We boarded the ferry from Seattle at noon. It's a 45 minute trip to Bainbridge Island, which is absolutely lovely. I'm guessing it's like the Northwest version of Catalina. It is very picturesque. It's a 2 1/2 hour drive from there to Port Angeles.
We arrived at Port Angeles at about 3:30, and the next showing of New Moon was at 4:45. So we bought our tickets and then headed across the street to the Dazzled by Twilight shop. Spent some time shopping for swag. The merch was definitely better than Hot Topic type stuff, but since I'm not a teen fangirl I didn't see a lot that I just had to have.
Then we wasted some time in the coffee house/internet cafe next door (for you Harry Potter types it was called Veela Cafe). Then we went back across the street to the Lincoln Theater to watch the movie. It was a good adaptation, but New Moon is my least favorite of the Twilight Saga, so I thought the movie was basically OK. The theater was on the shabby side and the screen was the size of a postage stamp. And we had some rude-ass people sitting behind us, which probably didn't enhance the movie-watching experience. I realize that a-holes can be found in movie theaters world-wide.
Where to go for dinner after watching New Moon in Port Angeles... Bella Italia of course! (Ironically, it is just two doors down from the theater) Of course, I had the mushroom ravioli. The restaurant is small, but tastefully decorated. It doesn't look anything like how I pictured it in my head.
As a side note, EVERYONE on they Olympic Peninsula is trying to cash in on Twilight. Everywhere there are signs advertising "Bella Burgers" or some other thing to get Twihards to eat at their restaurant or shop in their store. I don't blame them. This is a kind of economically depressed area, and the Twilight phenomenon is really bringing tourism to an area that never expected to become a tourist attraction.
The drive to Forks from Port Angeles was... creepy. It was VERY dark and a little foggy. We thought it was eerily similar to a scene in Pee Wee's Big Adventure. I assume that the Olympic Peninsula is beautiful in the daytime.
As part of this wholehearted attempt to capitalize on the books and movies, the Forks Chamber of Commerce has created some tourist sites for the Twihards, and we're staying overnight at one of them. The Miller Tree Inn was designated as the "official" Cullen house, because it most closely resembles the house as described in the books. It is an early 20th Century white farmhouse that has been converted into a Bed and Breakfast. It really caters to Twilight fans, but fairly tastefully. Emma and I have a room that has two beds, and a fireplace, and a whirlpool tub (which our hetero selves utilized by rolling up our pant-legs and sitting with our feet in the water).
The owners of the B&B were very nice people, and breakfast was yummy. The best part was talking to the other guests in the breakfast room. Two other pairs of hetero life mates (from Seattle, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Chicago) who were in town to hit the Twilight sights. We swapped stories and had some laughs before going our separate ways. Since we had a long drive ahead of us, we decided to skip some of the photo ops in town (Forks H.S., the hospital, etc.) as well as the drive to La Push.
The drive to Astoria was 4 1/2 hours, and we arrived at dusk, so most of our activities here will have to wait for tomorrow.
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