This is not a joke. My sis-in-law, Amy, and I decided that we needed a weekend retreat and where in the world could be more fun than Forks, WA--Home of the sexiest vampires in existence! We flew into Portland on the morning of the 16th of January so that we could start the tour by seeing all the places where Twilight was filmed. And then moved our way up to Forks. And since we were trying to do this trip justice we decided that it was NECESSARY to drag Edward along with us. He was a little quiet since Bella wasn't with us, but I think he enjoyed himself more than he let on!
(Brace yourselves! There are a lot of pictures here. I cut it down to about a fourth of the actual number that I took.)
Edward in the rental car. Yes, I did ask Lydia, our rental car associate, for a silver car and she was nice enough to oblige.
The first stop along the way was the Blue Heron Paper company. This pic doesn't show it well, but this is where the security guard gets attacked.
Amy and Edward at the greenhouses used for the field trip in the movie.
This is the owner of Angel's Hair and Nail Salon. In the movie it was tranformed into Petite Jolie--the place where they went shopping for the prom dresses. She showed us a bunch of pictures with her in the background from the filming.
Edward and I posing with Catherine Hardwicke's actual chair.
Amy and Edward
"The" Chair
Recognize the window? It is where Bella sits to watch them try on dresses.
Amy telling Edward about the men chasing her in the alley (yes, it was "THE" alley--we should have taken a picture from the other direction too)
Behind us is the "bookstore" from the movie
Edward protecting me from attackers in the parking lot where he saves Bella.
It's no Volvo, but he still looks hot next to the Silver Camry.
Amy excited for her date with Edward at the Bloated Toad (the restaurant from the movie)
Me at the Swan Residence. Bella and Charlie were gone and I didn't dare get the key from under the eave to sneak in. Maybe next time.
Edward was forever being the gentleman. Here he is helping Amy out of the car at the high school. He just needs his hot sunglasses on.
Amy and Edward at Kalama High School where they filmed the outdoor high school scenes.
After a long day both Amy and I took advantage of the fact that Edward was there to sing us to sleep. FYI Bella's lullaby is much prettier in real life!
The next morning we drove out to La Push. This is a part of the forest along the way. Can't you just imagine a big wolf running around through there?
Entering La Push
First Beach
The beach was gorgeous. And so peaceful.
Amy found paw prints! We can't be sure whose they were since we don't have a superhuman sense of smell. But it had to be one of Sam's pack.
Amy on the beach
The trail to the beach. My hands are FULL of the cool, mulitcolored rocks from the beach.
Of course the stores on La Push were ALL Team Jacob.
(We didn't tell them Edward was in the car)
I thought this sign was hilarious--Team Jacob, above the GARLIC--Get it!!???
Another La Push store
and their menu (for some reason it wouldn't turn out clear--but you get the point)
Entering the city of Forks. When we stopped for this picture a TON of people pulled off and "borrowed" Edward for their pictures too. Luckily he's a good sport and all.
You definitely need to stop by the Forks Chamber of Commerce when you go to visit. They have "Twilight" packets that they give out with maps of Forks, trivia questions, etc...
Luckily the employee that helped us was REALLY into it. She acted as though everything was real. It was a blast talking to her. The town of Forks has places they think fit most closely to descriptions in the book, so you can go around and visit them all.
Out front of the Chamber of Commerce they have Bella's Truck (notice the vanity plate)
Inside is a framed note from Stephenie Meyer thanking them for making September 13th Stephenie Meyer Day.
They even provide a bunch of signs for you to use when you get your picture taken there.
Of course, Edward didn't want to be left out.
He needed a picture or two without us so that he could give them to Bella.
(Doesn't want to make her jealous or anything)
The Swan Residence in Forks.
This is the house they think fits the books description the best.
"THE" hospital
They even have a parking spot reserved for Carlisle!
And yes, I did park in it!!
(Carlisle wasn't working that day anyway. It was too sunny.)
Amy and Edward at the Cullen residence.
A note from Esme
Edward by himself in front of his house.
This is the mailbox for a new store in Forks. The owner picked up and moved down from Vancouver. She sells all things Twilight and nothing else. The store was PACKED!!
The Thriftway where Bella goes grocery shopping.
The outfitters where Bella works.
Amy and I proving we have been to both places.
Amy and Edward at the high school. Personally, I think they make a cute couple.
Edward taking his turn posing with me at the high school.
We decided to go to Port Angeles next, and the fastest way was on Edward's back...OF COURSE. So you can understand why our picture didn't turn out too well!
Bella Italia (actually in Port Angeles)--Home of Bella and Edward's first date.
Our "double" date with Edward.
Amber had the night off--thank goodness--so we didn't have to worry about her being our waitress and hitting on Edward in front of us. Instead we had a very nice waiter that offered to take a picture of our date.
