Coexistence…what the farmer does with the turkey – until Thanksgiving.  ~Mike Connolly

Me & Holsters ready to run the Turkey Trot in Latrobe 11/22/12

Today, we participated in our traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  Mom made the feast, assisted by me and Kyle.  This year, Kyle wanted to make homemade pies, including the crust.  His comment was, “Aunt Heather it will be better making them ourselves so they’re fresh and it’s healthier ’cause we won’t have preservatives in our pies.”  Now how can I argue with that?  He was right!  Not to mention we both enjoy cooking together.  Last night we went to work on the desserts, making a pumpkin (mom’s favorite) and an apple crumb (Kyle’s favorite), plus a coconut mouse brownie dessert, courtesy of Pinterest.  A little nontraditional but a nice change.

Kyle helped my mom with the stuffing by ripping up the bread.  Actually, let me clarify, he had to cut the bread into perfect cubes.  Ripping the bread haphazardly like mom is not in his nature.  He was also in charge of making the punch and setting the table.  My goodness he is getting big!  Even Nicole made a comment about Kyle’s first experience at Thanksgiving, just like it was yesterday.  (sigh)

Kyle was rolling the dough… the pie dough 11/21/12

I stepped out for about an hour to run in the Turkey Trot.  Kyle was relieved when I didn’t make him join me, but I think next year things are going to be different.

Instead of fighting the holiday traffic, the plan was for Nicole to wake up early today and drive in.  Except, Nicole slept in and got a late start.  I really thought she was going to miss Thanksgiving dinner, but alas by the grace of God she made it just before we were ready to sit down and pig out.  Our standard crew gathered together, mom and dad, Nicole, Kyle and Uncle Denny (mom’s brother).  Plus let’s not forget the rest of our family, Scooby, Seven and Storm, her first Thanksgiving.

Anyway, like most families there are popular topics of conversation that fly around the table.  On a side note dad commented, “Gigi makes the best turkey and stuffing around.”  Followed by Kyle confirming this statement and adding, “Pappy, Gigi makes the best in the world!”  Too cute!   Well as the conversations continued, this year included our trip to Forks and the time Nicole went turkey hunting with dad.  This story is so appropriate for the national holiday, I have to share.

It was Kyle’s idea to make the pies, including the pie dough 11/21/12

One year, when Nicole was in her early teens, dad took her turkey hunting.  Please keep in mind I wasn’t there so my information was heard from the those that were present, Nicole and dad.  Both versions are similar and yet slightly different.  Basically, the story goes like this.  A turkey flew past dad and Nicole while they were hunting and landed in a nearby tree.  Letting Nicole have the honor, dad told her to shoot the turkey.  Nicole’s reply was, “That’s not a turkey, turkeys don’t fly”  Needless to say the bird took off, probably hearing the conversation and laughed all the way to another tree, high up in the air.  By the time they got home, dad was beside himself because he couldn’t believe that someone really wouldn’t know that turkeys can in deed fly.  Ryan, who pretty much lived at dad’s side in the woods for all hunting seasons, just laughed.  Once my Uncle Sonny and my cousins Chad and Jeremy caught word of the story, they teased her about it until everyone forgot about it.  Not me!  Personally, I don’t think that story ever gets old!

As I brought up the story again while we all feasted on turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, dad just chuckled and rolled his eyes and said, “Yes”.  A little turkey humor for a day devoted to serving up Turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. The gravy boat made its appearance.  Although we couldn’t find it at first, I thought Nicole hid it from me.  But it was found and all was right in my world.

Read more on our Traditional Thanksgiving!

Read our trip of Forks from the beginning.

Pre-flight – Twilight Pilgrimage Prequal

Forks or Bust! – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 1

Rain Forest, Forks, Beach…all in a Day! – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 2

More Forks & Port Angeles – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 3

Seattle – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 4

Coming Home – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 5

Nicole at First Beach - La Push, Olympic Peninsula

Saturday morning was another exciting day.  We survived the night in our motel.  Did I mention our heater was not working at all and the temperature dropped into the 30’s?  At one point I told Nicole, “We don’t have to worry about someone killing us, we’ll just freeze to death.”  However, we did have a small space heater to break some of the chill, adding to our camping experience.  Even Nicole found that funny!

Keeping with the same theme, we were taking our official Twilight tour with others of the same interest at 11:00 am.  After breakfast, we walked up and down the only real street in Forks, at least the only one with most of the business fronts.  Taking in an antique store and another Twilight paraphernalia store, before hitting a chocolate shop.  Nicole got some fudge and I chose a few bonbons and chocolate covered potato chips, satisfying a sweet tooth before we started to burn more calories.

When Nicole booked this tour, I was kinda skeptical.  I do love all the additional information and fun facts supplied on tours and I wanted to see  what they outlined to be specific places in the book.  However, I didn’t want this to be cheesy.  Admittingly, the tour was very well done.  Our guide (sorry I can’t remember his name and yes I said HIS) was very knowledgeable about the movies and the books, and I mean knowledgeable!  Come to think about it, so were the Chamber of Commerce people.  I bet they could sight the books faster than Stephanie Meyers herself.

