The weekend started with a camp-out with the Young Women of our Ward in the lodge at Camp Merriweather on the coast near Tillamook, Oregon. Baxter even got to go and he loved romping on the beach. He didn't want to get his feet too wet and didn't like the taste of that salty water when he tried to drink it.
Saturday we brought Baxter back home to stay with the Elders and unpacked our camping clothes and changed to our traveling clothes and headed up to Marysville for some scrabble playing, eating, and hanging out with Rick and his family. On Sunday after attending church to hear Josh give his homecoming mission talk, we headed south to Edmonds to catch the Ferry across the sound to Kingston on the Olympic Penninsula. We hadn't ever been on a Ferry before and it was lots of fun.
This is the upper deck which is inside with comfortable seats and even a snack bar. The ride only took about 25 minutes.
The view from where we were sitting in our parked car. We were on the upper level for cars and sitting on a steep slant with 3 cars in front of us--and then the water.
I am standing outside on the upper deck in the front of the Ferry. It was a little breezy--but not too bad. I can't wait for all the family to come do this with us sometime.
The view as we were coming into port in Kingston.
Just a couple of miles from Kingston is this little restored port village called Port Gamble. They used to ship a lot of logs out of here. There were a lot of cute little shops but we didn't spend much time here because it was Sunday and the off season and not much was open.
The Post Office in Port Gamble.
The bridge crossing more of the Sound from Port Gamble to the rest of the Olympic Peninsula.
We spent Sunday night in Port Angeles. Some of the events in the book TWILIGHT took place in Port Angeles. They weren't really filmed here--but the people in Port Angeles like to say that this is probably the movie theater where Bella and her friends went to see a movie.
This is where Edward took Bella to dinner after rescuing her from the sleaze gang of guys. Business is booming because of all the Bella and Edward fans that want to eat here. We didn't try in because it seemed a little pricey.
Dad is standing at the end of the pier of Port Angeles with the Olympic Mountains in the background. It was all so beautiful.
A rangers information cabin close to Crescent Lake. We were thinking about taking a hike up to a waterfall--but decided we didn't have the time. We want to go back sometime soon to do it. This is on the road between Port Angeles and Forks.
The sign that Esme Cullen leaves for visitors that come to the Cullen house in Forks. It is really a bed and breakfast place that visitors can stay in. The owners leave a message from Esme on the white board outside the house every day.
The beach at La Push. This is where Jacob and his Dad lived and where he and his friends jumped off the cliffs. It wasn't really filmed here and it is not safe to dive off these rocks. There is a Quilleute Village right there and some camping spots. It is very pretty.
Dad finally let me take a picture of him. This whole area from Port Angeles to Forks is in a beautiful rain forest. It is not just this green in the winter. The rain forest gets an average of 16 FEET of rain each year. In Vancouver we average 16 inches. So many places to explore!!
This sign is outside a little convenience store about a mile from the beach at La Push. On the other side it says something about Vampires Welcome.
Enough said. Forks High School. It is going to be torn down soon so it is good we got out picture there. The outside high school scenes were really filmed at Kalama High School about 25 miles north of our house in Vancouver.
Bella's truck outside the Forks Visitors Information Center. Inside one can get a map of all the TWILIGHT points of interest in the area. It was a fun trip. We could have done a lot more --we would have liked to have continued down the coast but we were running out of time so after leaving Forks we headed back home. Hopefully soon we can go back. I hope everyone who reads this blog will have a good week and your prayers will all be answered in the way that you want them to be. This morning in Sacrament Meeting the talks were centered on President Monson's talk about "Have you done any good in the world today". I decided to challenge myself to consciously try to do one nice thing for someone each day and record it in my journal. Saturday we had a Stake Relief Society Conference and it was dedicated to providing service in our community. After gathering together and hearing some remarks from our Stake President, we were given the choice of 20 different places we could go in the community to provide service. They included singing in nursing homes, preparing meals in homeless shelters, cleaning and painting, etc. Most of my friends had just about decided that they weren't going to go--but I called a couple of them and we went anyway. We ended up going to the Vancouver Genealogical Society--that I didn't even know existed--and cutting vital information(births, deaths, marriages, etc.) out of the local paper so they can be copied and put on file for anyone who wants that kind of information for their genealogical research. We only stayed for a couple of hours but it was fun and good memories were made that we would have missed if we had all stayed home. The lady at the center was just thrilled that we would come to help her. Like my Grandma Hanks used to say--if you skip a meeting or fireside you might miss something that Heavenly Father wants you to know. I know this is true. Have a good week. Love, Mom
