I had a great time on my trip to Forks. We were lucky to have sunny weather all weekend (which is rare for Forks), I met some great people and got to see some cool stuff. Here's more than you ever wanted to know about my trip:
Thursday:
I left early on Thursday September 11 from DFW and flew into Seattle. I met my mom there, and then we met up with 3 other ladies from TwilightMoms.com (Sara, Christine and Celinda) to carpool together. All the ladies in our car were great, and it made it so much more fun to have other people to ride with. After a quick lunch, we headed for the Edmonds/Kingston Ferry to cross the Puget Sound. While we were waiting for the ferry, we decorated our car. The ferry ride was pretty cool. All the cars just drive onto the ferry. Then you can either stay in your car or get out and walk around. We got out and went up top to check out the scenery. Luckily, I didn't get seasick. :)
This is a picture of me, my mom (Debbie), Sara, Christine and Celinda on the ferry.
And some pictures of our car - yeah, we're dorks! But that's what makes it fun!
After the ferry ride, we continued on to Port Angeles. We checked out some of the places mentioned in Twilight, and then headed over to Bella Italia (where Bella and Edward had their first date) to have dinner with a bunch of the ladies from our group. Very fun, and the mushroom ravioli was delicious!
After dinner it was time to head to Forks and the Dew Drop Inn (where all of group 5 was staying - about 60 of us in all).
No vacancy, because we had that place filled! Woohoo Twilight Moms! And, by the way, our group leaders were staying in Bella's Suite (decorated in red, black and white, with Twilight pictures on the wall, apples on the end table, etc.). Here's a picture of it:
When we got to the inn, there was a little gift bag waiting for us with earplugs (just in case we actually wanted to sleep), a bracelet, our name tags, a cute little notebook labeled "Forks Journal" and a syringe pen (the pen looked like syringe and was complete with red ink). We went upstairs to Bella's Suite for our first group meeting. Our group leaders had SO much fun stuff planned for us. We had little games going all weekend, a "dazzle" jar (where we could put in the name of someone in our group who "dazzled us", and then at each meeting, prizes were awarded to those people who's names were drawn from the jar), and fun hand-outs. At each meeting we got a charm with one of the Twilight characters on it to add to our bracelet, along with a cute little note card with quotes from that character (from each book), and an item that had something to do with that character. By the end of the weekend we had a charm with Edward and Bella (which came with apple scented sparkly body spray), Alice (which came with a poncho), Jasper (which came with a mood ring), Rosalie (which came with a comb), Emmett (which came with gummy bears), Esme (which came with a whistle), Carlisle (which came with a First Aid kit), and Jacob (which came with hand warmers). So, if you've read the books that probably makes sense to you, and if you haven't read the books, why haven't you?
This is the bracelet with all the charms. Can you imagine how much work it took to put these (and all the little gifties) together for 60 people? The whole thing reminded me so much of girl's camp, and I think our group leaders put just as much work into the Forks trip as girl's camp leaders do!
Friday:
So, Friday morning started out with a trip across the street to the Thriftway and Forks Outfitters (which are actually one store).
One of the coolest things about Forks (and even Port Angeles) is how all the stores have Twilight signs in their windows and Twilight displays inside. And especially in Forks, the people working in the stores were always so friendly and excited. I'm sure it makes them happy that Twilight brings them so much business. :)
Next, our group went for a short hike in the Hoh Rainforest. It was absolutely beautiful! And we were driving behind a silver volvo the whole way there (it was actually a rental car driven by someone in our group. hehehe).
These are pictures of the rainforest, our group leader (Tara), and of course, Jacob and Edward. Don't ask! Suffice it to say that some Twilight Moms like to bring all the characters along with them. They also bring pictures of their friends who couldn't come on the trip. It's actually quite funny.
We were sure to stop at the Welcome to Forks sign on our way back from the rainforest (picture at the beginning of this post). The funniest thing was that while we were taking the picture, a local guy pulled his truck over to ask us what we were taking a picture of. I said, "the sign". He gave us a weird look and said, "and that's a big deal?". I was like, "yeah, we love Forks!" I think he thought we were crazy! I think he was right!
Then on Friday afternoon we took a tour around Forks to see some of the "points of interest" from the book.
The Police Station (which even had a Twilight display), The Cullen House (which was right in the middle of town - yeah, right), and the High School.
