Lake Wichita Dam Spillway Takes Me To Twin Peaks & Snoqualmie Falls For Some Northern Exposure

Somewhere, upcreek, a lotta rain must have fallen in the Holliday Creek watershed, judging by the rapidly raging Holliday Creek I saw today as I biked towards Lake Wichita Dam where I saw the spillway spilling what I photo documented above.

A virtual Niagara of water falling over the Lake Wichita Dam spillway. The roar of the water bordered on being somewhere near deafening. The ground almost was trembling from the force of the falling water.

I have not experienced such a wild water act of Mother Nature since the last time I was at the Snoqualmie Falls overlook during a flood. The roar at that time was totally deafening. And the ground actually did tremble. That, and even though the waterfall was a half mile distant, waterfall mist caused one to get quickly drenched.

Oh, I suppose I should point out that Snoqualmie Falls is in Washington, a short distance east of Seattle, near the town of North Bend, which was known as Twin Peaks in the TV show of that name.  Snoqualmie Falls was the waterfall you saw at the opening credits part of Twin Peaks whilst that show's haunting theme music played.

That was an odd time to live in Washington, during the Twin Peaks period. That show was big in Japan. Tour groups came from Japan just to go to the Twin Peaks locations and have cherry pie and mighty fine coffee at the Mar T Cafe. I did that myself. After hiking to the top of Mount Si. The cherry pie was blah, and the coffee was nothing special. Agent Cooper hyperbolized.

Around the same time Twin Peaks was a big deal on the west side of the Cascades, taking I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass to the east side of the Cascades, to the town of Roslyn, one got to have an even better TV immersion experience. One I did multiple times.

On the CBS Twin Peaks type show called Northern Exposure Rosyln was Cicely, Alaska. One could go in the Cicely bar, I forget the name, maybe The Brick was it, and have a pitcher of beer. Or cross the street to Ruth Ann's grocery. Or visit Dr. Fleishman's doctor office. Or the radio station, I forget the call letters and the DJ's name. My favorite was Dr. Fleishman's eskimo nurse, Elaine. She was very popular and would show up frequently in Rosyln to make tourists happy by signing autographs.

If you are ever in Washington and driving around the state, do not miss Roslyn. It's my favorite of the Washington tourist towns. And don't miss the cemetery. Or the pizza joint across the street from the saloon. A long line to get in on a Saturday night, but well worth it, and the wait is entertaining.

At my current location I do not know how far I am from a place I might think to be a tourist town. Hundreds of miles, maybe? Fredericksburg in the Texas Hill Country is a fun tourist town. That's the only one I can think of.

Happy Turkey Day

Happy Turkey Day was the subject line in an email I got this afternoon from Spencer Jack's dad.

The email included the photo on the left, with the text saying...

FUD--- Thought you'd enjoy this photo. Spencer Jack's girlfriend and I took an early morning drive down to see Snoqualmie Falls. I was telling Brittney that my favorite Uncle took us there during the 1990 flood when even more water could be seen flowing down the falls.

Spencer Jack's dad calls me FUD. The FUD initials stand for Favorite Uncle Durango. Spencer Jack's dad is known as FNJ, or Favorite Nephew Jason. Spencer Jack's uncle is also known as FNJ, for Favorite Nephew Joey.

I think FNJ is erroneous about the year I drove him and his brother and cousins down to see Snoqualmie Falls. I remember the vehicle I was driving at that point in time and that vehicle did not get driven by me until 1994.

The visit to Snoqualmie Falls, which FNJ is referencing, was falling a lot more water than what appears to be falling in this picture. I remember the ground was vibrating and a very thick mist made seeing the falls only possible intermittently.

The view in this picture became well known after a TV show called Twin Peaks frequently showed a slightly wider view, which included the Salish Lodge on the left.

Go to the Salish Lodge website and you'll see a rather cool view of the Salish Lodge and Snoqualmie Falls. Move the mouse to the top of the picture and you'll see a mountain in the background. That mountain is Mount Si.

