Twilight in Forks, Washington

My old home state of Washington has an odd history of TV shows being set in a Washington town and that town then becoming a tourist attraction.

Like when Twin Peaks was a hit. I forget what they called the town on the TV show, but it was set in North Bend, in the shadow of Mount Si and near Snoqualmie Falls and the Snoqualmie Falls Lodge which played major roles as backdrops for the series.

In North Bend there was a coffee shop, I think it used the same name on the TV show as in reality, that being the Mar-T Cafe. On Twin Peaks FBI agent Dale Cooper would go there for the damn fine coffee and cherry pie. Soon, people from all over the world, particularly Japan, were coming to North Bend to go to the Mar-T Cafe for some damn fine coffee and cherry pie.

Even I had to try the cherry pie and the damn fine coffee. After a strenuous hike to the top of Mount Si, we dropped in on the Mar-T Cafe. The coffee was ordinary and my mom's cherry pie is more memorable.

On CBS there was a TV show called Northern Exposure. This show used the eastern Washington town of Roslyn to play the role of Cicely, Alaska. Rosyln was already a tourist town. It being an old mining town with all sorts of things going on. But after Northern Exposure became a hit, Rosyln became super popular with tourists. Rosyln remains a fun place to visit. My last time there was summer of 2001, in July. Lots of tourists. Had good pizza and beer from Rosyln's beer pub.

And now I've learned that some towns on Washington's Olympic Peninsula have become a mecca for tourists due a book and soon to be movie called Twilight. Written by Stephenie Meyer, the series of Twilight books has become the hottest thing since Harry Potter.

Twilight is mainly set in Forks. Forks was a town that had seen better days due to the hit it took from the declining timber industry. Forks has embraced the Twilight thing, with stores all over town selling Twilight memorabilia, like T-shirts. Restaurants have added Twilight themed items like a Bella Burger. Bella is one of Twilight's main characters. Locations have been designated as to where a character works or lives. Totally fabricated.

The fishing village of La Push also figures in Twilight. La Push is the location of some of the stereotypical iconic images of the Washington coast. I don't know how much La Push has embraced the Twilight thing. The bigger town of Port Angeles also figures in Twilight.

Ironically, the author of Twilight had never visited Forks before she wrote her first Twilight book. She has since been to Forks and has said she is amazed at how much it much it matches her imagination. She chose Forks solely due to its reputation as one of the rainiest places on the planet, averaging over 70 inches of the wet stuff a year.

My last time in Forks it was a clear, blue sky, summer day. The time previous was a rainy, gray, misty, foggy winter day. I preferred the latter.