SchlegelRock

Our trip to Forks was amazing. Everything seemed to fall into place for us and we even had great food along the way. If you stop by Forks go to the Coffee Shop and order the Blackberry (or Boysenberry, I can’t remember) cobbler. It is so yummy we almost went back a second time to just have it again.

Here’s the best part of the trip. Julianne was running and listening to the local Forks radio station when they announced the Prom was being held that night. She came back to the hotel room and we were so excited by the news. We went out Saturday night and hunted down the Prom which was held above a Mexican restaurant. We didn’t sneak upstairs for a peak, but when we got to the front of the building there was a silver Volvo just waiting for us. Could we have better luck or what? That was my favorite moment from the trip because it meant that some lucky girl had a guy that was willing to play along with her Twilight fantasy. Good for her. I just hope he was as virtuous as Edward. What are the chances of that though?  I tried to get Scott to buy a Volvo S60R but he’s not having it. He’s set on a Mini. I guess that’s OK too though.

You’ve got to love the theme of the prom: “Above the City Lights”. There’s seriously one main strip. But, they were above it, so it counts.

If you want to check out the photos from our trip, including one of the Elks Lodge and the church building we attended that didn’t make it to the blog, you can check out the photos here:Flickr

And Laura H. you give me a few months to save up some money and I’ll gladly go back with you. I never did find Jacob’s house or really get to hang out at First Beach. Plus if you go on Bella’s birthday the Quileutes will do a wolf dance and the town is set up to celebrate Twilight. And I would totally have more cobbler and fish and chips. I’m in!

And a big THANK YOU to Scott for holding down the fort while I was gone. Laura and Julianne, I had a great time, thanks for inviting me!  Too bad all the Volvo’s were already let out when we got to Seattle.  That would have been over the top cool.

Anyone for a Harry Potter sight seeing trip? Not that I have the means to make this happen but wouldn’t it be fun? l just like imagining it.

This is the last stop on our trip; Forks itself.  This is an interesting building.  It’s the grocery store, outfitters (clothing and camping), and the hardware store all stuck together.  It’s kind of like a Super Walmart (or whatever those are called) only the three stores are separated by walls having access through doors through the whole thing.  So this would be where Bella shops for groceries and Newton’s store all in one.  You can see MIke’s Suburban in the first shot.  He must have been working that day. What luck!

Now we have Forks high school and guess what?  Mike followed us and pulled in to the student parking lot!  Can you totally see Tyler and his van careening towards Bella, Edward stepping in just in time?

We didn’t exactly find Bella’s house but we found a house on a lot that could be hers.  It’s the top picture with the forest encroaching on the yard.  There weren’t too many two story houses at all in Forks so we couldn’t find the exact thing.  Plus this house only has one access road into it and Bella’s has to have two since Edward is always driving off before Charlie comes around the corner.  Or at least that’s how I picture it.  The bottom pictures are on the way to the Cullen’s.  The river that runs past it and the dense forest surrounding it and the road leading to it.  Can you believe how dark it is?  We didn’t find the Cullen’s house, but I definitely think someone should build one.  I’d go back and visit if you do!

So I have one more picture to show you and it is so much fun.  I’ll post it tomorrow hopefully.

First Beach was tricky to find. We found it at the end of the day after finally asking how to get to it. We didn’t even end up finding the main access where all the people (way in the background on the left) were playing on the beach and if you can believe it, surfing. It was so cold and the wind would not stop, I think they definitely were werewolves out there in the water. If you look in the background on the second picture you can imagine what the cliffs would have looked like that Bella jumped off of.

Access to First Beach doesn’t go through the trees, but since we spend most of our day at Second Beach (because it was clearly marked and easy to find) I thought I’d share it with you. It’s about a mile hike in to the beach up and over some hilly areas; they’re were some killer stairs at one point. It was an absolutely beautiful walk with lots of mud on the ground even though it wasn’t raining. You’ll see in the next pictures what I mean by, once we got to the beach, but once we did Julianne and I found a huge tree to climb up in to. This has nothing to do with the book, but it was fun.

