A fan visited Forks, WA for some Twilight sightseeing and sent me her exciting tale. It was quite an adventure–despite getting into a car wreck and being saved by locals, just like Bella, talented NMM.org reader WoodenDance got some amazing photographs and wrote quite a trip report to let everyone know what it’s like to visit Forks and La Push. Read on for her report!

“Since I am Washington currently I picked to visit Forks, La Push, and Port Angeles yesterday. I went through Port Angeles and then straight to Forks (have to go through P.A. to get to Forks from Seattle as is).

On the way to Forks there is tons of natural water falls/creeks that ran in the forest. I also stopped at a river side to take some photos on the way there, when I did this I ran into 4 girls from Dallas that were also heading to Forks to spend the night and go to the party for the DVD release. The girls asked me to take their photo seeing as I had my giant SLR out taking photos. They also freaked out over the fact I had Alice hair and a twilight tattoo. The girls were funny in their love for the series. Two even kept telling me I should be in their video with them for the contest for20New Moon extras.

When I arrived in Forks in was starting to rain a bit (which I was told they apparently get up to 12 feet of rain a year) so I went straight to the “Forks Chamber of Commerce” to see the Bella truck (which is parked right outside of the building and even has a little Bella license plate on it.) and see if I could get any info on the town. Not only did I get to see Bella’s truck and get info on the town but I got to meet some of the nicest people. The 2 people that were working there were extremely nice and told me stories of things that have happen in Forks BEFORE Twilight became big.(including a story about a woman that was in the lake nearby and had been killed and rose from the bottom of the water with chains still on her. She apparently had been there so long that she was like soap to touch). While there they gave me a little Twilight pack with a map to Twilight places, test, and other odds and ins in it. I was told a couple things while getting my packet, 1. If you go to the hospital do not ask to page for Dr. Cullen (it has been done before), and 2. No Cliff diving in La Push, there really isn’t any area to do it so you will get hurt.

The people working in the Chamber of Commerce are SUPER nice. Marcia Bingham and Mike Gurling are the two who work there. When I walked in Marcia automatically kept calling me “Alice”, even after I told her my name. Most likely due to my Alice hair, the fact I dress like a Cullen without meaning to and have super pale skin. They also noticed the tattoo on my arm and Mike walked up to me to ask if he could take a photo of it. Told me he likes to take photos of things the fans come in that are different (I have a tattoo of the hands from the first book with the quote “and so the lion fell in love with the lamb” wrapping around my forearm/wrist)

After I left the Chambers of Commerce I started down the road to see the locations from the books and movies. First stop was the sheriff’s office (which isn’t on the map really). From there was the “Forks Outfitters”. Then I went to City Hall. Inside City Hall is a display of twilight things. Including Charlie’s uniform (which is really like what they wear). There are pictures of Bella’s truck. Some of the books, etc…. all in the there. Down the street from City Hall is a bed and breakfast run there that is what they think would be “The Cullen House”. The B&B20every day has a letter on the door from “Esme” saying that the Cullen’s are not currently in.

Having done part of that, I picked to go to one of the biggest landmarks of Twilight, the school. I started off outside of the school taking some photos but I wanted to see what the school was actually like inside. I didn’t want to be in the school without having permission so I walked to the front office asking for a possible tour of the school. One of the school’s secretary told me if I was to wait 2 minutes she would give me a tour of the school. I agreed and waited. This was apparently the perfect person of the school to ask because she had keys to everything. She took me on a tour of the school and gave me some history on it too. She opened up rooms that were closed to show me. Giving me a tour of the hallways, the old gym, new gym, library (Which every month the librarian does different themes in there and this month just happens to be books that made it to film.), a biology room, the court yard and the lunchroom (which turns out is pretty new to the school and wasn’t originally there.) I also found out about the school that it is very close to the middle and elementary schools, pretty much on the same grounds. The school also has newer parts like the new gym a nd biology room etc… Those have been added onto it. The main part of the school that everyone knows too is going to be kept most likely when the school rebuilds a lot of itself. After the tour was done the secretary took me back to her office and packed up a little gift thing for me. It included a pin, visitor pass, and 3 posters all in a little envelope marked with the school’s logo. (While I was on the tour too, the secretary gave me a little bit of teasing because I was tip toeing around the water and mud because my shoes were pretty much already soaked from the light rain and I was freezing and didn’t want worst.) The school is also a big supporter of the movie and has posters up around the schools that are signed by Catherine Hardwick.

When I was done with the school I went to see the Community Hospital where Dr. Carlisle Cullen worked in the books and movie. Some place outside the hospital one of the local doctors has put up a sign that says “Parking for Dr. Carlisle Cullen” for fun. (I couldn’t find the sign for some odd reason).

Down a couple roads from the hospital is what the town believes is the real “Swan House.” It’s a small little quiet street that you can tell on the side of the road people have parked there many times to get a shot of the house. Outside the house is a sign that does say “House of the Swans” so you will know it’s the real house.

