Team Edward or Team Jacob?

I got asked that question as we travelled through the Olympic Peninsula. My answer? “To be honest, I don’t really like the book and I’m just here for the sake of being here.” The lady I was speaking to looked insulted… In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have said that out loud in the middle of Twilight territory.

Backing up, after my convocation ceremony in Victoria, I took the Coho ferry to Port Angeles where we spent the night. The next morning, we drove an hour to Forks, home of Twilight. There really isn’t anything there to look at. Barely anything was filmed here (more in Vancouver!) and they were stretching everything to make it “work” in relation to the books (map). The town had deemed a couple houses to be likely Bella’s house or the Cullen’s house (this completely did not match the description in the book).

The whole time I was here, I felt so ashamed to be going around and "touring." Getting my photo taken was even more awkward, but I did it - just for the sake of saying that I've been there.

We went and visited the high school, which ironically is being torn down. There were twilight references everywhere. The visitor centre had cardboard cut outs and costumes for you to get dressed up in. Crazy. There were many gift shops selling everything possible related to Twilight. The displays were hilarious with so many intricate details. For someone that isn't a fan of the books, looking at this craze was highly amusing. The gift shops have everything under the sun available and just by having the words "Twilight" plastered on them, they can sell them for a gazillon dollers more than their market value (aiee the nerd in me is coming out). But then again, I'm sure if I ever toured things related to Harry Potter I would probably get just as ridiculous.

Left: Bella’s Truck; Right: Fork’s High School

We also drove to La Push which is where Jacob is from. The first glimpse I had of this area was breathtaking. Huge waves were crashing into the shore broken by rock formations jutting out. I wonder how those rocks got there.

After our short Twilight tour, we headed back to Port Angeles and went up to Hurricane Ridge. En route we ran into a family of deer on the side of the road! And there was snow! It was such a warm day so seeing snow was definitely weird.

When we got to the top, it was ridiculous cloudy. There were deer everywhere. We couldn’t see much. I went inside to their visitor centre for a minute and when I came back out, it had cleared. There was not a cloud in sight. Maybe that is why its called Hurricane Ridge – the wind is so strong it changes the weather super fast.

That night we stayed in Sequim, a town near Port Angeles. We went to Applebee’s for dinner. My brother and I shared a menu deal – get an appy and two mains for $20. After eating the appy I was more or less full. I ordered a steak and it was delicious! (side note: wow I really can’t stop talking about food =\) It was really too much food for me. No wonder Americans are fighting obesity.

More photos? Click here!