Richard's family has a reunion in Canada every 10 years. We attended it 10 years ago and had a blast. It was one of our favorite family reunions. The kids had so much fun that they started counting the days till the next one. We have waited 10 years to go back. As we started planning the trip this year we realized that Richard only had to take a few extra days off and he would get a full week off before the reunion. This would give us a 2 1/2 week vacation. Since we had so much time we started thinking that we could maybe go up to Washington on our way to Canada and tour around that area a little. Richard was born in Tacoma WA and we had never been up to see the area. Then one day Richard came to us and said, "Hey, Forks, WA is only 3 hours away from Tacoma we might as well go see that too". Forks is the setting in the Twilight book series. Since our family is a pretty big fan of the Twilight movies, he figured the kids would really love that. But in actuality, all the kids said, "Why would we want to go to Forks, WA." My Husband's response was, "Because then I can take my shirt off and run through the forest." He really wanted to pretend to be a werewolf like Jacob Black in the movie. So it was decided to go to Forks, not because the kids really wanted to go, but because Richard really wanted to go. The rest of us were just going for the ride. Then I Googled things to do in Forks, WA. I found that it had some pretty awesome stuff and looked like a really beautiful place. I showed it to the kids and they all agreed it looked fun. So off we went.
Our first stop was to stay at a our really good friend's house in Idaho. We planned to get there a little early in the day so we could go swimming with them. They took us to a canal to swim. It was a blast. The water was pretty swift so you just jumped in at one little bridge and the water would just take you down to the next little bridge. You had to hurry and grab onto the bridge and pull yourself out or you would be stuck in the water until the next bridge. It was a blast.
The next day we drove the rest of the way to Tacoma, WA. We stayed for two days there and toured the town. It was so beautiful. On the second day we went to a place call Defiance Point. It is a beach on the Puget Sound. There were tons of people there but no one was swimming. It was a bit cold, but not to cold to swim. We all kept looking at the water and saying how fun it looked and how we just wanted to jump in. We couldn't understand why no one else was swimming. Suddenly we noticed huge white things in the water. When we looked closer they were jellyfish. So glad we didn't jump in!!! But the girls did get a few shells on the beach.
After 2 days in Tacoma, we drove 3 hours over to Forks, WA. which is on the coast. Forks did not disappoint. It was definitely worth the 3 hour trip.
There is something about Forks that brings out the vampire in you! Except for Jenny. It just brought out the FORKS!!!
Forks had a lot of fun things to see from the Twilight movie. The visitors center gave us information about where to find the Cullan's house, Bella's house, the high school, and the hospital.
We got to see Bella's truck.
We even got to meet the cast from the movie!
He He He He!!!
But our favorite part was not the vampire area it was the werewolf area. My boys are true werewolves. Except Richard. He must be some cross breed between vampire and werewolf. I promise he really did have his shirt off in this picture.
This is a picture of us by Jacob Black's house. His motorcycle is right behind us.
Our first night we camped on the treaty line.
Our camping spot was the most beautiful spot I have ever seen. I wish I could have lived there. It had flushing toilets and hot showers. It also had a little diner that served things like werewolf burgers and Bella's shrimp supreme. We splurged and bought all the kids a fun Twilight dinner. We had to try some kind of shrimp while we were that close to the coast. (By the way, the shrimp was excellent!!!)
We brought our lap top with us and to set the tone even better we watched Twilight in our tent that night.
The next day we spent hiking to 3 of the different beaches they had at La Push.
Beach #1 was great especially since my kids had never been to the ocean before. It was cold but that didn't stop my kids from loving the ocean. We even found large live crabs washing up on the shore.
Oops I forgot, vampires aren't allowed in La Push!!!
Beach #2 was my favorite. It was beautiful!
The sun actually came out for about an hour or so.
It was still cold!
Beach #3 was also fun!
And the cold didn't stop my kids from getting in!!!
Chris had to get a picture of his.....
"Footprints in the Sand!"
On our second night they let us camp on La Push beach #1. We put our tent right on the beach and had dinner while watching the waves come in all under a beautiful full moon. Just like in the movie, La Push is an Indian reservation which allows fireworks to be sold. So people were setting off fireworks on the beach. Not those annoying noisy one, but the beautiful ones that exploded over the rolling waves of the ocean.
Yes it was a beautiful night!
Chris did some goofing off the next morning and this was my view from the tent door when I woke up. We were able to watch seals swimming around in the water. It was so hard to leave.
We started on an adventure to Canada, but found that our detour to Forks was definitely the best part of our trip. I have never seen such beautiful scenery. Just like in the movie Twilight, the sun never shines in Forks. So it was very cold but the beauty was worth the lack of sunshine. Every corner that we turned around, we would gasp at the incredible sights. I have never seen so much green before. The foliage was so thick you couldn't see the dirt on the ground. The trees were so tall and thick that you couldn't have seen the sun even if it did decide to shine. There were wild raspberries growing everywhere. Which really makes me wonder why they are so expensive in the stores.
They say that people come to Forks because they love "Twilight" but leave loving Forks! I agree!!
We even found the entrance to Narnia!!!
After leaving Forks, we made our way up to Canada. The drive was so beautiful. One of the highlights was Marymere Falls that we were able to hike to.
Another highlight was taking a ferry ride across the Puget Sound. That was a blast. We drove our car on and then they let us go up to the upper decks to enjoy the ride. We really wanted to see some Orca but only saw more seals. Oh well, they were fun to watch again.
It was hard to look forward to Canada after having so much fun in Forks, but thanks to our totally awesome cousins that live there, we had a blast there also. For 2 days we were able to play in this fabulous water park they had reserved for the reunion.
We swam!!!
We swung on rope swings and zip lines into the water!
We Kayaked!
We goofed off!
We played ping pong!
And we even did some Yoga!
Then we swam some more!
After 2 1/2 week of fabulous vacation it was finally time to head home. And just like it is after every vacation.........
We were so tired we were ready for a vacation!!!!!
Since we had been camping for 2 1/2 week, we decided to splurge on a nice motel. In Tacoma we had stayed in a really cheap hotel that was so small we could barely walk around the beds. Chris and Katie had to still sleep on the floor. We found that there is a really big difference between a cheap hotel and an expensive hotel. You get what you pay for. Except we actually got a little more than what we paid for this time because they upgraded us to a suite for only a dollar more when I told them Chris really wanted a soft place to sleep and the hotel across the street had an extra bed for the same price. We opted for this hotel even though Chris had to sleep on a couch in stead of a bed because it had a pool that was open 24 hours.
And it served a full all you can eat breakfast!!! YUMMY!
So to sum it all up......
BEST VACATION EVER!!!
