Travel by the Book ~ Forks & La Push Beach

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***

Twilight - wow, this was a game changer for me. Until I read Twilight, I didn't stray from the Fiction section of B&N - high-brow literary fiction, chick-lit, historical fiction...you know the section, right? Then my older daughter asked if she could read Twilight. Being the good mommy I am ;) I decided I should give this a read first before agreeing to let her read something in the YA genre. The rest, as they say, is history. :)

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. :)