Twighlightville aka Forks, WA

We're leaving the Washington State peninsula, Jason is driving, I have the netbook in my lap, feet up on the dash...(anyone who knows me, knows whenever I am in the passenger seat of a vehicle, I have my feet up on the dash, not so safe I know, but very comfortable) the kids are happily sitting in their car seats. I can hear Hazel cooing away as I am sure she is gnawing on one of her toys...Evan and Faelynn are snacking on blue corn tortilla chips, each with a stack of books on either side of them. They're prepared for a long drive. We're ready for new ground, wanting to see something new, tiring of gray cloudy skies and rain. Today we are going to see how far we can make it in efforts to reach warmer weather.

I realized I get a bit bored camping with just my family, I am trying to adjust to life without my normal distractions, but some new blood to chat with also sounds nice.. we didn't encounter any social camping neighbors though.. In preparation to camp out here, we stopped at the Forks Thriftway, scoured the aisles not only for food that would work well with camping with no refrigeration, but things that fall into our many dietary guidelines. Spoiled by the wide variety of organic options in Bellingham, we did find a few our favorites in Forks. While shopping though, we started to see just how much the town has been impacted by the Twilight books series, even in their grocery store, there was a sizable corner devoted to Twilight souvenirs, from posters and hoodies, to shot glasses and keychains.

As we made our way through town, heading to the campground, we saw a row of stores in their tiny downtown devoted solely to Twilight: Dazzled by Twilight, Twilight Tours, and Twilight Lounge. Jason and I wondered how the locals felt about this tourism being thrust upon them. If they welcomed their town and community being spotlighted unbeknownst to them by Stephanie Meyer.

We asked a local about a good beach to play on, and headed to Rialto Beach, just across the Quillayute River from the famous rocky La Push. The whole drive up the peninsula we had been promising Faelynn we would get to play on the beach. But then we decided to slow down, find a campsite, hang out, and we'd go play in the morning. At Mora Campground we scrutinized the many spots to find the perfect one, we needed a spot that was hammock friendly, had a good amount of space for the kids to play, and was level to park the van on.. we finally found the perfect spots and paid our twelve dollars for it. We all had a blast playing in out double hammock for the first time, enjoyed a great dinner of bean tacos, and had a very restful nights sleep.

Rain, it rained all night long, and was raining when we woke, not ideal beach play weather. Sorry Faelynn, we headed out to La Push to see what kind of impact the Twilight series had on the reservation. As we drove we saw a sign saying “No vampires beyond here- Treaty Line” We stopped to take some geeky pictures for some of our diehard friends. Jason ran in and got some amazing local smoked salmon, and found out it really was the real reservation line too, I thought that was pretty neat. La Push is gorgeous, we passed the resort we later found out that Stephanie Meyer had stayed in while writing the series. We talked to the woman who owned “Jacob's Java” and discovered her parents lived in the house that the Black's house in the book was inspired from. She told us a funny story

After the first book was written people started stopping to take pictures of the house.. at first her mom thought it was because she had just put up new flower pots, and her dad thought it was because people were stopping to admire the new deck he built.. then someone clued them in! And she built Jacob's Java!

At the same frame in time, people were starting to make their pilgrimage to Forks, says the girl that works at what was formally a flower shop. They were disappointed there wasn't any souvenirs for Twilight loving folk like themselves, so the people of Forks started giving them what they asked for! In summary the tourism, even though many locals have reported some real crazies, is very welcomed by the town of Forks, and it really is as gray as the books say! -Miranda

Day 1 on the Peninsula

I'm sitting facing our crackling campfire, its 8pm, the concrete picnic table is cold to sit on, but it's warm enough outside. The few bugs that are around are held at bay by the smoke. We found a good deal on fire wood on the way here, $3.50 per bundle compared to $5 in town. The old man who sold it to us seemed to be earning extra retirement money, selling it from his property that conveniently was up the road from our campsite. Miranda is putting the kids to bed or hammock to be more specific. Its tranquil here. A few are birds singing. The quite is only disturbed occasionally by the sounds of other campers.

