Twilight Tour

 WARNING:  You probably won't be interested in this post if you are not a Twilight fan! Also, it is a LONG post so be prepared! :)

We woke up in the Bella Suite this morning and got ready to go out in Forks and see the sights. 

  Our first stop was the Forks Chamber of Commerce and right in front of it is the sign that Bella sees in the movie as she first gets to town. 

They also had both versions of her truck parked out front. 

 The first version is the model that they used in the movie. 

 You can see Bella up front driving. 

 The second truck is the model that Stephenie Meyer wrote about in her book. 

It even has a "Bella" license plate.

  Forks has received almost 7 feet of rain already this year.  That's unbelievable to someone from Las Vegas who hardly ever sees rain! 

I love this sign.  :)

 Inside the building it was like a Twilight museum. 

It really hit home that I was actually in Forks when I saw the life-size stand-ups of the characters. 

There was also a wall of fame with autographs from the movie cast. 

Carlisle's  doctor coat was also hanging in there. 

 The state even issued him a full medical license which was pretty neat. 

 Check out this map - each pin represents someone who's come to visit Forks because of Twilight. 

 These books and movies have done wonders for the economy of this little town. 

 We got a couple souvenir shirts and a photo with my peeps.  :) 

From there we went to go find Bella and Charlie Swan's house.
 
Keep in mind that it's the house Stephenie wrote about in the book and not the house used in the filming of the movie.

 Our next stop was Carlisle's work.

 They had a parking space all reserved for him outside the hospital.

 Matt was bummed that it was reserved because he wanted to park there.  :)
 
I told him that Dr. Cullen didn't drives a black Mercedes, not a red Camaro. 

The actual Forks hospital was just tiny and nothing like the movie portrayed it to be.
 
Forks high school is in the middle of being rebuilt because it was so old and dilapidated.

 Spartan pride runs rampant among the locals in this town! 

This is the original front of Forks High and you can see that in the old days it even had a different name stemming from our friends down on "the res".  :)
 
We wanted to go see where Charlie Swan works so we went to the Police Station, also called City Hall.

This is Charlie's patrol car. 

I went inside to get a picture of their tribute to Twilight and Matt actually met the real Forks Chief of Police who stopped to comment on his car.  :)

 Next we went over to the Cullen house and it was much more like the book than that house in the movie.

 This is Stephenie's description.

 This one fits the bill just a bit better.
 
Can you see Edward up there in his room?

 Every day Esme leaves an update on what the Cullen's are doing at that moment.
 
Forks is also known for being a logging community and this is one of their huge trees. 

We got to the heart of downtown Forks and there were signs of Twilight everywhere. 

These planter boxes were awesome. 

They had a store called "Dazzled by Twilight".

It's right in the heart of the town. 

It is completely dedicated to the books and movies.

 Their windows are filled with Twilight fun.

They've also got silhouettes of Jacob

Bella

and Edward.

 Inside I got to ride motorcycles with Jacob. 

I met Dr. Cullen. 

I even hung out with Jasper and Alice!

  Back off Bella, he's mine! :)

Jacob and Edward couldn't stop fighting over me.  :)

 My heart will always belong to Edward though. (Well, actually it belongs to Matt but you know what I mean.) 

 Unfortunately his heart belongs to Bella. 

Here are their lockers from Forks High. 

 Just chilling with the gang. 

 I even got in with the wrong crowd for a few minutes. 

I love my new ring! 

Across the street there was a store with all sorts of artwork from Jacob's tribe. 

We had lunch at "The Lodge" where they had a Twilight Lounge.  

  The food was awesome and it was all named after Twilight things.

 Even the salt and pepper shakers kept with the theme. 

 Our last stop in Forks was to see where Bella and Mike Newton work. 

 We wanted to go out to La Push so we crossed over the treaty line where vampires are not allowed. 

 Twilight fans are definitely welcome though! 

Uh oh, the vampire threat is at "Danger"!

  La Push is where the Quileutes live. 

 We got onto the reservation and immediately ran into Jacob! 

We called out his name and he looked right at us.  :) 

We went down to First Beach and saw the place where Jacob told Bella what Edward was.  

There was a mist rising over the rocks in the ocean and it was beautiful. 

 

I was surprised at how powerful the ocean was on this coast. 

 You could feel the spray as the water crashed down. 

 There was growth everywhere, even on the tops of these massive rocks. 

 Matt and I just sat for the longest time and enjoyed how peaceful it was.  

 On our way back to the car we found this cool caterpillar. 

 We don't see these things around our parts. 

There were also tons of seagulls and Matt couldn't resist running through them.  All the Twilight ladies taking pictures started screaming because they were afraid of getting pooped on! 

We drove down the highway a little farther and went to Second Beach. 

Matt didn't do the best job with parking the car. 

 Luckily we were able to get out when it was time to go. 

 

 To get to Second Beach you have to hike in and the trail is just beautiful. 

 On the path there is a giving tree in which you are supposed to place a gift from the earth for good luck. 

Matt and I left a seashell. 

This beach was unlike any other I have ever been to. 

There were thousands of washed up trees everywhere and you had to climb over them to get to the water. 

People were perched on them all along the beach just enjoying the scenery. 

The forest came right up to the beach.

The beaches of Washington are very different from the beaches of California but just as beautiful, in a different way. 

We found this incredible slug on the hike back to the car and I had to get a picture because it's just another thing we don't see in Las Vegas! 

Our last stop on our little tour was Port Angeles. 

 We saw the shop, "Gottschalks", where the girls went looking for prom dresses.  (Apparently not enough dresses were sold because it is currently out of business.) 

We saw the book store where Bella went right before getting cornered in the alley. 

 We also stopped in at the Port Angeles Dazzled by Twilight store there and got some more souvenirs. 

 I had to get a picture of my two other favorite vampires - Damon and Stephen Salvator from the Vampire Diaries.  (They're pretty easy on the eyes!)

We had reservations at "Bella Italia" which is the restaurant that Edward took Bella to after rescuing her. 

The menu looked wonderful but I knew what I was ordering long before we got there. 

 I got the Mushroom Ravioli which is the same meal Bella had.  (I warned you that I was a fan!) 

We caught one of the last ferry's back over to Seattle and stayed in a hotel until it was time to fly back in the morning.  It was bittersweet leaving because it was such a wonderful trip but I was also excited to get back and see the kids!  (Especially Tater-Tot.)