How I accidentally became a Twilighter for the day

Are you a Twilight fan? Despite its many obvious shortcomings, I must make a confession and admit I have a soft spot for this series and I am looking forward to seeing the final installment at the cinema soon.

In celebration of the final movie coming out I thought I'd share with you a little travel story - my accidental visit to Forks and experience as a 'Twilighter'. You see, that's what the locals call them, the steady stream of tourists who flow through this tiny town to get their photo taken in front of the Forks High School sign, eat a Bella Burger, park in Carlisle's commemorative parking spot at the surgery and rug up for a walk at La Push with a steaming cup of Jacobs Java.

I was not one of these. Seriously! However, I had long dreamed of hiking in the Olympic National Park so when I visited the Pacific Northwest two years ago that's where I headed. 

I was couch surfing and found myself staying with some wonderful hosts who lived just outside of Port Angeles (Edward and Bellas first date, the nonexistent bookstore, prom dress shopping....) for a couple of nights as well as spending two nights staying with the rangers inside the park itself. I hitchhiked around, climbed mountains, saw cougar footprints (I'm sure of it!) and poked around in the Twilight shop in Port Angeles just for fun (my souvenir? A tin of Twilight mints!).

The day came for me to move on and head towards Oregon. Now, buses in this part of the world are few and far between, hence my hitchiking, however, there was a bus going my way with a changeover in Forks. Ooh, fun, I thought, I get to spend 30 minutes in Forks between bus trips! I imagined myself having a bad cup of coffee and a 10 minute stroll down the main street then leaving town. As the bus drew close I channeled my inner groupie determined to enjoy my little stop over, tacky vampire paraphernalia and all! 

Forks. Looks pretty normal to me!

The bus was reasonable full and I was on the front seat chatting away to the bus driver and taking in the beautiful scenery as we pulled into Forks. 

And then, right in front of me, the car ahead of us stopped abruptly in the middle of the road. The bus driver slammed on the brakes and we screeched about 50 metres down the road before we hit the car, which bounced forward as the bus suddenly stopped. Thanks to the screeching brakes, the bus passengers were all ready for the impact and we all escaped with nothing but a few strained muscles and jangled nerves, as did the passengers in the car, thank goodness. But, being a public vehicle in a road accident, we were not allowed off til the police came and then I had to stay behind to give a statement as chief witness thanks to my front seat position! 

Now, Twilight fans, hold on to your hats, this is the good bit. The local sheriff arrived, was pointed in my direction by the bus driver and came over to take my statement. Upon hearing my accent, he immediately asked where I was from. Tasmania, I said. He grinned, told me he'd never met someone from Tasmania before, then shook my hard heartily and said "welcome to Forks". 

And my inner vampire-loving-team-Edward-starstruck-countrygirlfromtheothersideoftheplanet heart skipped a beat as I realised I was being welcomed to Forks by Bella's dad.... Um, I mean the local sheriff. 

Anyway, it turned out I missed my connecting bus and was forced to entertain myself in Forks for the rest of the day until I could get a bus back to Port Angeles and my hosts who luckily welcomed me back for another night. 

Here's a few more pics from then..... 

The bleak beauty of La Push

Red-faced, exhausted and overjoyed after reaching the top! 

A suitably mysterious fog rolling in during the hike down.

The forest floor - at this angle, I felt almost like I was home in Tasmania, but when you look up the trees are so different!

I knew they were cougar tracks! And yes, I was hiking alone. Carrying a big stick after seeing those prints though!

Vampires welcome here - lots of signs like this around town!

Have you seen the film yet? Are you going to? What did you think?

Jen x