Welcome to Travel by the Book. I know for most of us, reading is an escape. One of the things I love about reading it getting to travel. And I'm sure I'm not the only reader who has wished to take a trip to a place I read about in a book. I've been fortunate in that my Hubs is kind enough to indulge me and take me to said places. This is where I share those vacations that were inspired by a book.
***The Book***
It was a no-brainer that I'd want to visit the town that served as the setting for a book that changed so much for me, and so much for many readers, honestly.
***The Travel***
We flew into Seattle and then drove to Forks, via Port Angeles. :) My hubs and I had a great time in Forks, and tide-pooling at La Push Beach, as well. Hubs was, of course, generous in driving around to see if we could locate the buildings and locations both in the book and in the movie. I think he actually had a good time - it was kinda like a treasure hunt. And tide-pooling at La Push was incredible. I had no idea the kinds of sea life you can see in tide pools. Then, we took a hike up off the beach which felt similar to the 'hiking' Bella did with Jacob and his gang. (I can't remember whether the hiking/tide-pooling took place in the books or if it was in Midnight Sun - the portion of Edward's book that was never published.)
If you haven't had the pleasure of visiting Forks, this is the sign as you enter. There is also a sign off to the right about saving local wildlife by donating blood. :)
This is a store, set up to capitalize off the Twilight craze. It had a lot of cute merchandise, actually. I really wanted to get a t-shirt that said Bite Me, because it's something I always say to Hubs...but I ended up passing on it.
This is me frowning - because I, naturally, was Team Edward. Have I mentioned I'm a sucker for serious, broody guys?!?
It's La Push, baby...it's La Push!
I liked this picture of the beach because it seemed so similar to the beach used in the movie.
Starfish, anemones, barnacles, galore!
This is a view as we hiked up from the beach along the Tsunami Evacuation route.
The driftwood is amazing...all these huge bleached-out logs.
Tide-pooling was so much fun that when we took the kids to the Olympic Peninsula a few summers back, we made sure to take them on a beach adventure. :)
Yes! I'm so happy you were able to visit Forks and La-Push, Brandee! Actually, Twilight is the book that truly got me back to reading again! I had almost stopped reading, and mostly read 'serious' fiction as well. I was a little bit of a book-snob, and thought that everything with vampires or something paranormal in the story would not appeal to me in the least. Oh, how wrong I was back them. Now that I'm older and wiser, I will try any kind of fiction book that has an appealing storyline.
ReplyDeleteAnd I read Twilight for the same reason as you, my daughter wanted to read it, so I read it first ;) Good moms R us ;)
*BIG HUGS*
There is so much negativity about twillight now adays, but for me twillight made a big impact on my reading life and turned me into the direction of new genres I didn't even realize existed and opened my eyes to what i was looking for in books. I only read High Fantasy, but it was missing something, I didn't haste to turn the pages on read further and then I read twillight and knew I found what was missing, drama, character depth, romance, it was bliss. I am sure it isn't the best book out there, but I loved how I could feel the emotions and get swept up in it all. I still think fondly about this book and what it meant for me.
ReplyDeleteI never realized Forks was an actual town, until now. I thought it was made up like the town in the Sookie Stackhouse series. It sounded made up.
It looks like a nice town. That beach and the view from your hike looks amazing. It sounds so fun visiting a town and trying to find the locations of the book! I love these posts and I think it's great you made these trips!
Wow I loved reading about your trip! Twilight was a game changer for me too - it really got me into reading a lot of YA. I have never really thought about visiting Forks, but now I think it would be a great trip. It looks so pretty there, and I wouldn't mind nosing around a Twilight store. Did it rain at all while you were there? :)
ReplyDeleteLove the pictures. we haven't made it to Washington too.but we were close in Seattle.
ReplyDeleteI can't tell you how much I love that you went to Forks! Twilight was a big thing for me as well-it's what got me back into reading paranormal books-which is the reason I haven't read as many of the series as others and of course I was late to the Twilight thing as well. I loved these pictures! Keep your adventures coming-I always enjoy when you post these.
ReplyDeleteWow, it does look just like the movie! You're such a lucky camper, you :) I'm green with envy!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is so cool! I am ubber jealous you got to go there! Your husband must be the best husband ever!!! Congrats on seeing so much cool stuff. Congrats on the great vacation.
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