Our Twilight Tour Bus... it was worth it to learn all fun facts about the area!

Before we even got started, our guide was giving us some tough trivia questions to answer and was shooting out miscellaneous information on Stephanie Meyers and the town in general.  It was wild!  He even educated us on the Quileute language, which was so much fun!  Great guy, cracking jokes the entire way and really keeping the energy of the tour going, even though he’s probably done this a million times and was sick of hearing the word Twilight.  Although, I couldn’t tell if that was the case.

As we road in our little black mini bus, we were escorted to all the key places from the book including:

Nicole & me with Bella's truck (almost) but the license plate is the one used in the movie

The Chamber of Commerce to see Bella’s truck from the book and a similar model of truck from the movie.  The license plate on the truck was actually used in the movie.

Bella Swan’s house, which is a person’s real home.  Now none of these landmarks are exactly based off of the books but they best fit the descriptions.  The lucky owners of this house were nice enough to allow people to stop and take pictures in front, just not to encroach too far on the property.

The tour guide told us a story that actually happened and why they were strict with the no trespassing rule.  Evidently, one night the owner of the house heard a noise in the kitchen and went for a closer inspection. He walked in on some Twilight fans checking out the color of  ‘Bella’s’ cupboards.  Can you imagine?  I believe it!  They didn’t mean any harm, they just were curious.  In fact they actually told the owner of the house, as they stood in the middle of the night in his kitchen, ‘We wanted to see what color was Bella’s cupboards.’  I guess it’s situations like that, that make the towns people irritated with Twilight fans.  Although, they are still apart of the tour.  Very cool!

Nicole with Carlisle Cullen's parking sing in front of Forks Hospital

Then the next stop was Forks hospital.  Yes, this tiny little town has a hospital.  It looks more like a fire hall but they don’t need a huge facility.  The guide told us that a busy day in there consisted of about 12 people, I’m sure that wasn’t a problem for Carlisle.  At this point a bee flew in our bus and as I’ve mentioned Dog Gone, I’m allergic to bees!  Me and another girl began to squeal until our tour guide took notice.  By then the bee landed in front of Nicole, who jumped out of her seat and I grabbed my book to settle this once and for all.  I got a good hit in and it dropped on the seat.  The other girl yelled “It’s a bee!” and I followed it up by saying, “I’m allergic!”.  Our tour guide turned into comical super hero by saying, “O gotcha, it’s like a black widow in the air for ya.”   He came back removed the problem and off we went.  Way to go! Of course, if I got stung, I’m sure Nicole wouldn’t have minded a trip into the Forks ER.  It might have actually topped off her bucket list.

Nicole & me in front of Forks City Hall & Police Station

As we continued to the other side of town, we made a stop at the Forks school, which was recently remodeled and beautiful.  It was really a pretty setting for a school up against the mountains and rain forest in the background.  The school also embraced the Twilight phenomena head on.  They allow people to stop in and look around, take pictures and that sort of thing.  In fact, on Stephanie Meyer day, September 13th (Bella’s birthday) the students give tours through the school.  That’s the spirit!

We made our way to Forks City Hall and the Forks Police station.  Nicole really wanted her picture in front of a cop car, but alas we were not allowed past a specific point to obtain a picture.  One item not crossed off her Twilight bucket list.

Cullen House, equipped with a cardboard cut out of Edward in the attic window

Across the yard from the City Hall and Police Station was the Cullen house.  This was the oldest house and most closely resembled Stephanie Meyer’s description in the book, except it was not positioned on a windy road in the woods.  But regardless, it’s a beautiful house and it’s used as a bed and breakfast.  We were allowed to step up on the porch where the owners graciously encourage the Twilight madness by posting a message on the whiteboard daily.  They even equipped the experience with a piano inside the front window, which we were allowed to peek through and the see the Twilight decorated front room, adding to the Twilight craze.  They even had a cardboard cut out of the one and only Edward Cullen in the attack window, which was visible from the front lawn.  Wonder if our friend earlier had the same cut out? Rain Forest, Forks, Beach…all in a Day! – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 2

Nicole, me & a girl from our tour (fellow bee hater) at the Treaty Line

Boarding our mini bus once again, we headed out of town towards the reservation.  On the way we stopped at the treaty line to get more pictures and to play with the vampire threat-o-meter.  While resting, the tour guide said that the group who makes the Twilight parodies actually shot an episode at one of the cabins there.  I’ve seen them, they are funny and I agreed with the guide, Jasper’s actor looks just like him.  During our ride to this point, our guide was giving us a lesson in the Quileute language.  Nicole asked a very good question, “What did Jacob say to Bella in New Moon?”  It was Quileute for ‘Stay With Me Forever’.  Fun facts!

Everywhere we went... it was all Twilight fun!

