Varied Skies

Our trek from Port Angeles to the western side of the Olympic Peninsula brought us the furthest from home that we will be on this trip. We settled in the land of vampires and werewolves, at least if you believe the Twilight series of books and movies. We crossed the treaty line forbidding vampire entrance and spent two nights on the Quileute reservation, home of native werewolves. The view from our campsite right on First Beach in La Push could not have been better.

Tremendous pieces of driftwood lie scattered across the beach, providing ample opportunities for play.

Would-be surfers provided entertainment, as did the setting sun.

We spent a wonderful day at Second Beach. After hiking through the forest for nearly a mile, a wide beach with many sea stacks emerged through the trees.

We hurriedly began to explore the tide pools and exposed rocks of the sea stacks before the tide came in. Much to our delight, large sea stars of varying colors clung to the rock, as did sea anemones.

Hunger set in and we setup a mini-camp in the driftwood and cooked hot dogs for lunch.

The kids dug holes and collected mesoglea along the shore as M and I relaxed.

Unfortunately, weekend warriors booked the beach campground and we could only stay two nights at First Beach. We moved a few miles inland to Forks, WA, home of Bella Swan and the Cullen vampire clan. The local Chamber of Commerce publishes a tourist map showing various Twilight sights. We took a few minutes to visit Bella’s house, the Cullen house, Forks high school, the police station, and hospital.

We had seen the first movie, but none of these sites looked familiar. As it turns out, not a single scene of the Twilight movies was filmed in Forks. Moreover, the author of the books did not visit Forks before writing the books. The locals took it upon themselves to designate the tourist sights based on descriptions in the book. Presumably “Bella’s House” became “Bella’s House” by virtue of it being the only two-story craftsman house in Forks and the owner’s willingness to endure drive-by tourism. Okay then.

Forks prides itself on being the rainiest town in the continental U.S., averaging 120 inches of rain each year. We endured an authentic Forks experience with rain on our second day. We toured the Hoh Rain Forest section of Olympic National Park and enjoyed a nice Ranger-led hike on the Spruce Trail. Our Ranger hailed from Alabama and had been stationed in Olympic NP only a couple of months. We had to translate Southern into English for several in our group.

We also enjoyed a short hike along the Hall of Mosses trail after our ranger-led hike.

We left Forks the next day, having failed to see one vampire or werewolf. I guess they are hanging with the bighorn sheep we have yet to spy.