20 years ago, I was in the middle of Day 4 of Dome to Dome Twice, the epic 3900 mile road trip I took after graduating college and before starting Grad School. My friends Wendy, Joe, and Death set off from Chico, CA on a round trip that would take us through Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Utah.
The previous year, I had gone to the upper Midwest to look at Grad schools with my then step-father and we visited Minneapolis, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Iowa, and Wisconsin. I took my family’s VHS camcorder and documented the trip and affectionately referred to the trip as “Dome to Dome” – a tribute to Michael Palin’s recently released “Pole to Pole”. The dome in question was the Minneapolis Metrodome, even though we never drove by it.
When my friends wanted to go to the Twin Peaks festival in Washington in 1994 and visit my friend Susie in Colorado, we decided to do both in 10 days. Overly ambitious to start, it turned out to be a fun time despite not talking to Death at the end of the trip and a little blow up in Washington where someone wanted to walk to Seattle. At any rate, I look upon this trip with some fond memories.
In 2004, I finally digitized the trip and created a special 10th anniversary edition DVD for my friends of the trip. It featured a few deleted scenes (although Susie was disappointed that the endless hours of lightning in Colorado didn’t make it).
Our itinerary:
Day 1: Chico to Snoqualmie, WA via Crater Lake and Mount St Helens
Day 2: Touring Twin Peaks sights
Day 3: Seattle
Day 4: Snoqualmie to Butte, MT via Cataldo, ID
Day 5: Butte to Yellowstone – camping in Yellowstone
Day 6: Yellowstone Touring
Day 7: Yellowstone to Colorado National Monument
Day 8: Visiting with Susie
Day 9: Grand Junction, CO to Chico via Salt Lake City and Reno
If I get some more free time this weekend I’ll try and post a photo gallery from the trip and maybe some video clips! (or maybe by the 25th anniversary…)