All Forks, No Spoons

Wednesday I drove from Olympia to Forks. Forks, for those of you who haven't read them yet, is the setting for the Twilight books. Between Olympia and Forks there's not a whole lot except the Olympic National Forest. There were several little turn offs along the way. I pulled over at one because I spotted the ocean through the trees. These trees have crazy looking lumps on them.
They're called spruce burls and they're actually tumors caused by bugs or infection. Not technically cancer but still tumors. Very crazy.

Something I found really interesting is that there are portions of the National Forest that are considered rain forests due to the amount of rain they get each year. There is one about 10 miles south of Forks called the Hoh Rain Forest. I decided to go and visit. It's a 20 minute drive from the main road to the entrance of the forest. On the way I spotted 2 elk feeding (can you spot them?).
I was pretty impressed that I saw these because they were on the other side of a river out the passenger side of my car. I may or may not have come to complete stop for this picture.

Entrance to the rain forest:
What's funny was that after I spotted those 2 elk from 3 miles away I almost missed this herd that was 2 feet away from my window. I think I was too busy yelling at the people stopping in the middle of the road to take pictures. I may or may not have also stopped to take some pictures.
One of the draws to stop at the Hoh Rain Forest is the Hall of Mosses. It's a trail lined with moss covered trees. The entrance looks like a portal to another world.
I wonder who lives here?
A close up of lichen.
Some mega mushrooms.
Stairs to more enchantment.
It was lovely but it was a long drive to get to all the beauty. After the Hall of Mosses it was back to the main road and on to Forks!
Kind of hard to read but it says: The City of Forks Welcomes You. Outside the tourist information center is Bella's truck.
I was a little afraid that people in the town would be put off by the number of tourists who flock there to take pictures of places connected to the book but the people there are actually really into the books and welcome the publicity. They are more than happy to point out places of interest. Every store carries Twilight merchandise and every restaurant has a Twilight themed dish. Those books are the best thing to happen to Forks.

After a quick drive to my hotel (where my room was being cleaned) I decided to head to La Push, a town on the Native American Indian reservation about 15 miles outside of Forks. La Push is also in the books. If you've read the books then you know why this sign is posted just outside the borders of the reservation:
I went looking for First Beach (also in the book). It's not marked like Second and Third Beaches and I may or may not have almost run off the road trying to find it but I did make it. I even climbed down the driftwood to walk along the beach. I will say that, unlike in the movie, you can't drive a van down on the actual beach.
Too much driftwood and rocks in the way. As I was leaving I was able to get a picture of this encouraging sign:
I never thought tsunamis were something you'd have to worry about on the west coast but I guess with the threat of an earthquake a tsunami is always possible.

After First Beach I decided to hike to Second Beach. And yes, I did say hike. I can't remember the exact distance it is from the turnoff on the road to the beach but I would like to say it's about half a mile. A lonely little walk. Right before you get to the beach there was is this tree trunk that has this natural little grove in it that people have filled with little trinkets.
A little offering to the ocean and forest. Second Beach is even more rugged than First Beach. There was a lot more driftwood to climb over.
I didn't stay long, just enough to take a few pictures. I wasn't about to try and pick my way down to the actual sand. Plus, by this point, I was tired and ready for a nap. Back to my hotel room!

I splurged at the Pacific Inn Motel on one of their 3 Twilight themed rooms. Decorated in all red and black.
Curtains that sparkle! (And keep out any light, made me feel like a vampire.)
A flower:
Twilight towels:

And of course an apple, the forbidden fruit ;)
After a little nap I went out to Sully's Diner for a bite of dinner. I didn't get the Bella Burger but I did see the table reserved for Bella and Edward :)
Tomorrow will be the wrap of Forks and back to Seattle!

Delay in Programming

First I want to thank everyone who's been keeping up with my travels via my blog. I love hearing your comments about my (mis)adventures. I had planned to give an update on Wednesday's visit to Forks but I'm simply exhausted tonight. I've stayed up a bit too late tonight and had a few too many hours on the road today. Tomorrow night I'll be getting home late so there probably won't be an update until Saturday night. Sorry to keep you all in suspense about my walks through halls of moss and Twilight themed landmarks but I promise they will come.

Olympia Loves Me

How do I know that Olympia loves me? Because it was sunny and 65 there yesterday :)

I must say that, so far on my trip, Olympia has been my favorite place to visit. I think of it as "Seattle-light": it's got enough of the alternative lifestyle feel without being too crowded. The people there are nice and you can still walk to most places. Hip urban if you will.