Moving down the road we stopped at the Jacob Black house, which also was transformed into a bed and breakfast.  Even sporting a motorcycle by the mailbox.  I will admit the house really did feel like the Jacob Black house from the book and even looked like it from the movies.  I must say these entrepreneurs are brilliant, they see an opportunity and take it.  Good for them!  I wish them all the success!  While we were there I noticed these piles of dirt everywhere.  Nicole and I noticed them in the rain forest too.  When I pushed them with my foot, it felt like soft dug up dirt.  Nicole’s explanation, it was poop.  That was funny, well not really if it was, then I would have intentionally placed my foot in crap.  So taking this as another opportunity to quiz our tour guide, I asked him about the mounds of dirt everywhere.  He said it was a critter, can’t remember the name of it, kind of like a mole or chipmunk that dug up the ground.  I guess the wolf pack better get to exterminating!

La Push - First Beach on the Olympic Peninsula

As we continued our tour, we made our way down to La Push Beach, First Beach.  Again another perfect day!  As we approached the beach the tour guide pointed out two bald eagles!  I have never seen a bald eagle in person.  Even though they were at a distance, they were amazing!  Then we saw a seal play around in the water!  I guess if we would have stopped out two weeks earlier, we might have been able to catch a glimpse of the Orca’s.  I looked for a spout out in the ocean, but nothing.

Jetting out from the beach were island type of cliffs, and I guess one of the protruding rocks was the Quileute holy ground.  We were told, as part of their tradition, they would climb the cliffs of these specific islands with their deceased, and put their corpse in a tree as a final resting place.  As I took in the scenery, I could see it happening.  I love hearing legends and traditions!

First Beach - La Push on the Olympic Peninsula

During this down time, I took the liberty of questioning our tour guide again on the mysterious drift wood logs.  Nicole thought they were strategically placed by the Quileute’s along the beach and on the rocks.  Wrong!  They were washed up on shore from swells and tsunami’s.  That must be an awesome sight to see during a storm, these huge trees crashing into the shoreline!  Again they were ENORMOUS!

We also found out that during Stephanie Meyer day, which our guide said has since turned into Stephanie Meyer weekend, everyone gathers down to First Beach.  They build bon fires and the Quileute elders come out to tell their stories and legends.  Now that is wild!  Totally worth a trip back!

Nicole in front of Jacob Black's house on the reservation

I couldn’t help but wonder, what do the natives think of all this hype and popularity.  Our guide said, for the most part they love it and embrace it because it really did their economy good.  Then he said there are those that want to be left alone and are not fans.  But the majority seem to enjoy the town’s new found fame.

As our tour came to an end and we made our way back to the car, our very funny and friendly tour guide shared another piece of fun fact.  He said that they have a Bella Sandwich at the Subway.  In order to have a sandwich renamed, the owners had to go to corporate and get it approved.  The only Subway sandwich changed just for that location is in Forks.  He also pointed out different restaurants and such, mentioning a place that had the best salads.  What?  Are you kidding me?  I’ve been craving a great salad since I started this trip and there was a place right under my nose?  Nicole looked at me and snickered.  I mean most people talk about great steaks, seafood, pasta, not usually salads.  But there the information was shared on a great salad and we were leaving town.  Next stop back, I’ll need to confirm his claim.

Quileute School House on First Beach - La Push on the reservation - Olympic Peninsula

As the trivia was shared, he gave a non Twilight related story,  if that’s possible.  He even cracked a joke, “Now there is more than Twilight fever that exists in Forks”, or something along those lines.  He said, not only has Stephanie Meyers made her appearance in Forks for her book signing, but this small town has seen other celebrities too.  Most recently Matt LeBlanc, who played Joey Tribbiani from Friends, made a stop with his buddies while riding motorcycle along the coastline.  He said he was a great guy and took the time to sign autographs and pose for pictures.

Again, being excited to move on to see more of the area, we had to take one final drive around this once unknown town, now very famous, before heading back out to Port Angeles and ending up in Seattle.  It was a bittersweet feeling.  I would never want to live in Forks, but visiting this remote area was worth it.  I guess I didn’t know what to expect over our visit, especially the weather.  It was another perfect drive, all 57 miles to the closest civilization, Port Angeles.  Nicole had already planned for us to eat at La Vita E Bella, now better known as the restaurant where Bella ate mushroom ravioli with Edward.

Famous Bella Italia at Port Angeles, Washington

Once we got there, I wanted to walk around the dock and see the area a little bit more.  As I stood on the pier and looked out over the water at the boats, Nicole and I both commented on the floating logs we saw.  Yep!  Now that we were equipped with more information, than when we began this trip, our eyes began to hone in on specifics that caught our interest.  One being the washed up logs.  I couldn’t believe it, there were random logs just floating in the water!  Could you image?  I guess it’s nothing new to the locals but it still amazes me.  I mean, just think if you were in a boat just sailing along and all of a sudden you wrecked into a log?  In the middle of the ocean?  How would you explain THAT to the insurance company?

