Love at First Bite!

Paul and I have been talking about going to the Olympic Peninsula for a while. Then he gave me the Twilight book series for my birthday, which is set there. After reading all three books in about four days, I was even more interested in going (and possibly becoming a vampire). And that is how we ended up in Forks, WA last weekend! We started out Saturday morning bright and early, took the ferry across, drove through Port Angeles, and ended on the western coast at Lake Ozette. We did a KILLER 9-mile hike through the forest out to the beach and back. It was a great hike though because it incorporated old growth trees, wildlife, a river, the beach, and more!

After that tiring day, we headed to Forks to the little bed and breakfast, Miller Tree Inn. It was a very cute place and our room was great! Breakfast was delicious gingerbread pancakes with homemade lemon syrup.

Before we got there I asked Paul if he thought that anyone there had heard of the books. Needless to say, they have. They have heard of them, embraced them, read them, capitalized on them, and continue to attempt to capitalize on them. Even the Subway has a "Twilight Special." I can't blame them!

The next day we hiked around Rialto Beach near La Push. We were hiking around and spotted a big piece of land jutting out into the water. We decided to walk over and explore it. It was really cool with lots of trees, hidden coves, and bald eagles. When we hiked out to head back to the car we realized why the area was so pristine - it is inaccessible except at low tide! The picture below shows the little "island" and the strip of ocean we had to wade through quickly as the tide continued to come in. The water was above our knees as we trudged through.

That afternoon we hiked about 5 miles through the Hoh National Rainforest. It was very mossy and cool and presented a surprising variation of landscape. After that we were worn out and headed home. Lucky for Paul and the wildlife, I didn't barf once and actually felt great the whole weekend. Even though we didn't come back as vampires (as I had initially hoped), we still had a blast!