Thursday, November 13, 2008

Twilight... I've been there!

Last summer we traveled to the great Northwest to visit my husband's family, and while we were in the neighborhood, we decided to take a side trip out to the Olympic Peninsula. Since myself and three of my children have read all of the Twilight books, I suggested we plan a stop in Forks. That way, I reasoned, when we see the movie, we can lean over to our poorly traveled friends and say, "I've been there!" I wonder how many times I could say that before my friend punches me. Hm... I'll let you know

Yes, Forks, Washington, is a real place. Ms. Meyer didn't make it up. And yes, it really does rain there. A lot.

Here is my tall 8 year old standing next to the rain gauge at the Forks Visitor Information Center. As of August 2, it had already rained 4 3/4 FEET this year. That's 57 Inches, folks, with five months yet to go in the year. Average annual rainfall in Forks is 102 inches (8 1/2 feet).


All that rain makes the countryside incredibly green and lush.

And grows REEELLY big trees.



And REEEELLY big Banana Slugs. Vampires? Meh. I got bigger problems keeping this slug from gnawing off my finger!


Welcome to Forks, Home of the Highest Gas Prices in America (on Aug 2). Yikes.


Bella's workplace...


The Highschool...


The ONE stoplight in town...



A caption on this photo seems a tad redundant...


But look what we found around the back side of the building!



Bella's Truck. My children were truly thrilled to see this replica at the Visitor Center. They are grimacing because -- shocker -- it is raining.


No visit to Forks would be complete without a side trip to La Push and First Beach.



It's hard to go wrong with rocks, sand, water and a gorgeous sunset.

We spent one night in Forks, and it was plenty. It really is a "blink and you'll miss it" little nothing town on the highway. Rainy most days, even in summer, overcast on the rest. A perfect spot for vampires to hide.

26 comments:

  1. Has somebody been socking you already? Because you said that twice. :P

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  2. Thanks friend, for picking up on my editing incompetency! :P

    :socks hiccups in the shoulder:

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  3. Ow! Did everybody see that? She hit a pregnant woman!

    Bishop's wives think they can get away with anything, eh?

    :P *ppbbbthfffff!*

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  4. ♫ It's my comment box and I'll sock you if I want to... ♪♫

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  5. My gosh, I've inadvertently stumbled upon a violent feud! All this socking appalls me, ladies. Get it together!

    So, seriously, did you meet any vampires?

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  6. You are always so UP on the UP with cool things...so you pretty much visited FORKS before it was really COOL to go and visit FORKS!

    Now that you have taken me there through the pictures I don't feel the need to stand out in the rain and go myself! So thanks!

    And I also might need a ride to the movie...so if you're offering...

    just saying!

    :)

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  7. OMGosh that is so cool...ima send this to deb and tiff they are totally psycho about twilight...I am more reserved ;-)

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  8. Well, that red pickup isn't pure Chevrolet. It is a 1952 Chevy with a 1951 Dodge bed! But what do you expect of vampires?

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  9. Dad. It is so embarrassingly obvious that you haven't read the book. :covers face in shame:

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  10. Okay, first did you know you've got a snowman following you?

    And second what a super fun post. You are so clever and witty with photo humor! You should be like Kristina P and do photo humor every day for the rest of your life.

    I soooo wish I had read Twilight now so I could feel the excitement even more than I already do.

    Gorgeous funny photos.

    And I loved your first paragraph. That is SOOO true! Travelers are soooo dang annoying. Almost as annoying as travel illiterates.

    Shaka!

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  11. Crash, did I just hear you haven't read Twilight? I might have to remove you from my side bar! I am appalled. And to think I thought so highly of you. Okay, okay, unconditional love and all that...whatever.

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  12. Yeah, Crash is a regular literary snob... she likes boring "classics" stuff like David Copperfield and Les Miserables and that Jane Austen blather. Pulp fiction drivel that actually entertains people instead of put them to sleep might overstimulate her . And we wouldn't want that, now, would we? :D

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  13. Wow, your photos turned out great!! I wish I were going to the movie with you.

    I drove by the mall where the Twilight stars were signing autographs.

    You need to ban Crash from the movie, until she reads the books, otherwise they will be ruined for her.

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  14. Ok, so I'm guessing most people here are planning to see Twilight next weekend?

    I'm still on the fence about this. On the one hand, it's good to support it when movies get made from books I like, so they keep it up. (I doubt this movie will have trouble w/o me, though.) On the other hand, I sometimes really hate seeing books I love come to life on screen. Even if this was a good movie, I might hate letting it into my brain if it's not great. Also, I am cheap and tend to wait for a movie to hit the dollar theaters.

    So I guess I'll just wait to hear what people think of the movie and go from there. Is anyone else in the same boat or is this thing the girls night out of the year? (I might need to get myself some "girls" for future events.)

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  15. "I'm available", I say in my falsetto voice.

    I always shock my daughter with my un-knowlege of things. Actually, I'm reading it now. It just happened to be here on the table.

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  16. LOL.

    Let us know what you think of the book. I'd be interested to know what someone outside the usual demographics for this kind of book thinks.

    I think they are very well written especially considering they are teen romance chick lit, but will readily admit that a great chunk of my liking of them probably comes from being all squishy and romantic feeling when I read them. Not sure if this is the type of thing that makes guys feel that way, though.

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  17. Thank you so much for sharing! I never knew it was a real place.
    I'm not going to say much about my opinion on the books... I'm just happy so many teenagers are reading and that an LDS writer can actually produce stuff that others enjoy!
    PS.. Yes, I've read every one and have the hardback copy of all but the first.

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  18. our fam did the whole Olympic Peninsula thing awhile back... BEFORE the books were written of course so we missed out on Forks... I did enjoy the moments of "oh, I've been there" when I was reading the books though!

    Personally, I'm going to wait a week to see the movie - I've gotta see it, but I don't think I can stand being in a theatre with all the teens who are gushing over the "hotties"... I'm too old to use that word!

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  19. OK, Lisa. Now I know that was not a vampire pickup!!!!

    hiccups, I like these kind of books, fantasy, sifi, even romance. This teenage romance was a little different, and I had to work at it to stay interested at first, but I soom got into it. I just finished it, and will go see the move sometime. Susan offered me her sequel, New Moon, but I have children to tend.

    We're doing ok Lisa & Tom.

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  20. Cool, glad you liked it oldboatguy. I do wonder if my husband wouldn't enjoy the series also, but he's got a huge backlog of books to read first. I might not have to make the case to him for maybe a year. :D

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  21. So jealous. You have the best life to blog about!

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  22. I just realized something... you went there LAST summer and you are just now blogging about it. Did you save this blog for right now? To make us all jealous before the movie comes out? That's diabolical! You're good.... real good.

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  23. Eliza - no, I didn't save it. I procrastinated it. Lucky for me there's a movie coming out this week, eh?

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  24. Okay-so can I just say that this post has me totally excited for the movie now? I don't know why I haven't managed to get excited up until this point (cuz I fully loved the books!) but truly-I want to go see the movie RIGHT now. Before I was okay with just seeing it eventually.

    And also-your very tall 8 year old is less than 6 inches shorter than I am. Curse my short genes:)

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