Driving/Flying Home

Sunday morning we basically got up, got ready and headed out onto the road. We weren't sure if we'd have enough time to take the ferry back into the city so we all decided to drive south around the Sound. There were four cars following each other back to the airport. Again, even though it was a long drive (three or four hours) my car mates, Sue, Kayla and Tawnya, kept me laughing the whole time. On our way back we drove through Tacoma and got to cross the beautiful Tacoma bridge.

We made it back to our car rental station, and to the airport in great time so we were able to check in, check our bags and feel unrushed. Although we arrived into Seattle on two planes, we went home on five different ones I believe. The plane I rode home was small with only about 25 rows of two on each side. No pictures from the ride home. It was dark and I was tired.

It's good to be home.

These ladies have truly become my best friends. Even though what started our friendship was this little book club it's turned into more than we all could ever have imagined!!

Forks & Port Angeles-Day 4

Top Row: Kayleen, Tawnya, Avonlea, Shelley, Mandy, Laura, Nancy, Sue, Havilah, Shelli, Rachael
Bottom Row: Gretchen, Amy, Elyse, Lori, Lauri, Kathy, Shauna, Jenni, Jen, Lori, Luisa, Jamie, Debbie, Rochelle

Saturday we finished our tour of Forks by making sure to drive around and see some of the places mentioned in the books. The town is totally into it and has even nominated some of the houses to be the characters residences. Like the local B&B (or the biggest house in town) was supposed to be the Cullens house. Cute. We also did a bit more shopping and then headed out to see Port Angeles.

We drove along the beautiful Cresent Lake and admired the wonderfully green and peaceful nature around us.


Port Angeles was having a Art Festival of sorts so Tawnya, Sue, Kayla and I went down along the beach to see the sand sculptures and booths. We even got to meet one of the sculptures who was from Park City and did some ice sculptures for the SLC Olympic games. Of course we went to see the La Bella Italia and some of our group got to eat there. We found a cute little diner and again fell in love with their homemade grilled sandwiches. Port Angeles has a ferry to Victoria, BC Canada, had we had more time (and our passports) I would have loved to have gone on a little jaunt over there.

On our way out of town we stopped over at Walmart again to fulfill some inside jokes and left giggling about how adult women can still be silly.

We also did a quick drive through of the Hoa Rain Forest. It was beautiful!

When we got back to Forks we all met up at the Cozy River house again to visit on our last night. We also got to see the bonfire made from driftwood (which by the way did not burn blue). After some of the early birds left and the night got late we started really getting down. It all started when Christie, Holly and Danylle decided to treat us with their rendition of Mama Mia (they saw the movie that afternoon). Of course after they were done everyone took turns singing and dancing. We even got a story of to Story Lori. Hilarious! By the time we left around 1ish I figured we'd get back and head to bed, but instead Sue, Tawnya and I stayed up taking until 4. I finally pulled myself away to finish writing my postcards (so they probably sounded a bit weird) so that I could be sure to mail them from Forks.

Forks & La Push-Day 3

The SLTA met up Friday morning to take this fabulous shot. Which is going to appear in the Forks newspaper Forks Forum next week! You can see it here.

Top Row: Tawnya, Debbie, Danylle, Rachael, Jamie, Rhonda, Kimberly, Holly, Emily, Nancy, Christie, Lori
Bottom Row: Shauna, Shelli, Rachel, Sue, Kayla, Havilah, Michelle, Jenni, Luisa

Our next stop was to the Chamber of Commerce where we heard facts about the town, and were told some fun stories since the town has received more fame lately. The gal giving us the spiel showed us some funny things like mail addressed to Bella Cullen for insurance on her Volvo, or to apply to Miss Teen Seattle or even a sample of sanitary supplies. Silly.

Then we grabbed a picnic lunch and headed down to Rialto Beach to do a bit of hiking to see the tidal pools and The Hole in The Wall where we had lunch. The beach was covered in beautiful stones so we even spent some time digging around finding the prettiest ones.

Afterwards we drove down to LaPush and drove around the small town near First Beach.

We gathered back at the hotels to get cleaned up and ready for our Girls Night Out party. We rented a room at a nearby campus extension and had dinner and game night. Kayla and I were in charge of games and we created another rendition of what I like to call Could You Survive (using the items you brought with you). They were all Twilight Universe scenarios like, "Imagine that you are Charlie and you find yourself free for an afternoon so you head out to do some fishing. When you get there you realize that you left your gear at home. Make fishing gear using the items you brought with you tonight." or "Imagine that you are Rosalie. You show up to Forks High one day only to find that some drop-dead gorgeous human (ugh!) has enrolled. Using items you brought with you tonight, sabotage the new girls good looks (without killing her, however tempting it may be!)" The ladies really got into it and it was funny to watch the different things people came up with. At the end of the night we had some fun prizes for the winners.

Top row LtoR: Lori, Jen, Amy, Shelley, Michelle, Corey, Kayla, Rachel, Shelli, Laura, Rochelle. Row 2: Nancy, Rachael, Lori, Leanne, Kathy, Sue, Elyse, Havilah, Rhonda, Christie
Row 3: Lauri, Mandy, Beth, Gretchen, Jenni, Emily, Kayleen, Holly, Luisa, Shannon
Row 4: Debbie, Danylle, Shauna, Jamie, Kimberly, Avonlea, Tawnya

Seattle & Forks -Day 2

I really enjoyed the downtown scenery.

We didn't need to be to Forks until later in the evening so the ten of us decided to go down to the waterfront for some shopping and site seeing. We enjoyed walking around the shops, taking pictures, being silly.

Our group touring the waterfront, Top row Left to Right:Emily, Kayla Jenni, Pirate, Michelle, Havilah. Bottom row: Kimberly, Rachel, Sue, Debbie, Tawnya (in the store still).

We had lunch at Ivars where we sat outside on the pier and watched Jenni feed the seagulls. On our way back to our cars we met up with some Pirates were 'kind' enough to let us take pictures with them. I think mostly they just dress up so they can cuddle up to the cute girls. Haha.We took the Seattle Bainbridge Island Ferry across the Puget Sound. Again, it's been a while since I was on a ferry, and I've never actually driven my car onto a ferry so that was fun. We got some gorgeous views of the Seattle skyline. When I showed Tarl these pictures he asked me if it felt like I was in the movie The Ring. Nice honey.

The drive was long but luckily I was in good company riding with Sue, Michelle and Kayla who kept me laughing the whole time! We stopped in Port Angeles to get some groceries and drove on to Forks.

When we arrived at Forks it was mostly what I expected. A tiny town out in the middle of nowhere. We checked into our hotels, dropped off our luggage and went to dinner where some of the gals were staying. Since we were all in different cars we caught up on the days events and then went next door to our Meet and Greet.


Here's how it works. Twenty-one of us are from Utah (we call our group the SLTA because of how we got started), seventeen are from all over the U.S. (OR, PA, NY, TX, AZ, TN, IN, WA & CA). We enjoyed getting to visit and play games.

We returned back to our hotel rooms where several of us stayed up until 2 am talking. It's been years since I've had a sleepover with my gal pals.