The night wouldn't have been complete without mushroom ravioli and a Coke.
Just down the block from Bella Italia is the movie theater. It is the one Bella went to with Mike and Jacob, remember?? Anyway, we figured a night in Port Angeles wouldn't have been complete without seeing Twilight!
We had extra time since it was the late show--so we decided to go for the double feature and see Bride Wars first. Edward thought it was okay but he was a little anxious to see "his" movie.
Everyone in the theater was so happy that we brought Edward along. He had a bunch of pictures taken of him. And yes, he manfully ate the popcorn.
The next morning we TRUDGED through the forest to find a good spot to re-create the meadow scene from the movie.
And then Amy went for another ride on Edward's back. At first she was scared.
But then she decided it was pretty nice being that close to him!
We went back to have a Bella Burger at Sully's but we forgot that small towns actually close stuff down on Sundays. We felt welcome anyway because of their sign. (FYI the drugstore is closed on Sunday too. We wish we would have realized before. It is the place to go to get Forks stuff--as opposed to Twilight stuff. But we didn't figure that out until it was too late. Oh well, guess we need to go back again!)
Amy at a random beach on the way back towards Portland.
Notice her HOT Forks Hoodie!
We made it to Multnomah falls right at Twilight.
It is the big waterfall in the background during the baseball scene.
You can barely see the falls in the background.
From there we drove through the most INSANE wind storm EVER to spend the night at the View Point Inn. It is the place where they filmed the prom.
In their foyer they have a whole Twilight display.
Because of the storm and power outages and circumstances beyond our control, we ended up spending the night ALONE in this haunted place! It actually was awesome but a little scary since the whole house was shaking and doors slamming from the wind storm. Ask me to tell you about the footsteps later!! (I was scared to death!)
We reserved the Inn Keepers room so that we could have seperate beds, but since we were the only ones there we decided to use the whole place for photo ops.
Here is Amy showing Edward how to stay clean.
Taking a nap in the Roosevelte Suite.
Edward looked cold so we gave him a robe too.
Don't tell Zach!
Edward waiting by my bed for me.
In the morning it was still SUPER windy, but at least it wasn't raining so that I could get some pictures. They have a brick walkway called the Twilight Walk of Fame. You can buy a brick with your name on it to put there.
Here is one of the many Twilight named ones.
They had a brick for every major character in the movie.
Here is what the View Point Inn looks like from outside.
And from the road. We will definitely be going back there. It is an awesome place to stay.
Very romantic!
Our last planned stop was the Carver Cafe.
It is the place that Bella and Charlie eat at all the time in the movie.
They kept all of the "Forks" stuff on the walls from the movie.
And they even kept a pic of Waylon on the cash register!
Be warned...the breakfasts here are HUGE!!! I could have ordered one and it would have been enough for both of us. We sat at the table the old men sit at in the movie.
The corner where Charlie and Bella eat.
Amy shaking her bum at the same location that Mike did in the movie. And FYI, the cook said that she isn't the first one to re-create this moment!
So we thought we were done until I noticed that the StoneCliff Inn was close by and it was on my list of locations--but I never could figure out what part was filmed there so we weren't planning on going. But since it was super close we decided to try really quick before we headed for the airport. And I was SOOOOOO glad when we did! Recognize those mossy rocks??
The place was packed with boulders covered in moss. I took a million pics trying to find ones that I actually recognized. I was about to give up and as I came down a different direction ---BAM!!! There it was!! This is one of the spots from the MOVIE!!
Do you recognize the tree where Bella trips as she is chasing after Edward? Amy is trying to re-create it for you. Unfortunately, Edward was already packed up for the trip back to Virginia so he couldn't pose for the picture.
So after finding this place my trip was complete!!! And we headed back to the airport to catch our flights home. It was the best 4 day vacation EVER. I highly recommend it. Surprisingly most of the women that were doing the same as us were actually there with their husbands! Don't think Dave is ready for a Twilight vacation yet. The only sad news was that Edward missed the connecting flight and didn't arrive to my house until a couple days later! Luckily he survived but he is a little beat up--but I love him regardless! We didn't see EVERYTHING, but we came pretty stinking close. Plus, now we have a reason to go back and see the other places some day!
We had a little 17 year old boy that was absolutely in love with Michelle. He kept finding reasons to talk to her all night and finally just plopped down next to us and started talking. He thought she was 22!! And that I was 25! (bless his little lying heart!) So for that I had to get a picture of him.
After we grabbed our DVDs we jumped in the Volvo (of course we had to drive the Volvo!!) and headed home to watch all the special features. We figured we fell asleep sometime around 3:30 in the morning after we turned on the actual movie to watch.
These are the little quote cards I made to put on our cupcakes.
A look at the decorated room