At the Cullen House... apparently they were out for the day

Once we had our fill of the sea air we headed up a couple of blocks to the restaurant.  By now all I wanted was a huge delicious salad!  I knew this was the place that was going to satisfy my craving, and it was!  Of course Nicole had the mushroom ravioli, which was very good too.  I talked to our waitress about the Twilight craze and she stated, as I’ve heard many declare, that it was great for business.  I asked her, wanting to be certain that this port, which had its place in the books and movies but was by no means the focal point of the story and was 57 miles from it, was still a hot spot for Twilight tourists.  She said, even to this day.  Amazing!  I asked, “Do you know they are Twilight fans, ’cause they order the mushroom ravioli?”  She shot me a grin and a look of ‘cha’.

Nicole in front of the Swan residence, Forks Washington

Now that Nicole got through her Twilight bucket list, at least most of it, and my stomach was occupied with a fantastic salad, we headed back to Seattle, back to the starting line.  As we put our travels in reverse, driving onto the fairy was equally as exciting, especially since I had to drive up on the second level.  Although on this ride, we remained seated in our car during the 20 minute ride across water inlet.  Nicole and I were both tired, plus I enjoyed just sitting there reading and enjoying the relaxation.  I even found left over chocolates I was munching on from Forks.  At that point it already seemed like a lifetime away.

Once we got our hotel, I was happy over the living quarters.  A beautiful big bathroom with tile floor and a granite counter top.  Sometimes it’s the little things in life we take for granted that we appreciate the most.  Taking a safe shower without fear of critters crawling out of their hiding places in the wall was a blessing.  We talked to my cousin Marianne before turning in for the night.  Next stop Seattle!

To Be Continued…

Pre-flight – Twilight Pilgrimage Prequal

Forks or Bust! – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 1

Rain Forest, Forks, Beach…all in a Day! – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 2

They’re just cliff diving, Bella. Recreation. La Push doesn’t have a mall, you know.  ~Jacob Black, New Moon, Chapter 7, p.171

Me, 'Edward', & Nicole in front of the Forks Sign... too funny!

Once I got past our dive motel, and the possibility of making the news as missing tourists, Nicole and I woke up early and refreshed ready to start the day.  When I mean early, around 5:00 or 6:00 am, which is around 8:00 or 9:00 am east coast time.  I must adapt well to traveling because I really don’t have an issue with jet lag.  In fact, I’ve only ever had it once in my life and that was because I was running on empty before I left to visit Nicole in Tucson years ago.  My sister adjusts pretty well too, although I think she wanted to sleep in more than what my patience was able to tolerate, but she was accommodating, most of the time.  On vacation, I am the word ‘GO’ from start to finish.  Typically, I’m an early riser anyway, let alone add in the excitement and anticipation of the days events, brings my hyperactive nature to a whole new level.

We started out the day in our usual fashion with breakfast.  Gotta fuel up for the long day!  Now I will admit since all the restaurants in Forks were dives, which I don’t have a problem with, but they are expensive dives.  Maybe coming from the east coast this concept is different and I needed to accept the ways of the area.  That’s another topic, but I will admit, EVERYONE was super cordial and nice.  Our waitress gave us the suggestion to head out to see the Rain Forest first thing in the morning.  Thanks for the suggestion!

The trees were growing from a dead tree... they looked like they could walk away

Anyway, we did see a little of Forks from the previous night and we decided to do a little more exploring.  First we wanted to make our way to the Chamber of Commerce, which was still closed so we continued on our course of action toward the Hoh Rain Forest, suggestion courtesy of our waitress.  It was only about 12 miles away and the scenery was amazing!  The green and luscious vegetation juxtaposed again the light blue sky, not to mention we had another beautiful sunny day.  It was perfect, a little cold, but really a great day to hike through the Hoh.

Me hugging a huge tree at Hoh National Rainforest

Nicole and I couldn’t help ourselves from stopping the car every so often, pulling off along side the road to get a closer look at the activity beyond our immediate reach.  We did this off and on as we made our way back to the Hoh Information Center.  The natural landscape was quite breathtaking and we wanted to suck up as much as we could. To really get the majesty of one of God’s masterpieces, you really have to see it first hand.  I will admit, along the way, we kept making references to Twilight such as ‘We better watch out for Victoria’ and ‘Look I thought I saw a Cullen’, of course only humoring ourselves.  But I will admit I did feel like I was in the movies/books from our surroundings.  Since I rented the car I had to drive us around, which was not on my sister’s favorites of the trip, but I couldn’t help commenting, “I drive like a Cullen.”  Nicole was only slightly amused.

We took a couple of different trails, the Hall of Mosses Trail – 3/4 mile long and the Spruce Trail – 1 1/4 mile long.  When we were reviewing the trails I spotted the Hoh River Trail – 17.3 miles long, I didn’t even get a chance to say anything and Nicole read my mind and stopped me by saying, “No!”.  That was great!  I was cracking up!  I said, “We don’t have to do the entire thing, we can do halfway and come back.” followed by a solid “No!” from Nicole.  It was about an eight on the tension scale.