My hotel room may have contributed to my happiness.
That's a queen size bed. And a sitting area on the right. There's another TV in the sitting area. There was also a fridge, little bar sink, microwave, and coffee maker. And, unlike in my Seattle hotel, I didn't have to close the bathroom door just to wash my hands. There was also a sliding glass door that opened onto a little ledge that overlooked a park.
How could you not like this room? I sat beside the little open door for most the night knitting and people watching.

Before I settled in to knit I took a little walk around town. I spy with my little eye...
Canvas Works was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. There was a huge selection of yarns in a variety of weights and labels. There was also a very impressive selection on patterns and books. Plus notions that aren't usually carried in yarn stores (I saw a niddy noddy!). And that was just in the front! In the back are bolts of cloth and sewing supplies. I had such a wonderful time just walking around and squishing yarn. I bought some real goodies there that I will show you once I have time to take them out and properly photograph them.

After my hour (or so) shopping in Canvas Works I took a little walk down to Capitol Lake which was right behind my hotel.
Then I walked up the street to the Capitol Campus. There were some beautiful flowers in bloom.
The Capitol Dome was really majestic and I may have take a million pictures of it from different angles.
On the grounds there was this:
You might be a big a$$ tree if... your branches have to be supported by metal pillars.

There were several memorials around the campus. I loved these flowers that were left on the memorial for fallen police officers.
This is the Victory Statue for World War II.
And at the Vietnam Memorial people had left flowers and flags.
One thing I noticed in both Seattle and Olympia is that people will often park backwards in parking spaces on the street. It makes sense to me: easier to do than parallel parking, lessens the chances of your car rolling backwards into the street, and makes it *a lot* easier to pull out into traffic. Think this seems a little daunting? Never fear!
It's as easy as 1, 2, 3!

After a full day of walking and shopping I had dinner at McMenamens Spar Cafe. I got to dine with the pope (or is that supposed to be Jesus?).
My burger was good and my local micro brew was excellent. I had a great seat right by the windows so I could people watch.
I had a really lovely time in Olympia. I could see myself staying there for a week just to relax.

For all the places that love me here in Washington there is one thing that definitely does not love me: my sinuses. In addition to the stuffiness and sneezing I had before I left home I now have a cough. My cheeks also feel flushed all the time but my body feels cold. I don't think it helps that I spent a good portion of my day today outside in nature. But more on that tomorrow. However, I know that some friends of mine wanted to see my hotel room for tonight:
I'll be sleeping under Edward's watchful eye tonight :)

Seattle

Monday was the start of my wonderful Spring Break trip to the lovely state of Washington. Over the next week I will be showing you a little of what I've been up to.

Seattle:
The first order of business was to go straight from the airport to the Space Needle.
The view from the top was lovely. You can kinda see Mount Rainer in the distance in this shot (to the right of the buildings).
Seattle is quite lovely, mountains rising in the distance, calm waters. It was nice to get a good look around.
I wonder what the people in the circle are doing...

After the Space Needle I headed next door to the Experience Music Project. As a audiophile and general music junkie it was really a treat to be in the city where some of my favorite music started: early '90s grunge!
There was a really cool sculpture of instruments (mostly guitars) in the lobby.
This building and the adjacent Science Fiction Museum are part of a Frank Gehry designed building. If you think these buildings look crazy on the outside, you should try and navigate the inside! I'm pretty good at reading maps but I swear I stared at the thing for 20 minutes and still couldn't totally figure it out. In fact I didn't know that the EMP and the SFM were connected until I had walked out of the EMP, down the street, into the SFM and then turned a few corners once inside!

Anyways...Here's the outside of the SFM:
Inside was a nerds dream world. I didn't know I wasn't supposed to take pictures inside so I snapped a few (or 30).

Fan created storm trooper armor.
One of the robots from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies (my brother should like that). This was Donatello.
ET puppet.
Yoda replica.
Planet of the Apes monkey/person.
Very cool experience for all my inner nerdom.

Afterwards I took a little walk around the Seattle Center complex and took some pictures of all the flowers and plants.
I think in a previous life I was a nature photographer. I photograph plants *all the time.* I tried to take a picture of myself with the Space Needle in the background but I just looked disgruntled and weird and you couldn't really see the Needle. Plus people were coming and I didn't want to look like a total fool.

After the Space Needle I headed to North Seattle and the neighborhood of Queen Anne. Lovely, lovely, lovely. Beautiful, cottage type houses with gorgeous little lawns. Very posh. I stopped by Hilltop Yarns which was nice. Just a small little house but every corner/bookshelf/desk had yarn popping out of it. I got some really nice locally dyed sock yarn and some Cascade 220 (because I am near the Cascade Mountains, Cascade's birthplace). Unfortunately I had camnesia and forgot to take a picture of the outside. Instead take a look at this beauty, located just a few streets away:
My friend Laurie pointed me to this house. It sits among some plain houses. The house looks like it is hand carved. Simply beautiful and a special treat. Thanks Laurie!

