Cashing in on "Twilight"

The folk in Forks, Washington are definitely getting all the benefit they can from the popularity of the Twilight books and movies.

None of the actual scenes of the movie were filmed here and Stephanie Meyer never set foot in Forks until after she had written the books. Forks is home to the Cullens because it is the town in the continental US with the highest amount of rainfall so it's perfect for vampires. Residents have designated one house as:

It does fit my image of the house where Bella and her Dad lived. I can imagine Edward leaping up to the roof to get into Bella's bedroom.

If you drive out towards La Push you will find the treaty line which marks the start of the werewolf territory where vampires shouldn't go!

Some don't abide by the ancient treaties so you do get your daily threat level assessment!

You can see Bella's truck at the chamber of commerce and her Dad's police cruiser is parked at the city hall.

For a mere $39 you can take a tour. There are even choices....the "Breaking Dawn Tour", "The Volturi Tour" or the "Twilight Tour".

If you need any sort of Twilight memorabilia, and I do mean ANY sort, you can shop at "Dazzled by Twilight". My personal favorite was the bumper sticker that said, "Married with children. In love with a Werewolf". Now if it has said, "in love with a vampire" I might have considered it! The decor was pretty impressive and I loved their window displays.

People from all over the world have been impressed, as if evidenced by the pins in this map. This map was just started at the beginning of the summer of 2010. That's a lot of Twilight fans!

At the local restaurants you can choose from "Edbread" and "Swan Salad" or have a "Breaking Dawn Green Chili Hamburger" or "Lone Wolf Barbecue Sandwich....or even have Edward and Bella's wedding soup!

The park ranger we talked with told us that his pre-teen daughter decided at the beginning of last summer that she wanted an I pod. He told her that she'd have to earn the money herself. After she rid the backyard of slugs at five cents a slug she was still way short of enough money so she decided to set up a lemonade stand in their front yard. Lucky girl! Her house is on the street between the community hospital which has a parking spot reserved for "Dr. Cullen" and the designated "Swan House". The Twilight tour buses drive down her street and they started stopping. I didn't ask him if her stand had a sign that said "Renesmee's Lemonade"! Anyway, she made $65 a day for several days and had her I-pod!

The appropriate saying is "Make hay while the sun shines"....although the sun seldom shines in Forks, I'm sure you get my point!