Miranda just knocked on the van's glass to get my attention, our youngest, Hazel is not wanting to go to bed and is keeping her brother and sister up. She now sits on my lap as I write this blog entry. Our campsite is large and has a good location, close to the bathrooms but well shrouded by under brush and trees, loads of ferns and tall evergreen trees. We set up our 2 person hammock, which as you could guess turned into a 5 person hammock. The Eddy family hung-out for about an hour, singing songs and cuddling. It was nice to relax, and recline comfortably. Evan would get in-and-out often, he would spot a crow eating our food, he would hop out, run and wave a stick at them to get them to fly away. This was entertaining until my arm became sore from picking him up to put him back in the hammock.

Our campground is located 30 mins from the, now, famous Forks. Twilight has put them on the map and they are working it, shops abound that have used the words Twilight or vampire in the name of their business. The Twilight Bar is one I remember off hand. We stopped in Forks to get grocery’s, and coffee. The coffee sucked, barely warm and commercial beans I'm sure. The town folk seem like normal country folk, but I haven’t talked to any yet,other then the clerk who sold us our grocery’s. Tomorrow we plan on spending time there after we hang out at the beach, taking photos of all the Twilight cheese-mo, this will be done on the behalf of Teresa (Miranda's friend back east) and my cousin Amanda, they're Twilight nuts. Both of whom wanted very badly to take a trip to Forks, but it didn't work out for either of them.

While we are in town I will be asking locals for any cool things to do, or places to go, the type of stuff only the locals would know about. Hopefully some good coffee will be found.  

1050 Miles

We have traveled 1050 miles so far, been to Canada to see Miranda's friends, and now we are wrapping up the Washington family tour. It has been really nice seeing every one, like a mini oasis on our trip. Hospitality of our family was much appreciated, thank you all. The use of the tub and showers was a particular treat for me, LOVED the full size tub! Pampered much? As much as I enjoyed the company and comfort of our family, it will be nice to be on “our” own, in the lifestyle we are going for. The off and on, is hard to keep a routine for us. The kids get grumpy when their sleep schedule is changed up day by day, or they don't want to go because of where we are or whom we are visiting. We are excited to be going to the Olympic Peninsula after this stop (Spanaway), free camping, ocean shores and hopefully hot springs. Please, please mother nature allow us a pest free experience with a reasonable amount of rain.

Emotionally I'm having ups and downs, getting used to being around my family all day every day is an adjustment for me. I enjoy the time with my family, but I was used to more alone time. I'm getting used to the new life style, but it's hard on my relationship, I have been a bit grumpier then I would like to admit. Sorry honey, I'm working on it.

I haven’t been taking the time to do the activities that I brought with me, like reading and meditating. I need to make the time, even if it's only for a short time each day. My goal is to slowdown from here on out, taking it slow should allow us to do more during the day. My brother & sister-in-law renewed my interest in alternative education. Crystal has a kick butt blog Constellation Contemplation. If you check it out read and watch the post about water, mind blowing. It changed my views. Water is amazing, powerful and sensitive, and more complex then I ever imagined, watch the video.

The kids are having loads of fun, they are enjoying all the attention we are giving them. They get to play at the park 2-3 times a day. They love it and we like that they are worn out at the end of the day. Faelynn makes friends quickly at the park and plays with the new kids as if they were old friends. Evan tends to play by himself more then joining in the group play. It's good for him to have time to solo play, because he usually just follows Faelynn around doing whatever she's doing.  -Jason

Track Our Journey On The Map

The link on the right side of the blog is now being updated. You will find a maps and stopping points that are click-able, if you click the stop point you may find a description of our experience and have access to our photos. This is the link you are
 looking for---> track our journey on the map -Jason