Twilight trip!!! (long post with lots of pics)

For Christmas Seth gave me an amazing present....a behind the scenes book about Twilight. Along with the book he planned a 3 day getaway to see all the Twilight sights! (It might sound lame to you non-Twilight fans, but I LOVE it!) Most of the movie was filmed in the Portland area & he had already taken me to a couple spots. One was an area he & his brother went rock climbing last year, they filmed the scene where Edward & Bella are in the forest when she tells him she has figured out what he is. Another was the Carver Cafe. For this trip, we started by going to St. Helens, Oregon where Charlie's house is and they also used St. Helens for the Port Angeles scenes in the movie. Then we headed to Kalama, WA to the high school they used in the movie. Most of the scenes were filmed at this school. My favorite is the parking lot scene where Edward saves Bella from being squished by Tyler's van. After Kalama we headed to Seattle for the night. We took Kimmie to the Seattle Aquarium & we also went to the top of the Space Needle. It was really windy since it was nighttime, but the city lights were beautiful. The next morning we had a minor setback at breakfast, Kimmie decided to throw up at the table so after a stop at the store to get medicine we headed to Edmonds, WA where I took a ferry for the first time! Kimmie loved it too. We took her walking outside & she loved all the wind in her hair! The ferry took us to Kingston, WA. From there we went to Port Angeles. It is crazy that all the cities from the book are real places. Port Angeles was not that exciting, although we did eat at the most expensive Taco Bell EVER! $1.50 for a double decker, isn't Taco Bell supposed to be cheap?!?!? We then drove along highway 101 which took us through some beautiful scenery. Kimmie was still sick, so she slept most of the time. Our next stop was FORKS! We went to the police station, city hall, the hospital where Dr. Cullen's character works & drove around town. They even have a parking spot reserved for Dr. Cullen at the hospital! There were many stores filled with Twilight goodies. This book has really had an impact on this little town. Our next stop was Aberdeen, WA. We took a break here and walked around a Safeway so Kimmie could stretch her legs. (Aberdeen happens to be where Kurt Cobain lived) After stretching our legs we hit the road again. Our next stop was the Oregon Coast. Seth got us an amazing room in Seaside, right on the Pacific Ocean. We had a balcony with an ocean view & a fireplace, it was very romantic:) It had been a long day of driving so we ordered pizza & hung out in our room. The next morning we headed to Astoria, OR to see the Goonies House. We also stopped at the elementary school where they filmed Kindergarten Cop. From there we headed down the coast to Cannon Beach. We walked along the beach and I saw "Haystack Rocks" for the first time. They also filmed the La Push scenes from Twilight at Cannon Beach. It was cold & windy on the beach, but so fun! Once we couldn't feel our ears we decided it was time to head back to the car. We drove along the coast, stopping at different look out points. One point had whale watching volunteers, so we stopped so I could talk to them. Apparently it is peak gray whale watching season, they are doing their southern migration down to Baja, Mexico. Unfortunately, it was foggy so I wasn't able to see any:( We are planning to make a trip out there in March when they do their northern migration back to Alaska. The Tillamook Cheese factory was our last stop. Seth took me there once before & I really enjoy it. I LOVE Tillamook cheese & ice cream, it is the best! Kimmie really enjoyed watching them making the cheese. We tasted some cheese samples & of course got an ice cream cone! Then it was back in the car for the 90 minute drive home. It was such a fun trip & I am so glad we were able to get away. Thank you so much Seth for planning everything, I LOVED it!! We took a ton of pictures, so I put most of them on a slide show (sorry they are our of order)
Welcome to Forks, Charlie's house & the alley where Edward saves Bella, again! Dr Cullen's parking spot, Seth pumping gas (wishing we were in Oregon where they pump it for you) & the Tillamook Cheese Factory.