Twilight Tour Through Forks

On the Sunday of our little Washington get away, Charlie and I decided to drive across the state to Forks, going through Port Angeles on the way, as well as venturing down to La Push, and see all of the Twilight saga's real life places to visit. As a huge fan of the books, this was more fun than I could have ever imagined it to be!

We started the day early as it was about a 3 hour drive (or more, depending on ferry times), and we wanted to have plenty of time to get in all of the sites! What we did not know, or realize, I suppose you could say, was how absolutely beautiful the drive would be. We hopped on the Kingston-Edmonds ferry, which, for me was a treat. I guess the only ferry I have ever been on is the small little one connecting the Port Bolivar peninsula to Galveston, so this was a surprise!


Here, you can see a little bit of the views we saw from the outside on the ferry (it was really cold!), then we ventured inside to the Passenger Cabin, and I was amazed!

View from the ferry

View from the ferry

The passenger cabin inside the ferry. They even had a cafeteria! Ok, so the littlest things can amaze me!!

Much of the drive along the way was through the mountains and parts of the Olympic National Forest. In the books, there is a description of this area with the trees, as well as being "green". It was the most beautiful glow of jade green that I had ever seen! And, I have never seen so many trees, covering everything including the mountains, everywhere you looked!

View out of the front windshield as we drove

Our first stop was in Port Angeles, Washington. We got out and walked around a little bit to see some of the sights described in the books. Bella visits Port Angeles on a couple of occasions, and though I did not get a picture of them, we did see the dress shop where the girls try on dresses for prom, the Italian restaurant where Bella and Edward have their first date, and the bookstore that Bella was looking for in the book Twilight, but never found. The one thing that I did get a picture of was the movie theater where she saw a movie with Mike Newton and Jacob, the actual theater used in the movie New Moon.

Pictures of the Lincoln Theater .....

As we continued beyond Port Angeles and on to Forks, the scenery got more and more beautiful the further we went. I couldn't help but snap some pictures as we drove along. The most amazing thing about this Sunday drive was that the clouds were very sparce and the sunlight shown through!

Lake Crescent along the way to Forks

More of Lake Crescent

Ok, a quick little story ... Charlie was very supportive of my wanting to drive to Forks and see all of these sights and be a crazy Twilight tourist. Not once did he seem to not want to go or give me a hard time about it. Along the way, he enjoyed the scenery just as much as I did and we both enjoyed simply spending the time together, no matter what we were doing. At one point as we were getting very close to Forks, he did question that we might be the only crazy people going to do this "touristy little thing". There was a line of cars in front of us, and I asked him how many of them he thought were going to do the same thing. His response: "I'm sure none of them are as crazy as you are." Well, I tell this story to tell you that he was wrong! When we arrived at the Welcome to Forks sign, there were probably about 10 cars stopped with people taking pictures at the sign, just as we were planning to do. He was pleasantly surprised, I do believe! And, he even had his picture taken as well, just to prove that he was there supporting me! The moral of this story is, I am not crazy after all!!!!

In front of the Forks sign (this sign can actually be seen in the movie)

And, yes, Charlie was actually there with me too!

Ok, if you are reading this as a Twilight fan, and wanting to see sights from the movie itself, you are looking a the wrong blog. It is pretty common knowledge that the movies were not actually filmed in Forks. They were filmed in other locations, with a few things from the "real" Forks put in to give them authenticity. A few of these pictures will point that out (as I pointed out about the sign). What drew me in to Forks was the fact that the author of the books, Stephenie Meyer, visited and researched the town and based her descriptions on things actually found here. So, this was a tour that was definately for those that have read the books. There were many sights around town to see, and you could easily hear in your head the descriptions as they came out of the book while you were looking at them. So, if you are looking for movie scenes, you can stop looking. But if you are a fan of the books, here we go!

Forks Outfitters. This was the sporting goods store on the edge of town where Bella worked, that was owned by the Newtons. This is a real sporting goods store and it is really on the edge of town, the actual basis for Stephenie's description of "Newton's Olympic Outfitters" as it was fictionally named in the book.

This is just a scene in the store Dazzled by Twilight. The entire store was set up as the forest, had a vampire side and werewolf side, had many cardboard characters everywhere, and this scene including Jacob's motorcycle.

They have an actual Forks Police cruiser set out in the parking lot of the police station for you to get a picture by, so I did. Obviously, there really is a police force, a police chief, etc., and we did get to stop at the police station. It doesn't take much to figure out that this is where Police Chief Charlie Swan's character was developed (Bella's dad).

The Cullen House ... aka The Miller Tree Inn, a bed and breakfast in town. This house fits the description that Stephenie gives in the book of the house occupied by the Cullen family. The only difference is that it is described as being hidden by the forest, when it is actually in town and partially hidden by a few trees.

The Forks High School sign. This sign can actually be found in the movies. However, the high school used in the movies was a combination of two different ones (neither being Forks High School). The inside of the high school was filmed at one in Portland, OR and the outside of the high school was one filmed in Kalama, WA. The actual Forks High School was partially not standing and has since been moved into another building. The name actually says Quillayute High School on the building.

Bella's Truck ... this truck can be found at the Forks Chamber of Commerce. The stand in pick up is a good fit for the description of the truck Bella receives as a homecoming present from Charlie. This truck was the inspiration for Stephenie to use in the books, and has been since painted red.

Charlie standing with Bella's truck

(I guess because an old Chevy pick up truck is actually a guy thing!)

The Swans House ... this is a private residence in Forks that is the true "Home of the Swans", another basis for churning up things in Stephenie's mind.

Home of the Swans

Forks Community Hospital has a sign in the parking lot that reserves a spot for Dr. Cullen. This spot is always empty. Just thought it was kind of neat. Nothing but a touristy thing here!

All in all, the city of Forks is a pretty neat little town nestled in Washington. It was very fun to visit and to step into the descriptions of the books, recognize a few things from the movies, and to really feel what Stephenie Meyers describes in her books. She does such an amazing job describing so many of the things that I did not capture in pictures. We had a great time visiting, and are very glad that we made the drive!!