Once we got to the beach we were met by a surprise. The entrance to the beach is covered by trees that have washed up in to piles (First Beach was the same way). We had to pick our way over and through the massive trees to get to the beach. Second Beach was much smaller than First Beach; a small crescent. The pictures on the top are a sort of panoramic view from the beach. On Second Beach we were protected from the wind, but when we got to First it let loose with a fury.

La Push was absolutely gorgeous, with the living situations being as simple as you might imagine on a reservation. They are building on to their resort though so hopefully it will bring more business in for them. I could definitely imagine Jacob and the pack running through the forest and swimming in the freezing water and protecting the reservation.

I don’t have too many pictures from La Push and I’m not sure why this is. We spent most of our time at the beach and did visit the store there in town where Jacob buys all his warm soda he has lying around in brown paper bags.  What a fun trip!

Forks tomorrow if I can get it together.

This is me, Julianne and Laura at Second Beach in La Push, but I thought I should start out with a picture of us together. This is our trip to Forks, Port Angeles and La Push to find the sights from Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. This was one of the funnest things I’ve done in my life. What a silly thing to go looking for vampires and werewolves in real life America. We didn’t find any but we found pretty much everything else we were looking for.

Port Book and News is the bookstore that Bella was looking for and never found. We didn’t find a new age bookstore to visit nor did we wander back alleys trying to get attacked. I tried to buy Wuthering Heights but they were out so I settled on Sense and Sensibility. I did end up finding Wuthering Heights at the Borders Bookstore at the airport. You’ll remember these were some of Bella’s favorite books. I also got Dracula for my birthday from Laura and Julianne so now every time I read these books I’ll think of our trip. What great souvenirs. Thanks you guys for the unexpected birthday dinner and present!!

Bella Italia (also known as Bella Vino) is where Edward takes Bella for dinner. The food was actually really good my only complaint being that they didn’t have mushroom ravioli (what Bella ate) on the menu. I mean if you’re going to go along with the whole book thing by changing your menus and windows why not add the ravioli to the menu? The place was a lot smaller than I imagined it from the book. They did have a back corner booth though that Bella and Edward could have sat at. I wanted to take a picture of it but was too chicken to ask the older couple sitting there if I could. Of course I had a Coke but didn’t ask for all the refills Edward got for Bella, I just can’t handle that much caffeine.

This picture with my finger in it is on the drive from Port Angeles to Forks which is absolutely gorgeous. Just above the water line there is a line of mist. It really set the mood because it was kind of eerie just sitting there over the water. Also the little picture is of the store Bella went with Angela and Jessica to shop for the dance.

All the pictures from Port Angeles and the subsequent drive were taken with my iPhone. Speaking of which, I used my phone three or four times a day to get directions or look up ferry info or whatever. I can’t tell you how much I love my phone.

La Push coming tomorrow!

Here’s the link to Julianne, Laura and I on the Forks website.  The lady that took our picture was a Twilight nut.  She hooked us up with maps and different Forks memorabilia.  She also gave us a Twilight and New Moon quiz that we took on the way back to Seattle.  We didn’t get all of the questions right so she’s given me some homework.

I have pictures that I’m going to post soon.  We had so much fun.  Also, notice I have my I am Switzerland shirt on which got noticed when we were going through security in Seattle.

I totally ordered a great t-shirt from Zazzle.com and it came yesterday!!! It has a “conversation” between Jacob and Edward and they banter back and forth like this: “leech.” “dog.” “bloodsucker.” “pup.” “parasite.” “mongrel.” and then both say, “you smell funny.” I fell in love with this shirt a couple of months ago but just got it because I’m going to Forks!!! That’s right. My friend Laura L. invited me (that’s her in the picture). I don’t know why but I just felt like I needed this shirt on my trip so I got it. As you probably know, I already have my “I am Switzerland” shirt, but this one is just so fun!!

Also, I am reading The Host. It took a while for me to get into it because I’m not big in to aliens but It’s really picking up now and I find myself totally drawn to the main character Wanderer. I did hear Stephenie say that some early readers were routing for the aliens but I’m not with them at this point. I’ll let you know how I feel when I finish the books.

We went to Happy Hollow the Monday after Easter with the Sharps and the Rists.  The kids had a great time running wild.  Oliver ran off and I had to get Jana to go one way while I went the other to find him.  Are you noticing a recent theme here?  We’re having such good weather it’s nice to get outside and do something fun.