Then I traveled a few blocks to Kerry Park and got to see the best view of the Seattle skyline.
There are tons of post cards with this exact same picture. Apparently Kerry Park and W. Highland street are the place to go to get wicked cool pictures of Seattle. Just down the street is the Parsons Memorial Garden which I stumbled on as I intentionally got myself lost (it's a good way to learn your way around). The flowers are starting to bloom so I had a look inside.
I loved these flowers. They hung in clusters from trees inside the garden.
This plaque reads: A respite for those who see beauty in all things.
I thought it was a lovely saying and looking around you really could see the beauty in everything.
The plaque was on the ground in front of this little bench. I wandered over to take a seat and just happened to look down. I'm glad I decided to stop and rest and even more glad that I decided to aimlessly kick my feet in the gravel.

Here's a picture of my hotel room that I stayed in last night at the Executive Hotel Pacific. The rooms are tiny (which is on par for what I paid) but still nice. It had a vintage feel but in a good way.
You can see how it took me about 30 seconds to spread out and take over.

This morning I took a little trip down to Pike Place Market. I tried to go on Monday night but everything closes at 5 or 6! I saw the Seattle Art Museum with this cool sculpture out front, and it moves!
Here's picture of the Market sign.
I had a picture of where I thought the original Starbucks was (but had moved) but I discovered that the original Starbucks is actually *in* the market itself (and I past it like 3 times and didn't bother to get a picture). The rumors about there being another Starbucks right across the street are false, by the way. Across the street are fish and flower stalls. Now across the street and down about 2 blocks is a Tully's coffee place so maybe that's where the rumors started. I will say that people in Seattle love their coffee. There are about 4 chain stores (including Starbucks) and they are everywhere.

While I was at the market I stopped by the Pike Place Fish Market. That's the place where they throw the fish. They weren't throwing fish today but I did see a Monk fish which was huge and nasty looking.
See, world famous even!
So, that was my day in Seattle. It was busy, a little stressful (learning how to drive in a new city is always fun...), but overall a really good time. Plus I know Seattle loves me. Why? It was in the high 60s and sunny while I was there :) Tomorrow: Olympia.

Will My Head 'Splode?

Only time will tell. I've got a lot to do this week in order to make this week and next a success. I'm trying to keep it all straight but I have a feeling it will all come down to the line. No worries though! I have knitting!

Finished the second fingerless glove tonight at knit night. Looks a lot like the first one.
You wouldn't believe how hard it is as a right handed person to take a picture using your left hand. Or maybe you do.

I'm on the first sleeve of my self designed Warm Woolies sweater. Kind of looks too big to me.
It is in the drop sleeve style, which is notoriously roomy, but I've been decreasing every 3 rows and it still has a very large opening. Maybe it will look better when I'm finished. I'm keeping the hope alive.

I dyed some yarn on Saturday. Most was for myself but I did one colorway for the store.
I think I'm going to call this "B Scene." I just think it's catchy. This is the sock yarn and it will be reskeined before it goes in the store but you can get an idea of the colors I used.

As I mentioned, I dyed a lot for myself. And, as I should have expected, it turned out nothing like I thought it would. This skein should be grey-blue, dark green, and brown. I was going to call it "Field, Forest, and Sky."
Um, so where is the brown? Oh right! The purple you see? That should be the brown parts. Riiiiight...Thanks brown dye for crapping out on me. I mean I could understand if I had just mixed some dyes together but you are specifically designated to make brown. And yet...
Oh wait! Are you trying to be brown? I laugh at your futile and pathetic attempts! Ha ha ha!

Now we have "Mountains, Forest, and Sky." You know, like "purple mountains majesty"? This was going to be another self designed, male geared sweater. But I need you, my dear blog readers, to give me an honest opinion: Is this too girlie now due to the brown debacle? Or does it still look "manly" enough for a tween-ish boy?

Ok, so all that wouldn't be so bad if the next thing hadn't happened. See, I was going to take the grey-blue and make a semi-solid to go with the hand painted. Except...I ran out of the original batch of grey-blue and had to make a new one. Except...I ran out of grey. So I had to kind of fudge it. And I ended up with 2 skeins of grey-blue and 2 skeins of blue-grey. That wouldn't seem to make such a big deal but it's enough that I will have to alternate skeins every other row or so.
The front skein is grey-blue, the back blue-grey.

I'm still optimistic about the outcome of the sweater despite some set backs. It just makes me want to work on my dyeing skills even more. And I still love this base yarn. I want to bathe in it, it's so fluffy. You can be sure there will be more personal experiments in the future.