welcome to the rainforest

      Memorial Day weekend was so much fun! We left Friday afternoon at 5:00 after a LONG week of work. We drove four hours to Tacoma to stay with Ashley and Katy Ann for the night. We had beautiful weather until about 1 hour out of Tacoma. Little did we know that was the last sunshine we would see all weekend, but it didn’t put a damper on anything. We woke up early and drove three more hours to Forks, WA. This post will be divided into two different sections! Part 1 is about Forks. Part 2 is about our rainforest trip!

My roadtrip buddies for the weekend!

Our view on the way to Tacoma!

I have never seen a wind farm before!

Cascade mountains

Don’t get me wrong. I love the Twilight books, and I was really looking forward to seeing Forks. This town has capitalized on Twilight to the fullest extent possible, considering that the movie wasn’t actually ever even filmed there! They have twilight tours, twilight beer, twilight menus at the restaurants, etc, etc. We got our picture by Bella’s truck, Forks’s Highschool, Carlisle’s hospital parking spot. We even stayed at the Bella cottage (it was the only place open on Memorial Day weekend!). Forks ended up being the perfect place to stay because of it’s vicinity to all of the sightseeing places we wanted to see. It was cheesy, but not many people can say they have been to Forks, WA!

Welcome to Port Angeles.  Home of Edward and Bella's first date!

Welcome to Forks

Bella's truck (not anything like the one in the movie)

Renesmee

Forks Highschool

This is a bulletin board where anyone can send notes to Bella, Edward, or Jacob!

     Bella’s cottage was…interesting. It is a mom and pop establishment that I believe they just renamed once the movie came out. There is one queen size bed with lace on the headboard. I could touch the ceiling with my fingers and that says something. There are many pictures to follow!

Bella's Cottage

Inside our "cozy" little cottage!

      On Saturday and Sunday we spent the days hiking through the rainforest and at the beach. We first went to La Push, where Jacob is from. We drove to First beach and got out and walked. I put my feet in the Pacific Ocean for the first time ever! The scenery was beautiful! We hung out and watched surfers on the beach. The water was COLD! Next, we went to Third Beach. We saw a lot of people walking on the trail to the beach with huge hiking backpacks, so we had to see what it was all about. We asked how long the trail was before we started. It was 1.4 miles one way, then you turn around and come back. I was so proud of us for what we accomplished! We were adventurous! I will be camping here on the beach at least one time this summer!

Beautiful scenery, even on a gloomy day

In the Pacific Ocean!  It was cold!

I loved this huge tree!

Wish all of you were here!

After our 1.4 mile hike in, we had to cross all of this driftwood to get to the beach!

I'm so proud of us!

the Sea stacks... the waves crash against them

      The Hoh rainforest was in a different area. We walked through the Hall of Mosses. We hiked through another trail to the Sol Duc Falls, which was so worth it! It was beautiful! The sad part is that the pictures do not do any of it justice! If it just looks like we saw a bunch of trees in the forest, it is not at all what we saw! I was amazed at God’s creation! Life was thriving all through the forest! Listening to the sounds of the rainforest was so peaceful. It sounds just like the noisemaker!

The trees look like Dr. Seuss trees

An old tree that was turned over

Erica and I

I could walk all the way under this tree

The only way to cross the huge mud puddle!

We saw two elk on the side of the road! They were just grazing! They are all over the rainforest!

Beautiful waterfalls!  This one was so powerful!

The view of where I was standing in the previous picture!

This man offered to take my picture with his wife's umbrella because of the beautiful pink against the green!

After a long weekend, we enjoyed some southern food at this restaurant that has

been featured on the food network.  They are famous for their strawberry lemonade with whipped cream!

You can tell I thoroughly enjoyed it!

On our way home!

      This weekend was an amazing trip that I will never forget, and I am so thankful I got to see this! I wish all of you were here with me to see this! I miss you all!

The beautiful double rainbow that was awaiting us when we got home!