TA MEMBER SHARES HER WHIRLWIND TWILIGHT TRIP!

This whole trip started as a whim, really. I found out Stephenie was doing the BD Concert Series on a Twilight Tuesday announcement and decided I wanted to go, as I had really fallen for the books and wanted to meet the woman behind it all. When I mapped it all out, I figured Seattle would be most fun since I had already been to Chicago, go back east routinely, and didn’t really want to go to LA (no offense to LA, but I can get lost in a cul de sac, really!). It didn’t take me long to make the logical connection: if I was going to be in Seattle for a Twilight saga event and Forks was only a 3 hour drive from there, shouldn’t I just make a little vacation of it? Sure I should!

My friend Jayne, who is also a big fan of the books, got wind of my plans and wanted to join me. The morning the tickets to the concert series went on sale, she sat at her home in Portland and I sat at mine in Denver and we teamed up until one of us got tickets to the show. Since Jayne moved from Denver to Portland a while back, she did most of the travel planning; my job was only to get here!

We went to the Breaking Dawn show on Tuesday night and were both thrilled and happy with Justin and Stephenie (it was packed, and Twilighters make friends easily, I’m telling you…just like they do on here!). Wednesday midday we left for Forks via Port Angeles, which is actually a lot bigger than what I had pictured in my head from the books! And the road between Port Angeles and Forks? Edward driving that in 20 minutes at 100 MPH? That would have scared me sick, too! Its beautiful, and scenic, and terrifically UN-straight in some spots (I guess that’s a good way to put it!), so Stephenie nailed that on the head!

Jayne and I were both laughing when we drove past the Forks sign on the way into town and discovered folks there waiting to have their photos taken by the “City of Forks Welcomes You” sign. All the hotels on Hwy 101 had NO VACANCY signs up; we passed Olympic Outfitters and the Thriftway. On the way out of town stood the Forks Chamber of Commerce, which prompted us to do a fast U-turn and start screaming like teenagers because there, sitting in the paking lot, its somewhat rusted grill facing toward the road, was an old, red truck with a front license plate that read “BELLA”. We snapped a couple pictures, of course! Also one of the sign in the front window of the CoC that read “We (heart) Edward & Bella”.

Today, we hit the Chamber of Commerce when they were open. They showed us mail that has been sent to Bella Swan, Bella Cullen and Rosalie Hale. Also cards that have been sent to Edward & Bella Cullen and email that was sent to the school principal from Carlisle Cullen about Edward’s algebra grade (they have a binder with all of this!). We got a Twilight packet with a map of the town & relevant sights, Twilight trivia, and a 5 day guide to the Forks area. They also have a small ton of Twilight souvenirs of which I took advantage!

We found plenty of places in town that were accomodating to anything from the casual to the avid Twilighter, and if we had any doubts we were in the right place, questions of, “Where are you from?” and “How far are you in the series?” or “Did you read the last book yet?” pretty much put our minds at ease. We spent some time in the Hoh Rain Forest today (so, so easy to see Edward and Bella running through there) as well as First Beach in La Push (I could see Jacob’s pack gathereing in the woods on the point just above the beach, I swear). I knew other Twilighters had been there, because someone had scrawled “I (heart) Edward” in the sand (on First Beach? That’s just wrong!). We came back this evening and hit Sully’s in town; they have the famous Bella Burger.