Recently got back from a trip to the Olympic peninsula. A quick look at the map will reveal that there is only one road along that edge of the map, and it goes straight through Forks.
I had been vaguely aware of the Twilight books and movie. Our family is pretty big fans of all things vampy. My wife and one or 2 of my kids had read through the books, revelling in how bad they were. I declined the pleasure.
A couple of days before our trip we rented the flick. I found it surprisingly entertaining so far as forgettable/trashy/vampire/teen romance movies go. Have certainly wasted my time on movies a lot worse.
But what really surprised and pleased me was how much enjoyment having watched the movie added to our trip. On the way out we passed through Port Townsend, and checked out Bella Italia restaurant and searched for Odyssey Books (closed). Saw a store on the main drag called Forever Twilight.
Then in Forks we were amused at how the town had adopted the series as an industry. Hotels said things like “Edward didn’t sleep here.” My youngest took goofy pics in front of the “Welcome to Forks” sign and the high school. We went to te Forks Outfitters (where I understand Belle worked) and my kid bought a Forks hoodie. On the way back through town at the end of the trip we headed out to La Push for burgers at a joint right over the boundary line.
No, it wouldn’t be a reason in itself for the trip, but if you are in the area it is pretty hard to avoid. Having been there, I can understand how a kid from Phoenix would be less than thrilled at relocating there!
No but I recently found out I could take a Twilight tour from home to Forks, if I were so inclined. It’s turning into quite the industry. If I had more time and money I’d be tempted, just for the cheese factor.
Don’t think I’ve ever been to Forks, but I have eaten at Bella Italia; nice place, good food. If you make it back up that way there is also a friendly little bar in town, Peaks Pub. They had/have a whole bunch of good, interesting micro-brews I never would have known about or tried had we not stopped in there. Though I suppose that might not necessarily be on the list of stops with the young’uns in tow.
Never even knew that Twilight took place up here until now; much less, having actually been to a scene in the movie. I suppose I might have to get around to seeing it now; still will have to be with the Rifftrax though.
Please tell me you mean Port Angeles, not Port Townsend.
My wife and I are taking our nearly-annual Northwest vacation in the next few weeks to Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula. We love Port Townsend, and I would absolutely hate if it got caught up in that hoopla. We’ve never even liked Port Angeles very much, anyway.
Incidentally, we are staying at a little B&B in Forks one night because I wanted to head out further around the peninsula to do a couple of days of hiking on the coast or in the forest (love that temperate rain forest).
Should be Port Angeles; the restaurant and pub are at least.
To be fair though, even though my parents live in Port Orchard and I’ve been in the Seattle area for most of my life, I still get all the Ports around here mixed up.
Oops - good catch. We stayed a night in Port Townsend in a really nice B&B - the James House. Port Angeles seemed very much a drive through kinda place.
tds - back before my sober days one of my favorite things about travel was trying out the local brews. Looked like there were some tasty ones out there. I almost died when we stopped for dinner in Forks and my wife had herself a - gasp - Budweiser! :eek:
My job has a Seattle office. I may need to put in for a transfer. I could imagine living over on Bainbridge Island and commuting via ferry.
Meanwhile I’m trying to get used to this big yellow shiney thing up in the sky . . .
I couldn’t believe that you could drive all the way from Port Angeles to I assume Aberdeen without passing a McDonalds! Wouldn’t have thought that possible in the lower 48!
Been to Forks quite a few times, but not since the whole Twilight thing started picking up steam. Usually, I’ll stay out in La Push (about ten miles or so from Forks), and go to the Hoh Rain Forest, and just use Forks as a place to buy food/supplies. Nice to see that they’re able to cash in on Twilight, as there’s not much else going on out there, economically-speaking.
Oops, we JUST got back to the Midwest from the Olympic Peninsula, and even though some of the family had either read the book or seen the movie, nobody thought of visiting Forks. Oh, well, guess it wasn’t that important to anyone. And I’m NOT going to bring it up now* (“Geez, dad, WHY didn’t we go to Forks? I coulda bought a hoodie! We never do waht I want…”) *— more time to traipse around the rain forest. Stayed at the big old lodge at Lake Quinault, highly recommended.
I heard a while back that Twilight related tourism was a great boon to the town of Forks, which had been doing badly since the local lumbermill shut down.
So while Twilight currently holds the title of “Worst Book I’ve Ever Read”, at least it’s done some good in the world.
I’ve been through Forks once, maybe twice, but it’s the sort of place my parents avoided taking us to on family vacations because it was a depressing lumber town where methheads slash your tires while you’re in the diner and the gas stations were frequently out-of-business. Or so Mom says; all I remember was that it was more boring than I thought an Olympic Peninsula town could be: I like Amanda Park, for goodness’ sake, and think that Kalaloch is wonderful. We were only ever in Forks to do the 101 loop, instead of backtracking down through Aberdeen on our way home.
To sum up Forks pre-Twilight: When even people from Yelm and Cosmopolis don’t like a town, it really is a place to dislike. Damp, away from the coast, and broke: that’s Forks.
Since I loathe Twilight, the only reason you might see me in Forks these days is if I’m doing the loop.
Yep. I went there twice, about ten and fifteen years ago. The town was trying and failing to transition from logging to tourism, and it felt like all the locals were glaring hatefully at us, trying to figure out if they could kill us for meth money. It was depressing and scary. I’m glad Twilight is working out for them; they really needed something.
The ranger on one of our walks said she wouldn’t wear her uniform into Forks, as she would be afraid they would think she was Forestry. I didn’t know that was ground zero for the spotted owl debate. The same ranger said a new species of owl - barred I think - was moving in, displacing the spotted ones.
The areas near the road that were clearcut sure look like hell.