Hall of Mosses. The trees covered in moss looked like tarantula legs..creepy

The trails were easy and really neat to explore, I highly recommend it to anyone in the area to stop in and see this forest.  As we walked along, especially the Hall of Mosses, I couldn’t help but get creeped out by the moss covered trees.  They looked like giant tarantula legs.  It was a weird feeling, like I was in a B rated movie of giant spiders.  I told Nicole, who incidentally is terrified of spiders much like my issue with mice.  She was not happy with me sharing my overly active imagination and observation.

Surprisingly, the rain forest was really dry.  We managed to hit a time without much precipitation.  It worked to our benefit the entire trip so we didn’t have to slosh along in the mud and rain, considering it was cold.  It was so dry, when I pulled some moss off of the trees, it was like dust.  Normally, certain places were flooded but not on this trip, so my exploration reach extended a little bit further.  Unfortunately we didn’t see any wildlife, but I did find some deer and elk tracks.  Once we made our way back toward the car, we did spot some ducks wadding around in the water, but nothing too exciting like a Sasquatch.  During the entire walk, we kept joking around that if Kyle was with us, he’d be on the lookout for Sasquatch.  We even started to joke around saying we were going to tell him we saw one. Mind Over Mythical

Me & Nicole in the Hoh National Rain Forest on the Olympic Peninsula

After I gathered a few neat river rocks that seem to contain minerals for Kyle, we made our way out of the rain forest and headed back to home base, Forks.  This time we were able to stop in to the Chamber of Commerce and start working our way down our Twilight bucket list.  You know the standard, Bella truck, the Forks City sign and so forth.  I do have to share this story with everyone.  As Nicole and I started walking toward the Forks City sign, a car zipped past us and came to an abrupt stop in front of the sign.  Then, this girl jumped out wearing a New Moon T-shirt, even from a distance I knew it was a Twilight shirt.  As I got closer, I saw she was smiling from ear to ear.  Being very friendly, she turned to me and said, “Do you want your picture taken with Edward?”.  I was taken back a bit and said, “What?”, just then she popped the trunk on her car and pulled out a full length cardboard cut out of Edward Cullen!  I really didn’t know how to respond.   Just then, my sister caught up to us and Nicole’s face lit up with pure excitement.  Really?  Ok, this I will admit was the silliest thing that happened to us.  I could also see that I was clearly the minority here and I wasn’t going to spoil the mood for anyone.  So when in Rome, I went with the flow and got my picture with “Edward Cullen”.  Then we did the standard dance with the cameras and traded places with the gracious young lady who lent us her cardboard cut out.  Well, needless to say my sister and this chick bonded instantly.  I will admit, it’s pretty neat to be apart of something so big, pretty much right from the beginning.  I think of it like Star Wars and how that craze has continued to hold fans and reinvent themselves over the years, even gaining younger fans, ie Kyle.

Second Beach, La Push on the Olympic Peninsula

After our brief photo session, Nicole and I went to the only grocery store within a 50 mile radius to pick up grub for lunch.  They had a great selection of wraps, sandwiches and fried food ready to be bagged up.  We decided to pack our lunch and head out to La Push Beach for a picnic, about 12 miles in the other direction.

La Push Beach is on a Native American Reservation and there are three different beaches, First, Second and naturally Third Beach.  First beach is the only one, which can be reached by motor vehicle.  The other two beaches require a little more of leg work to reach the sandy coast way.  Nicole selected Second Beach, about 8/10 of a mile hike and an elevation of 350 feet, compared to First Beach, being a 1.40 mile hike with a 280 foot elevation.

Second Beach - La Push on the Olympic Peninsula

As we approached the Reservation, they had a sign showing the Treaty Line…No Vampires Beyond This Point.  That was kind of funny, this area really embraced the Twilight phenomenon head on, without missing any details.  Of course we stopped, took advantage of the pretty day and the photo opportunity.

It was really interesting, driving back on the road toward the beaches, you really had no idea there was an ocean within the vicinity, not even when we were hiking.  The forest is so thick and dense, I couldn’t hear any ocean waves, sea gulls, or even see the ocean sky while hiking, that is until I reached the grade to start my decent down to the beach.  At that point, I could see where the trees stopped going on forever and I heard the waves crashing.  Now I started to get excited.  As I totted our picnic lunch down the quasi steps built to assist adventurous hungry travelers such as myself, I must admit I was pretty intimidated climbing down the side of basically a cliff.  At this point I realized, I was so thankful we were there during the dry season.  If not, this would have been one huge mud luge.  There were a few muddy areas, but not what I imaged it usually looked like.  Ok at this point sadly I will admit, Nicole was not moving fast enough for me, so I dusted her on the trail and continued moving at an even more rapid pace, just from pure excitement.  I figured I’d scope the area and find a nice spot for lunch.  Well, let’s just say this decision wasn’t favored by Nicole.

La Push - First Beach on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington

Then as I emerged from the thick vegetation, I was immediately on LOGS!  Yes there was a beautiful sandy beach stretching out to the salt water, but all along the beach were huge logs of drift wood.  Later, I found out that since Seattle was the lumber capital,  it takes years for these logs to surface and they are thrown up on the shore during major storms and tsunamis.  Now, that was cool and very unexpected!  They were not little twigs either, they were enormous trees!  I loved them!  I couldn’t help but pull a Kyle and try and figure out how to export the logs off of the very secluded beach to make driftwood furniture.

