Trip to Forks

Jeff wanted to plan a weekend getaway as one of his birthday presents.  So he did!  He planned a trip for us to visit Forks, WA and some other scenic areas of the Olympic Peninsula.  Here's the play-by-play:

1st stop:  Sequim, WA (pronounced squim)  to visit the Dungeness Spit, a 10 mile sand bar that sticks out into the Strait de Fuca.  Its a popular nesting ground with sea birds.  I saw a golden eagle and several deer which was fun.

2nd stop:  Port Angeles, WA to visit Twilight sights!  We stopped in downtown Port Angeles to relive the magic of Twilight - Ha!  We stopped at the bookstore, where I was surprised to find a cardboard cutout of Bella wearing a Twilight T-shirt.

Then we saw the movie theater where Bella had her "double date" with Jacob and Mike Newton.  And where she went to the movies with Jessica and then ran off with the biker afterwards.  Too bad they were only showing R-Rated movies...none of which was Face Punch.

Then we went to Bella Italia, the location of Bella and Edwards first date.  It was not open for lunch, so we did not eat there.  Plus the "Bella" mushroom ravioli was $17 - too rich for my blood!

3rd stop:  Lake Crescent, a 600-ft deep glacier-fed lake in the mountains of Olympic National Park.  The lake is very blue and clear because it is low in Nitrogen, which makes it difficult for algae to grow.

4th stop: Marymere Falls - nearby was a relatively short hike to a waterfall, so we did it.  There was still snow on the ground, but it was still very green - hard for my brain to make sense of.  We had the place to ourselves, which was awesome, and it was so nice not having our kids with us because I didn't have to worry about them getting tired, or cold, or hungry, or bored, or hurt, or needing to go to the bathroom.

5th stop:  Forks, WA.  We had arrived in Forks!  We stopped by the Visitor's Center and they gave us a list with the addressed of the twilight sights in town.  None of the movie was filmed in Forks, but its true to the book.

Here are Bella's trucks at the Visitor's Center.  The one I'm standing next to is from the movie, but the one in the background is the one from the book - different years.

 Here's me and all my buddies.

 This is the US map of where the visitors to Forks have come from.  They also had an international map that was equally impressive.

We visited Forks Outfitters, where Bella worked and shopped.

 Then we stopped by the Swan residence.  Bella's room is upstairs.

 Then we swung by the hospital.  Someone was parked in Dr. Cullen's spot!

We stopped by Forks High School.

 And the police station.  I didn't bump into Charlie. Too bad.

 Then we stopped at the Cullen House.

 Its a bed and breakfast and on the front porch they have a daily letter from the Cullens

After checking into our bed and breakfast, we stopped for a romantic moment in front of the Forks Welcome Sign.  Tender.

 We headed out to La Push for dinner and crossed the treaty line.

We had dinner at a restaurant near the ocean with a beautiful view of the sunset.  Normally its really rainy this time of year, but we really lucked out and enjoyed mostly sunshine and beautiful scenery. Here's the view from our table.  We headed back to the B&B and watched the first Twilight movie and got ready for a day of fun to follow!