from getting the gf or my ten-year old nephew to play a quick deathmatch with me. She'll play Contra on her NES, Katamari Damashi on my PS2, Outrun 2 and Klax on Midway Arcade Treasures on my Xbox until the cows come home, however.

 

[Shouta]

I hate 4-player split screen bleh!

You know you want back to Western Washington Hito!

 

[Drinky Crow]

I can also do the 22nd of December, since I'll be able to escape the in-laws. Might bring my brother-in-law along.

 

[White Man]

I think Western WA may be the most ass-kickingest place on earth.

 

[distantmantra]

I hate 4-player split screen bleh!

I'm not the biggest fan, but it's better than nothing. Unless four people want to bring XBoxes and TVs and do four players at a time.

My laptop probably isn't up to par for a LAN party, and I don't own a single game aside from Half-Life/Counterstrike.

 

[Shouta]

I hate 4-player split screen but not enough to go through the hassle of setting up alternative methods :lol.

My biggest gripe of the Western Washington area (and the surrounding Canadian Province and Oregon) is that the shopping kind of sucks in general to be honest.

 

[distantmantra]

My biggest gripe of the Western Washington area (and the surrounding Canadian Province and Oregon) is that the shopping kind of sucks in general to be honest.

I'm pretty happy in terms of shopping, I can geek out at Kicks Hobby and Kinokuniya, I totally spend more money than I should at Banana Republic, The Bon, Urban Outfitters, etc. And don't get me started on Easy Street Records... I should sign my first born over to them right now.

The only thing I'm really missing is an H&M.

 

[Shouta]

I've known Siu-wai for so long but I've only bought one thing from his store in the 10 or so years I've known him :lol. Kinokuniya ain't bad but it lacks in selection sometimes.

I do love the numerous Half-Price books within reasonable driving distance though. So nice and cheap.

 

[distantmantra]

I've known Siu-wai for so long but I've only bought one thing from his store in the 10 or so years I've known him :lol. Kinokuniya ain't bad but it lacks in selection sometimes.

I do love the numerous Half-Price books within reasonable driving distance though. So nice and cheap.

The Kicks Hobby in Northgate frightens me with it's lack of organization, I pretty much stick to the one over in Bellevue, just picked up the new Force Impulse Gundam MSIA over the weekend. I try to avoid buying manga, so Kinokuniya meets my needs for anime OSTs.

 

[White Man]

You folks remind me how much I need a car.

 

[Chony]

Go to the ave (near the University of Washington) and head over to Aladdin's Gyrocery, best gyros ever, and such a unique name. There a ton of great places to eat on the ave, from pho to vietnamese sandwhiches. In northern washington, head over to Lynwood and go to "The Rock" for the best pizza ever (get the 'My Generation').

EMP is cool but expensive. Only went once because it was opening day and got to meet some celebrities.

Check out the Cinerama theatre. Best theatre ever (besides the boein imax closeby).

Kicks is a really cool import shop that is really cheap, and right next across the parkinglot are the best doughnuts ever (countryside doughnuts). This is in Northgate right off I-5.

Downtown is fun to walk around, many shops to go to, spend some time there.

If you are up for a hike, head over to Shi Shi beach, voted best beach by outside magazine:

 

[Drinky Crow]

Anime Kingdom in Bellevue rocks, too.

 

[border]

If you like Twin Peaks, I would suggest visiting Snoqualmie.....where they did a bunch of exterior shots for the show and filmed a lot of the footage in the pilot/film version. That's about all I can think that I would do if visiting that region of the country.

I guess I would visit White Man too, since he seems pretty cool.

 

[Drinky Crow]

Snoqualmie's near my digs. I think Rosalyn/Roslyn was the town where they shot a lot of the show, though.

 

[border]

Yeah, you would have to visit the Twin Peaks fan sites to figure out exactly where all the major locations are. You can visit the police station, the Roadhouse, the sawmill, the high school, the hotel, the Double R diner (which has sadly been renovated so the interior doesn't look like it does on the show), and some of the more famous vistas they show in the program's opening montage. It's probably unlikely that they are still running but they used to actually have Twin Peaks tours that would take people around and show them the famous locations.

 

[fennec fox]

You're all very fine people.

I'm about to go to bed; I'll be setting off at the crack o' dawn tomorrow.

 

[Socreges]

Come up to Vancouver. We have clean streets and many homosexuals.

 

[element]

im in the area

distantmantra, you going to see arcade fire? white man and i are going.

 

[Shouta]

I live by Kicks hah (technically South of Northgate myself but close enough =b)

 

[distantmantra]

im in the area

distantmantra, you going to see arcade fire? white man and i are going.

Oh yes, my girlfriend (burned her a copy of their album, she's totally digging it) and I will be attending the Arcade Fire show. I was lucky enough to buy tickets before they raised the price from $10 to $15 a person.

So, December 22nd, anyone willing to host a little GA gaming get together? I got the ok from my gf to use her apartment while she is in Omaha, but I'm sure we'd get too loud for the old man that lives above. And no one in their right mind would actually want to come to Ellensburg (myself included), so my apartment is out of the question.

 

[fart]

hay guy, if it's not too late, stop in portland. great place, 'hear

 

[Manabanana]

Depends on how far into Montana you're going, but I'd reccomend Missoula. It's a neat little artsy town with some cool food stores and cafes and the likes.

 

[Drozmight]

I live in Ellensburg right now, wich is maybe 80 miles east of Seattle via I-90. The drive from Ellensburg to Yakima is somewhat interesting... Maybe you could to to Pullman... theres some real backwater redneck towns along the way, and then Idaho is right there and Montana not to far away.

 

[IntestineBoy]

I live in Ellensburg right now, wich is maybe 80 miles east of Seattle via I-90. The drive from Ellensburg to Yakima is somewhat interesting... Maybe you could to to Pullman... theres some real backwater redneck towns along the way, and then Idaho is right there and Montana not to far away.

There is no reason whatsoever that someone should choose to go to Pullman. I wouldn't go to Pullman for a lifetime of free liquor and ten drunk sluts. Going to Pullman is like falling in a barrel of tits and coming up sucking on your thumb. Dear god....just don't go there.