3.27.09 - Teresa wakes me up with a phone call at 8:45 a.m. I’m fortunately not on any schedule today. My ultimate destination is Seattle, Washington, about three hours drive from here. I get some more work done, check out of the Coast Hotel and look for lunch and tea. A few blocks down in the historic district is Café Mela. It’s a nicely decorated, comfortable place with a large performance space that includes a grand piano. Like the Bipartisan Coffee House in Portland, it is a nice mix of people. Mom’s with kids meeting other mom’s and their kids, business people, students, and couples. The person behind the counter recommends the quiche. It’s very different from the one yesterday, stuffed with Italian sausage, zucchini and other vegetables. It tastes almost like great stuffed pizza.
On the way out of town, I pass rows and rows of apple trees in orchards at the foot of the mountains. A little further, the elevation rises. Soon, I’m in the middle of the Cascade mountains. It has snowed heavily here in the Wenatchee National Forest.
Coming out of the higher elevations of this range of mountains, I pass the exit for Roslyn, Washington. I keep driving, thinking that sounds very familiar. Then, an image from the television series Northern Exposure comes to my mind. It's the image of Roslyn’s on the side of the town café. I remember that Roslyn is the town portrayed as Cicely, Alaska where the show was shot. I love Northern Exposure! It’s one of my favorite series ever. I own every season on DVD.
I turn around at the next exit and go back to see Roslyn. I’m not about to be this close and not see it. After traveling a small road north of I-90 for about fifteen minutes, I turn left onto the main street of town. As I do, I get this bizarre, charged feeling of driving into an alternate reality. It’s like driving onto the show! It’s still exactly as it appears on the series: Roslyn’s Café, The Brick, Village Pizza, the town totem pole, Ruthanne’s store, KBHR radio station, home of Chris in the morning, Dr. Fleischman’s office. Even some of the people look the same. I’m sure some are, as local people acted as extras during the filming.
One of the opening shots of the show
Maggie O'Connel's house
I park and start my exploration in the building portrayed as Dr. Joel Fleischman’s office. It is a gift store. I have a nice visit with the owner. Originally from Croatia and still speaking with a thick accent, he tells me people from all over the world visit here because of the series. In all, I spend two hours in Roslyn. Every time I start to leave, I find another reason to keep hanging around. It’s funny, when the series was on, I remember seeing Village Pizza and thinking in another time of life that I want to own a Village Pizza somewhere I can ski in the off time. Here I am, seeing that same place in person. This visit to Roslyn is one of the highlights of this trip. The weather, by the way, is bitterly cold. There are very strong wind gusts that cut completely through me.
I resume my drive to Seattle. The weather is getting a little worse as I ascend higher into the mountains again. The scenery is stunning. Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest is all around me, with Mt. Rainier to the south of me. I have to come back here soon.
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