La Push, First Beach on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington

It was really quite lovely sitting on a huge piece of driftwood along a beach surrounded by cliffs on either side and a rain forest directly behind.  During lunch, this chipmunk kept trying to creep up on Nicole.  It was hilarious.  Nicole kept yelling at it to stay away and then it would run and hide, then sneak up closer to her on the log.  It would wait for her to turn around and then creep again.  I was dying and laughing so hard, but I managed to record a little bit of the bantering back and forth on video.

We stayed on Second Beach for a while, just hanging out.  Having no cell phone reception and surrounded by nature is the way to go.  I walked up and down the beach, jumping off and on logs along the way.  As I explored I noted the different people who had the same idea and others who decided to participate in the majesty of the place by pitching a tent and camping.  Now that is something I want to come back and do!

Me walking on First Beach - La Push, Washington

Then, the decision was mutually made to leave our paradise.  Even though it was kind of chilly, it was sunny.  Nicole and I both got a little sunburn on the face, the only exposed skin.  Go figure?  Actually we both knew better, but we weren’t thinking.  As we started our ascend back up the cliff of zig zagged quasi steps, Nicole’s phone rang.  What?  I had no cell service for most of the day and in the thick of a rain forest between cliffs and Nicole gets service.  It was Kyle!  Needless to say, we kept passing the phone back and forth, probably confusing the kid.  It was great to hear from him and hear how things were going on the east coast.  As he went on about wanting something else, some sort of toy, I got on the phone and reverted back to responsible mode.  Even being 2,500 miles away, I still asked, “Did you practice your instruments?”,  “Did you take the dogs out for a walk?”,  “Are you helping Gigi?” and the standard “Do you have any homework?”  O my poor little man!  He is a great kid who’s stuck with me.

Quileute School House at La Push - First Beach

Once we got back to the car, we were both tired, but wanted to adventure down to First Beach just to check it out, in case the weather was not up to par for our tour the next day.  This beach was different, yet the same and equally as beautiful and peaceful.  We saw the Quileute school house, a few more tourists and some natives.  Actually, as I was walking up toward the school house to get a closer look, a car sped past me in the same direction, then it backed up and turned around.  Major déjà vu!  As I walked toward my sister, who was talking to the passengers in the car, I figured it out.  Low and behold it was our friends from the Chamber of Commerce.  Yep, the same girl driving around with her life size, cardboard cut out of Edward Cullen.  That was too funny!  She was checking out La Push Beach too.  I guess we are all cut from the same cloth if you’re hanging out in the remote area, unless you live there.

Coming from Port Angeles into Forks

Our ride back to our temporary home of Forks, was just as glorious as when we started our day.  We stopped along the way to continue the photo opportunities, shorting our bucket list as the day passed.  We ate at a Mexican place, which was another dive, but the food was AWESOME!  As we sat and recapped our day and our surroundings, I noticed Forks didn’t have an Italian restaurant, no movie theater, no retail chain stores.  The closest was about 57 miles away in Port Angeles.  We did manage to find one ATM, a bowling alley which was open till 10 ish (yes that’s what the sign said), one Subway (only fast food place attached to a garage), one gym, one grocery store, one cafe, one diner, two banks, two gas stations, and two churches.  There were a few other retail stores, mostly Twilight and some food, but not many.

I didn’t grow up in a city, but wow was this place a really truly small town!  In a way I kept picturing this to be like the movie Footloose.  In a way it was pretty neat being so secluded and not having the influence by a barrage of advertisements and modern day technology always buzzing, or pinging, or singing to get your attention and distract you.  Nope it was…quite.

To Be Continued…

Pre-flight – Twilight Pilgrimage Prequal
Forks or Bust! – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 1

Good luck tended to avoid me.  ~Bella Swan, Twilight, Chapter 1, p.11

Please be warned, this blog entry contains a lot of references to the Twilight books and movies.  If you are not fan you might get lost in Forks.

Nicole & me at Beth's Cafe on our way to tour the Boeing Plant

My flight leaving Pittsburgh was slightly late and so was my changing flight leaving Denver, but by the time I made it to Seattle I was only about 10 minutes behind.  The best part was when I was making my way to the baggage pick-up, I saw my bright red suitcase drop onto the carousel.  That never happens!  I was on time and ready to start my vacation except I was short one sister.

This trip was mostly contingent on Nicole and not me for once.  You see she had a direct flight from Dulles to Seattle, which never happens to me, and they had mechanical trouble.  I guess the plane went to take off and Nicole said she heard a loud ‘thud’ noise before they made an emergency landing.  Then they made the passengers sit on the plane and wait to tell them they couldn’t fix the issue and proceeded to board them onto another plane.  Later they realized, before taking off thank God, that it had a fuel leak.  I couldn’t believe my sister’s luck!  I did know about the delays when I was in Pittsburgh and Denver, so as I was in flight, I was hoping she was too.

