TWILIGHT: The Book Tour

When our older son learned that we were passing through Forks, Washington, he reminded us that this was the setting for Stephenie Meyer's hugely successful vampire-themed novels: the Twilight Saga. If you're not familiar with the story, it's a girl meets boy vampire with his rival being a werewolf. Oh man, the complexity. Such a guilty pleasure.

Steve and I missed this craze when the book launched in 2005 and the movie, three years later. To be ready for all we were about to see, we did a Bella/Edward/Jacob BINGE and watched all five of the movies (and guiltily enjoyed the experience). When in Rome.

The Twilight tour we took, just to be clear, was based on the locations the author specified in the novels, not the filming locations, sadly, since that is our only reference point. But we attained a thorough Experience 'twilight' on the North Olympic Peninsula guide and hit the ground running. Our first stop was in the town of Port Angeles.

Bella comes to town with friends who are searching for prom dresses. Bella tagged along because she wanted to get a book about the cold ones (Edward, being a vampire was very cold to the touch and she had to find out why).

It is also in Port Angeles where Edward saves Bella from some thugs (thus endearing him to her FOREVER). After the heroics, they have their first date at this restaurant.

Twilight is big. And when Stephenie Meyer shows up (bottom left), it makes the news. Fun stuff.

Okay, so why Forks? It has the designation of being the rainiest town in the contiguous United States and is surrounded by lush rainforests, cloaked in emerald green mosses with wilderness beaches only minutes away. It checked all the boxes on the author's list. Turns out, vampires need gloomy weather or they glisten, a dead giveaway that they aren't human! You can't make this stuff up.

Our time in Forks began at the Visitor's Center, where the enthusiasm of the twilighters was infectious and also where Bella's trucks are kept. The cool older one is the one from the novels, the older one, from the films. Photo opportunities abound. This is one smart town!

While there, a deluge of rain confirmed Ms. Meyer's choice of locations.

This is where Bella lives with her dad. Note the remodel is being done by Edward's mom and sister. Hysterical.

Go Spartans! For some reason vampires need to go to school. It is here, in the parking lot, that Bella was rescued for the first time by Edward.

In the novels, I've been told, Bella works at Newton's Olympic Outfitters. This is the place and conveniently they had the exact gift I needed for my granddaughter's birthday. Win-win!

Bella's dad, Charlie, is the town's police chief. I am so loving the props the town has provided.

This is the Cullen House where Edward and his family live.

Edward's dad is a doctor at the Forks Community Hospital. It's a good thing he wasn't working today or I couldn't have taken this photo. Oh man, classic.

There were several places we could not visit due to closures because of COVID. One was La Push Beach, located on a Native American reservation and home to the Quileute tribe. It is one of the main settings for the second book of the Twilight saga, New Moon, as it is the hometown of Bella's family friend Jacob Black. Stephenie Meyer used the local tribe in the first book as a plot device to tell Bella, and the reader, that the Cullens were vampires, and in New Moon she added a genetic quirk that allows the Quileutes to turn into werewolves when vampires are in the area.

This Twilight tour was like a big, adult scavenger hunt, which I absolutely love. What fun. Tomorrow, a rainforest. The adventure continues.

“It's twilight. It’s the safest time of day for us.

The easiest time. But also the saddest, in a way...

the end of another day, the return of the night.

Darkness is so predictable, don’t you think?”

― Stephenie Meyer, Twilight

posted under |