Confession: I Took The "Tour"

After we spent time with ward members celebrating those who commemorated our pioneer heritage(another story), we realized we were actually almost to vampire country.
So we went to Forks on a beautiful and sunny Saturday. It has always sunny and not raining when we've been to Forks.
It was intriguing to see tourists lined up on the side of the highway to take a picture with the sign to welcome visitors and honestly Jake and I laughed a little. The town had to build a ramp to accommodate those wanting a photograph so they could get up to the tall Forks sign words. Jake and I got an idea: we would take pictures since lots of people might want to head this way to see one of the sleepiest, out-of-the-way-on-the-edge-of-the-earth, quaintest, little tiniest of places. Since you might not be able to- we did it!!
Though the town is certainly enjoying the incomparable revenue, lots of the folks there are committed to what lifestyle the reputation of the location of Forks brings. In other words, a lot of them don't like the busy-ness and attention. There are about six shoppes there that profess to having the best selection of merch. A lot of it is homemade and irrelevant. But hey, you bought it in Forks!
Lets Begin:
To drive to Forks, it is mostly slow and winding and beautiful. Sometimes there is a wash out here and there. ...Oh, and there are lots of shiny new guardrails for the tourists also...
"Oh, Look! There's Bella and Edward in the Truck!"

I thought it would be fun to have this gentleman in my picture too. I wish I could have captured more random tourists living the Twilight magic...

Timber museum

Even the Equipment rental place wanted to get in on it by selling signs. And there were a lot of signs! This place even renamed their clothing inventory location "Edward's Trophy Room." Twilight!

Forks Pharmacy Bella-related sign.

Forks Thriftway and Sorry about that big black square in view, that is our "Good to Go" Pass to avoid waiting to pay toll on the Narrows Bridge.

This is a Chinese Restaurant... They have Twilight posters in the window...

Uh oh, Traffic Backup at the only stoplight.

Forks Hospital- the the photo op is a little sign in the back of the parking lot that says "Dr. Cullen's spot." The police dept looks similar.

The high school. Is it what you pictured it to be?

I couldn't find a house like Bellas, there are not any from that era/style in this location. Certainly not one like Edwards; that anyone in their right mind would divulge, anyway. I did find a few of these that probably best prove the rain to come... I think this is one single house but don't quote me, please.

Lots of metal utility roofing instead of shingles.


K. That's about all. Forks! Ladies and Gents! At this point, Jake said, "Looks like we are all out of forks." -Get it. HAHA.
-Can I just say, you would have wasted your trip if you didn't enjoy the Olympics for what they are, too?! There's the rain forest, ocean, lakes, waterfalls, lots of hiking, swimming, eagle spotting, otter and whale watching, marine life touching in all its glory! Lots of wild flowers and berries right now as well. (View from Hwy 101, Crescent Lake and Storm King Mountain)

In Port Angeles: (Side Note: my chiropracter also has a patient who works at Bella Italia. She said people come in all the time and ask where Bella and Edward sat and want to order what they order. She probably has a pat made-up answer now, but she could have reminded them that they were book characters and movies are done on sets mostly...)

This is (about) where Bella Swan gets lost, though it is hard to do. Actually, that big warehouse on the right makes beautiful and expensive yachts. But I wouldn't want to be down there at night either. There's a lot of crazies down town too. I met one once.

There you have it!

Here's the map. And the vampire smiley face is on every copy, don't worry! Enjoy!

http://twilight.inforks.com/twilight-locations/

Insider Scoop

It was a nice day today, breezy but at least not snowing. The tourists were out- taking pictures in front of Bella Italia Restaurant for "Twilight."
Can I say that I'm kind of tired of it all ready? Not as badly as some others around these parts.
Jake saw this on the Forks Forum Opinion Page the other day.... interesting at least! I don't know much, but most people who live in Forks live there to be secluded and out-of-the-way. And living in Forks will do a good job of that!! (Just to give you the scoop "from someone on the inside." -Poor Stephanie-)

Sees Twilight as a bad influence
Where is there one man in this town who will stand up against this Twilight series and point out that it is occult, it is evil, it brings the forces of darkness to Forks, according to God’s word, the uncopyrighted version of the Bible? Is there one, just, God-fearing man here in Forks to stand up for Jesus Christ against this spiritual assault on our children?
It is foolhardy to welcome the forces of darkness into our midst.
Where is there one man, who knows the Bible, who knows that this Twilight series and this wicked author Stephanie Meyers, is a demonic spiritual assault on this town? Is there one man who will courageously stand up for the cause of Christ in Forks and admonish the businesspeople, who so carelessly put our children at risk, for profit?
Our youth are too naive and inexperienced to be aware of the consequences of dabbling in the occult.
Have we ever desired fame? Shall we mock our Creator and think we can get away with it? Shall we book tours, sell posters, accommodate midnight releases, plan festivals, dedicate holidays, to the forces of spiritual darkness? For money?
Have we taken leave of our senses?

Silly Me

Allie and I went to the Ediz Hook by the coast guard station for a nice walk at 11am this morning.
It was indeed majestic, and as we traveled back through down town to our home in the landscape, I saw something. Silly Me!!!! I have failed to mention the phenomena in a sleepy town such as this. I saw some of my Young Women's girl friends out there in line waiting for TWILIGHT to come to town. Right next to some other girls' cool mom's for what ever reason not making eye contact with anyone, sitting in Hannah Montana chairs, waiting for their daughters to take their place since they were in school at the moment. And now it was beginning to rain. Wow. There is a big line crusting a little theater right now... in "P.A." as us locals call it. You'll just have to trust me that it looked out of sorts.
Now that the bewilderment has worn off, I do see TWILIGHT as once in a life time opportunity to be a part of. After all, I do live up this way, and Forks is in our stake, over an hour drive around the National Park.
So I've read the first book. and I thought it was clever. It is super easy to read, but I really was impressed with how well it could be the "next big thing." My only complaint is I almost threw the book down, though of course I had to finish, when I read the chapter on P.A. what almost happened to the heroine is my worst nightmare!!!! Please note that it is a little creepy down that way. And I could see it in my mind, for REAL. So here I am, watching and wondering how many people might try to live here in the next few years, if my property value will go up because Hollywood has struck like lightning, or how many boys is my daughter going to go to P.A. school with named Edward.