Twilight Fans... Prepare to be Dazzled

Ahh... sullen, dreamy-eyed vampires; steamy, dark werewolves. What more could a teenage reader want? And, um, what more could a thirty-something reader want? Yes, I freely admit that I jumped wholeheartedly on the “Twilight” bandwagon a while back and enjoyed the ride through all four books. Sure, I had to regress emotionally to my teenage self to relate to the all-encompassing, body and mind controlling teenage crush that is the crux of the series. Sure, I had to keep my book cover hidden behind my hands on the Metro. Whatever. If you’ve read the books, you know. And if you’ve read the books, this blog’s for you. (If not, feel free to skip this entry.)

While studying the map of Washington State, I had the great realization that the towns of Forks and Port Angeles, as well as the La Push Indian Reservation were not figments of Stephenie Meyer’s imagination when choosing them as the settings for her series. No! They are actual places, places right along our route of travel through Washington. Oh, what luck! I had to bribe/guilt Gideon into stopping the car for brief explorations of each place. He was a trooper and played along. (Secretly, I think he’s a fan. He only saw the movie, but I think it’s stuck with him. That’s my theory behind his willingness to stop at each place.)

The first stop was Port Angeles, the scene of Bella’s rescue from would-be attackers by the heroic Edward, followed by their first date at Bella Italia. Keeping in mind that the movie was actually filmed in Oregon, the town looked a bit different than how it was portrayed in the movie, but it pretty much matched up with my vision of the town from reading the book.

Forks is about an hour west of Port Angeles. I was hoping for a dark, moody, tree-lined highway to lead me there. Unfortunately, the road is mostly flanked by swaths of clear-cut timberland. A few miles inland from the highway is Olympic National Park, which is where one can find those dreamy, tree-lined byways.


The town of Forks is a small, run-down timber town. It is not like the town in the movie, but no one in the real town of Forks seems to mind. They are all Twilight-crazy. There are specialty Twilight stores, tours, and signs. And there was a very special breed of tourist prowling through town—the Twilight Freaks, of which I was one. Yes, maybe most were still a part of the teenage set, but I was certainly not the only non-teenaged Twilight tourist in town.

The store “Dazzled by Twilight” was a highlight of the day. It was like walking onto a movie set. Okay, maybe that’s overstating it. Perhaps it was more like walking onto the set of a high school musical. But still, it was fun and I was impressed.


At the Forks Chamber of Commerce, I found Bella’s red pick-up truck parked out front. I’m not sure where Bella or her honey were, but I got a shot of the truck.

We made our way to La Push, crossing the vampire/werewolf treaty line, and camped under a full moon. I know, I was tempting fate, but it was exciting. The actual reservation is probably like most reservations in the country, in that it was terribly impoverished. However, unlike many other reservations we’ve driven through on this trip, it is set along one of the most beautiful coastlines in our country. The views were astounding and I could totally understand why Bella hung out there while Edward was off wandering without her.


The only disappointment of my time in the Twilight zone was not running into Edward. But I suppose I have my own special, moody guy to give me heart palpitations and heart aches from here on out.