Beth's Cafe as seen on Man vs. Food -Seattle 3/17/12

As I stood in Seattle’s airport, waiting for my vampire hunter companion to join me, I decided to get our rental car and get checked in at our sleeping quarters.  I texted Nicole, telling her to call me when she landed, hoping she was in the air and on her way.  Now I wasn’t prepared to take control of the itinerary, since my sister loves that job, but I did.  Got the rental? Check!  Got the room? Check!  Made myself comfy in my raccoon pant pj’s in front of the TV? Check!  Fell asleep while watching Man vs. Food Seattle? Check!  Didn’t hear my sister’s text messages at 2:00 am Seattle time (5:00 am PA time)? Check!  Was awoken by her call asking where I was? Check!

Finally my sister made it!  We where both in Seattle and ready to begin the last leg of the trip.  The next morning we made our way to the Boeing plant for a tour.  For breakfast, I wanted to stop at a restaurant called Beth’s Cafe.  I saw it on Man vs. Food the night before.  They are known for their omelets, and ironically it was on our way to the Boeing plant.  We had one of the best breakfast’s ever!  Their specialty was this Amish bread, which was incredible!  It was a fun place that gave you paper and crayons to draw pictures.  All self professed artists hung their artwork on the walls, scattered throughout the tiny restaurant.  Naturally, I had to make a picture of me and Nicole for Kyle.  Nicole hung it up somewhere before departing.  This place was a tiny little dive in a really cute neighborhood.  As we drove in and out of the area I instantly fell in love with it.  That place is on the list of ‘must go backs’.

Nicole in front of Beth's Cafe.. best omelet! Try the Amish bread!! 5/17/12

Getting to the Boeing plant wasn’t too far and was on a nice stretch of highway overlooking what was going to be a perfect day.  Entering onto the Boeing property was awe inspiring.  Just to see the planes parked, and the sheer size of the buildings!  Too cool!  Our tour lasted nearly two hours and we covered quite a bit of distance, between riding and walking around.  Being in the Boeing plant was much like looking across the Grand Canyon.  You really don’t comprehend the size of the space and it’s hard to get a perspective, until you find a tiny person way down on the floor and make a direct comparison.  On a side note, that tour was amazing!  I highly recommend it to anyone making their way to Seattle.  Now some fun facts I learned on the tour:

• The plant employs around 35,000 people
• They have three shifts
• The only employees who can park around the perimeter of the building, must have worked there for at least 20 years.
• The plant has 11 cafeterias
• Boeing supplies 2,000 bicycles for the employees to use and get around
• The color pigment used to paint the planes weights more than the white color paint
• On the side of the Boeing building resides the world’s largest digital print graphic, making it’s way to the Guinness Book of World Records

Me & Nicole at the Boeing Plant in Seattle, WA 5/17/12

After our tour and taking in all the displays and information, we decided to head out and set our GPS for Forks.  It was going to take us about four hours.  It was such a pretty day and we were totally stoked that the ride was no big deal.

What I didn’t realize, was that we needed to cross on a ferryboat.  Another first for both of us!  I imagined we looked like such tourists, when I try to drive up on the ferry without a ticket.  I still have no idea how the guy new I needed a ticket, but he did and he directed us down the road.  It was neat sitting in the loading zone, engines turned off.  Of course, we were getting out and taking pictures, just like tourists.  I will admit I was Four Squaring, Twittering, and Facebooking throughout the trip.  I’m guessing we had a few eyes roll our way from the locals, but that doesn’t bother me.  Once the ferry arrived all engines began to turn on.  That was my cue, showtime!  Cautiously, I drove our rental car onto the ferryboat for a 20 minute ride.  Not being able to control my thoughts, I said, “How would I explain it to the insurance agency that I drove my car into the water?”  Nicole, quickly laughed and said, “Yes Aunt Heather that would not be good.”

Boeing Plant - Seattle Washington 5/17/12

As the car was parked, Nicole and I jumped out to walk around and to go up on the deck to take in the sights.  It was chilly no doubt, but worth the experience.  We could even see the city of Seattle peaking over the coastline.  Projecting a little humor, I even played my Titanic part at the front of the boat.  It was all fun until the seagulls started to fly around us.  Nicole said, “That would be funny if they pooped on you!”  Well, first I’d like to say, that would not have been funny and secondly if it would happen to anyone, it was going to be me.  I kept trying to throw up my hands and arms around to scare them away, but they just continued circling above our heads.  Needless to say, I abandon my post admitting defeat.

Me on the ferryboat...heading to Forks. Titanic pose 5/17/12

Soon we made our way back to the parked car in the front of the line on our side.  Again, my thoughts started to pour out of my mouth by saying, “This would be my luck, the boat goes to dock, hits the side of the boat hard and shoves all the cars directly into ours.  I would have to tell the insurance agency that I wasn’t even in the car during the time of the accident  The car wasn’t even on.”  We both laughed reluctantly because if something this unexpected and off the wall was going to happen, again it was with me.  Nicole just chuckled and said, “Yes Aunt Heather.”  I could tell she couldn’t even handle a situation like that at the moment, especially with the rest of our trip clearly ahead of us.  Riding the ferryboat was a really neat experience.  Now, if I had to do it everyday for work, maybe not so much, but for a first timer.  Yep, totally worth it!