Yesterday whilst blogging I was lamenting the fact that I can not remember the last mountain I hiked. Seeing the picture of Mount Si has me thinking that may have been the last mountain I've climbed, at some point in time late in the previous century.

The trail to the top of Mount Si may be the busiest trail in Washington. Every time I've reached the summit I have been amazed by how many people are already there.

The last time I hiked to the summit of Mount Si I remember going to North Bend afterwards and having some of that famous cherry pie at the Mar T Cafe. Along with coffee. Neither were as memorable as Twin Peaks led one to think they would be.

The Old Pink Lady & Gloved Jogger Today Turned Fort Worth's Fosdic Lake Into Texas Twin Peaks

Walking around Fosdic Lake at Oakland Lake Park, today, had a bit of a Texas Twin Peaks feel.

When I left air-conditioned comfort, before noon, the sun was already heating Sunday to a HOT 97.4 with the Real Feel Heat Index feeling like 101.

The First Texas Twin Peaks thing was what I saw upon arrival at Oakland Lake Park's east parking lot. An elderly lady, dressed mostly in pink, was standing under the sparse shade of a small tree by the tennis courts.

The Old Lady in Pink was using a very crooked cane to support herself.

Walking across Fosdic Dam a guy who appeared to be a very overweight middle-aged man of Asian descent was being pulled by 4 yapping Chihuahuas on very long leashes. I said howdy to the dogs and the guy as I passed. The guy said something back to me in some Asian language. Maybe Chinese. Maybe Thai. Maybe Korean.

A short time after howdying the Chihuahuas, the most Texas Twin Peak thing of the walk rapidly ran toward me. That's right, you read correctly, a man was out jogging in the 101 degree HEAT. An elderly man with a very very well-worn face, wearing long pants, long-sleeved shirt, a headband, hat. And gloves.

Yes. Gloves. 101 degrees HOT and this guy was jogging while wearing gloves.

After the Gloved Jogger passed me, I got to the west side of Fosdic Dam and took several pictures of him, using the zoom. One of those pictures is at the top.

I then continued with my walk around Fosdic Lake. When I got back to the west side of the lake I saw the Gloved Jogger jogging once more across Fosdic Dam. I knew our paths would again intersect, so I prepared to shoot.

I was not prepared for what happened next. I snapped several pictures as the Gloved Jogger ran towards me. And then he stopped jogging, took a left and said something. He was some distance from me, so I was fairly certain he was not addressing me.

The person the Gloved Jogger was addressing was the Old Lady in Pink. The Gloved Jogger walked up to the Old Lady in Pink and took her hand, holding hands as they walked to their car. Apparently they are a couple.

She had stood there under the slight shade of that slight tree while the Gloved Jogger ran at least two times around Fosdic Lake. In 101 degree HEAT.

I was down at lake level, the parking lot is on a bluff above the lake. I watched the slow process of the Old Lady in Pink helping the Gloved Jogger remove most of his outerwear. This is how I learned he had a headband on under the hat. And a t-shirt under the long sleeved shirt. He did not take his pants off, so I don't know if he was wearing long underwear under them.

Prior to the Gloved Jogger, meeting up with the Old Lady in Pink, another jogger Texas Twin Peaked me. This guy had a very odd jogging style. With very skinny legs covered with tattoos. By his grizzled leathery face he appeared to be old. But I don't think he was. He had a youngish spiked haircut, dyed blond. And really creepy piercings all over his face.

And then there were the Fosdic Lake Ducks today.

I don't think the ducks like the HEAT.

Usually the birds that live on Fosdic Lake are skittish. But not today. Ducks floated in the shade of shoreline trees. And did not care that I was getting close to them.

I would have thought the Fosdic Lake Turtles would have been out and about, loving the HEAT. But I saw no turtles today. That is unusual.

According to my weather station, we have gone over 100 today. I don't know if it has gone over 100 at the official measuring station. I suspect it has, thus making this Day 30 in a Row of 100 or HOTTER in North Texas. Which would make this now the 2nd longest HOT streak in North Texas history. Twelve more days of 100 or more and we either tie or break the all time record of 42 HOT days in a row, set in 1980.