After my main tour of the town I went to La Push, which is real my real adventure picked up. I went down the road for La Push and drove all the way to end, ending up in a marina area. The area had tons of houses and trailers around. The houses were very beat up looking and most had tons of “junk” around them. There was also a boating area with fishing boats around the area. I also noticed lots of traps like the ones seen on the set for the “Black’s housing” for New Moon. I saw tons of them just laying around next to people’s houses and through-out the area. The houses in this area were pretty closed together and didn’t seem to have much land for each person.

Having taken some photos of the area I picked to start heading back and thought I would stop in one of the other community areas I saw for La Push. This area housed a circle of houses that was easy to get around. It also housed the La Push Community Health Center (which is honestly what I believe to be what Stephenie Meyer might have been calling the general store that Bella spots when first entering La Push since it is a bright red building. If not that then the police state which is red down the road could have been it too.). This area also has the Quileute Tribe housing building.

I drove down back to the main road after going through that area and saw this amazing fog heading in with the light rain. There are tons of trees in Forks and La Push that runs along the sides of the road, however in La Push something about it was amazing looking. I pulled over on the road to take a photo and got the shot. I wasn’t too happy about the shot so I got back in the car and went down a bit more. This time I pulled over once again to take another photo, but inside of being fine my car decided it was going to have fun and slide down the ditch a bit into the mud. I was tried to get out of the mud but couldn’t myself. I was panicked and didn’t know what to do. I forced the door open on the car (having to force since gravity was against me in its weight of the door down a ditch) and go out. By now it was raining and I had to get out an umbrella. I stood on the side of the road (which I was still in the main part of L a Push area and not far from the police station) waiting to see if either someone would come by and stop to help me get out or I was going to have to walk back to the housing area. Shortly a woman in a black car drove up and rolled her window down to ask me if I needed help or anything (This woman was a local and worked in the local La Push Community Health Center). I told her I was stuck and I didn’t know what to do because it wasn’t going anywhere. She took me down to the police station, which is a long red building that also houses the fire station, I knocked on the door but no one was there (which seems to be very normal around those parts). Since no one was there the woman took me to a local man’s house to see if he could help me. She knew the man very well apparently. Turns out he was a local teacher in La Push named Ron or Fonz as locals called him.

He had a large diesel truck and took me to my car to help me tow it out of the ditch. When we got to my car there was a police officer standing near it looking in the car to see if anyone was in it and what had happen. Seeing this I quickly jumped out of the truck and ran to the officer. He asked if it was my car and I told him it a family friend’s t echnically but yes I was driving it. He asked me what happen and said he saw skid marks (like I had been speeding or something.) I quickly told him I had not been speeding and that I just pulled over to take a picture and got stuck. The officer gave me a funny look not really believing my story. That is when another officer pulled up to see what had happen and to help out with the traffic (since it was a two lane highway and we were pretty much blocking one whole side). I told his officer what had happen and he believed my story but asked if I was hurt and needed to a hospital or anything (I held myself back from tell him only if Dr. Carlisle Cullen was working there). This officer had apparently been driving behind me when I came in and had seen that had not been speeding at all and even going slower then it says to. He asked me if I would take a breath test to just be positive of anything. I agreed and when I did the officer almost gave me a funny look of shock on his face that I was so okay with doing this test. (Hate to admit it but I was a little amused at taking that test since I never have before). The other officer asked for my I.D. for information on it. I kept repeatedly asking them if I was in trouble, if I was going to get a ticket or a fine or anything. They both assured me that I would not and that they were just here to help.

When we finally started to try and pull the car out we had a bit of trouble. First time had to change the spot otherwise my bumper would have been pulled off. The 2nd time after the first time failing had me completely worried. I ended up telling one of the officers that I was very sorry for this and if I started crying I am REALLY sorry. He asked I was okay and then made a small joke that if I was going to do this again just please make sure it’s in the summer, when it’s 90, and not raining. I made a little joke back telling him I didn’t plan on doing this ever again! Finally after 2 tries we pulled the car out of the ditch (and even almost slid back into the ditch because I needed to be pulled out COMPLETELY from the ditch). I was able to go on my way but first thanking the officers and Ron for helping me out of the ditch.

I was able to leave La Push just fine and try and head back to Seattle. Problem happened though when I got about 40mins away from La Push and Forks, I relished that one of the officers still had my license! I had to call up Port Angeles police department so they could reach La Push (since they do not have a direct dispatch) and tell them what happen. Having to turn around and head back to La Push now to get my license it took forever since it was raining extremely hard and was pretty much completely dark besides fo g. When I arrived at the station the officer who had been behind me was there and I thanked him again for helping me out. He said he was sorry for me having to come back and officered me some coffee or water or anything.

All and all my trip to La Push and Forks was not the normal but it was a trip worth taking. The locals in both Forks and La Push are extremely nice. The Forks and La Push locals are very different though but both have the heart of small town love.”