During our journey towards Forks we had to pass through Port Angeles.  Stopping the car to look around and stretched our legs, we hit up a couple of stores.  I found this pretty purple dress in a second hand store for only $5!  That made my day even better!  We scoped out the Italian restaurant, made famous by Twilight, that Nicole wanted to eventually sit down for dinner sometime on our trip.  It was starting to get late, even though it was still very light outside, when we continued another 57 miles toward our final destination of Forks.

It was a beautiful ride the entire way.  The same consistent weather all day, a little cold but sunny and perfect blue skies.  Driving along a cliff/rain forest and a sea of water was a bit intimidating but very majestic.  All along the way at specific times, we saw waterfalls between the trees.  Of course this sparked more intense thoughts like, ‘Wonder what they do with a heavy snowfall?’ ‘Wonder if there’s another way in and out of this area?’ ‘Wonder what happens if the roads are icy?’  We were just thankful to have never found out the answers to any of those questions making it to Forks by 8:00 pm Thursday night.

My first impression of Forks?  Deserted dive town!  It is a depressed city located in the middle of nowhere!  There really wasn’t any glamor to it.  One red light, one grocery store, and every place we saw seemed to be a dive.  I’ll tell you more about Forks later.  But first let’s discuss our living quarters.  As the GPS guided us in, I didn’t know how to react.  It was more than a dump, it was a scene for a murder story.  I looked at Nicole and she just laughed saying, “Let’s just take a look at it, it might not be that bad.”  Yikes!  Really?  You are still that positive?  We had a great day and all our luck was soon to come to an end.

Front of our motel in Forks, WA...can you say Bates Motel? 5/17/12

As we pulled up to our door, I said, “Nicole I think I saw an episode just like this on Criminal Minds!  We are literally staying at the Bates Motel!”  She laughed and encouraged me again.  Our room was on the end and I noticed there was a sort of make shift room attached to the side.  I didn’t care, I saw that episode of Criminal Minds where someone was watching this couple from a secret door in the wall.  I went on telling Nicole and going into detail as I went to inspect the cubbyhole.  While Nicole did not object, and normally she w0uld have, she didn’t join me either.  She was just as curious, but was satisfied that I looked around.  Seemed safe enough.

As we opened the door, I did notice the carpet looked new.  I was semi at ease until I walked into the bathroom.  Part of the shower was separated from the wall and I just got the chills.  The only thing that didn’t have me packing was the new, very clean toilet.  I turned to Nicole and she started to laugh and I said, “Ok I guess this is just like camping.”  Both laughing she said, “Ya, just like camping.  Plus there really wasn’t many options for hotels around here.”  I said, “Ok but help put me at ease so I don’t catch some sort of fungus in the shower and let’s go to the store for bleach.”  Nicole laughed and agreed.  Once we saw the stark white towels hanging and clean white sheets under the old bedspread, we both agreed and headed back out the door for munchies and bleach.

Side view of our 'motel'...with or without the flowers it was equally as creepy... 5/17/12

We chose, what looked like a dinner to eat along the main strip.  The waiter there was very nice and so was the rest of the people.  At this point, I really wanted a big salad.  I love a good crunch, veggie filled salad, in fact I crave them.  I was in luck, they had a salad bar!  Upon closer inspection of the feast laid out before us, I noticed all the lettuce on my plate was slimy and brown.  Even Nicole commented.  I slid all that lettuce back off and took inventory of the selection.  Minimal at best.  We started to laugh, because it was kind of funny.  Our waiter was very nice and accommodating, the kitchen even made me a large plate of grilled vegetables, which were done just like mom does.  At this point, we noticed the Twilight theme has crept into every crevice of this town.  It was pretty neat and exciting, especially in the grocery store.

Once we got back, I realized we have been riding in a car for hours, and the day before I was on the plane all day.  My legs were tight and sore.  They needed to be stretched out, so I decided to strap on my Brooks and head out for a run.  Nicole, alarmed said, “Where are you going? How long are you going to be gone?”  I agreed to just go to the edge of town, a straight shot and back again.  I figured I’d get in about three miles.  In the meantime, I made Nicole spray down that bathroom with bleach so when I got back I could take a safe shower.

During my run, I noticed it was a bit colder than earlier in the day and my legs where really tight.  I headed straight for the other side of town till I got to the edge and noticed I didn’t even hit a mile!  Really?  The town isn’t even a mile long?  My Run Keeper said I was at 7/10 of a mile.  So I weaved in and out of the side streets trying to gain a little more mileage, which was pointless because I already lost my focus and my legs were still stiff.  Whatever, it was getting late anyway.  I decided to head back to another adventure…the shower.

To Be Continued…

Pre-flight – Twilight Pilgrimage Prequal