For dinner on Friday, our entire group headed back to Port Angeles to have dinner at a restaurant called Michael's Divine. It took them 3 hours to serve us our dinner, even though our group leader had taken all the orders ahead of time and called them in so the restaurant would be ready. Oh well. Someone at our table made up a little impromptu game to pass the time, where one person would read a quote from Twilight and then the other people would have to guess who said it and the context it was said in. Good thing Alison had her book with her, or we might have been really bored!
This is a picture of the ladies who sat at our table. From left to right: Christine, Debbie, "Tink" (I don't remember her real name), Me, Celinda, Sara, Jennifer, and Alison. Our carpool hung out with Jennifer and Alison pretty much all weekend (Alison roomed with Sara and Christine). Fun ladies!
Saturday:
Bright and early Saturday morning we woke up to head out to the tide pools at Kalaloch Beach. It was dark, and we had to climb down a big rock thing to get to the beach, but it was very pretty. We got to see the "breaking dawn" har har har. My mom and I were duds and didn't climb around looking for sea life, but other people in our group saw starfish, crabs, sea anemones, etc.
Pictures of the beach and the big rock that we had to climb down (and then up to get back).
After breakfast on Saturday, we headed off to see some of the sights we had missed on our Forks tour the day before.
Dr. Cullen's parking spot at the hospital (yes, they actually have a spot reserved for him), The Forks Chamber of Commerce (which had a framed letter from Stephenie Meyer), the Forks Timber Museum sign (yeah, we didn't actually see the museum, just the sign), and Bella's house (which wasn't actually at the end of a street bordering the woods like it's supposed to be, but besides that it fit the bill. Plus, the people who live there agreed to have a permanent sign put in their yard that says "Home of the Swans", so that's pretty cool). I think that normally Bella's truck is parked out front, but they had it at the park that day for the Stephenie Meyer Day celebration.
Next we headed over to a tour at the High School. Our tour guides were students at Forks High, and they did a pretty good job keeping a straight face throughout the whole thing. I wonder what they think of all us crazies who come to see a fictional character's classroom!
So, here we are at the High School. The best parts were the biology classroom (complete with Edward's Biology folder and Mr. Banner's name on a sign outside the door) and the cafeteria (complete with Edward and Bella's lunch). Too cheesy for words, but I loved it!
Next we went over to Tillicum Park where the Stephenie Meyer Day festivities were taking place.
Bella's truck was there as well as Chief Swan's Police Cruiser and Chief Swan himself (actually, the real Forks Chief of Police). There were Twilight vendors (basically a bunch of Twilight Moms selling jewelry, magnets, key chains, etc. that they had made). Birthday cake was served for Bella's birthday (but we missed that) as well as blood red punch.
Here's a picture of the Twilight Moms at the park. I'm on the left towards the front, next to the girl in the red shirt (Christine). My mom is next to me on the other side. In the front, holding the picture of Edward, is the lady who started it all - Lisa, the founder of TwilightMoms.com.
Saturday evening we went to La Push to see the Quiluetes perform a wolf dance.
It was pretty cool, and in the end they presented a drum to someone from the Forks Chamber of Commerce to pass on to Stephenie Meyer. They seemed very gracious and thankful for the interest she has generated in their tribe. Too bad she wasn't there to receive the drum in person! Even though she said she would not be in Forks for Stephenie Meyer Day, I still had a glimmer of hope that she would show up. Oh well. It was still super fun!
After the wolf dance, everyone went to First Beach for bonfires and storytelling by a member of the Quiluete tribe. Unfortunately, it was VERY cold, so we didn't end up staying to hear any of the stories.
There was this guy at the wolf dance and bonfire that looked like Jacob Black (he was even holding a motorcycle helmet), so everyone wanted a picture of him. I didn't get a good one, but you get the point. It was also funny because the missionaries were at Stephenie Meyer Day and at First Beach for the bonfire (in short sleeves - CRAZY). I guess they go where the crowds are. :)
Sunday:
We left really early in the morning in order to get to the Seattle airport (about a 4 hour drive from Forks). I was sad to go, but happy to get home to my family and my own bed!
This trip is just about the wackiest thing I've done in a long time, and it felt good to get out there, be brave, and have some fun! Yay for Twilight Moms! You rock!
Later in the day, Stefani, Quentin, Haley, and Julian joined us for a ham dinner. It was a relatively low key, quiet Christmas, which suited me just fine! Thanks to all the family members who sent presents to the kids. They loved everything! Merry Christmas everyone!
