3rd Sunday Sweet: Suprise!

Because it's the holidays and vacation, I'm most likely going to be away from my desk and computer next Sunday so I won't be posting anything. Normally today I would be posting a book review what I've read recently, however everything I've read in the last month have been books that won't be published till next year so I can't talk about them yet. (One of the perks of being a writer/blogger!) Since next Sunday is Christmas, I'm going to do my 4th Sunday Surprise today which is: Owls!

Yesterday my husband and I drove 3 1/2 hours up to Ocean Shores, WA to see a snowy owl invasion. I had never seen any owls in the wild before and needed ocean inspiration for my mermaid story I'm working on. It was a perfect mix. So without farther ado here are some great shots hubby got with his new camera lens. Click on the picture to enlarge.

No, this is not an owl, but you can't go to the beach and not take a picture of gulls.

First owls spotted.

Lonely owl hanging out.

I must have sat and watched this guy watching me for at least a half hour. Of course I named him Hedwig.

Yours truly taking notes and jotting ideas between watching Hedwig.

The cutest little sandpiper in the world.

The beautiful Olympic Mountains, home of Twilight.

Owls are such beautiful fascinating creatures. If you want to see more pictures, check out etriky flickr. Hope you enjoyed these snapshots of a perfect lovely day spent in the Pacific Northwest.

Thank you for reading and supporting my little blog. Merry Christmas! And I'll see you in the New Year.

Cheers,

Melania

Traveling through Twilight

Does this beach look familiar to you? Well if you've watched New Moon you'll recognize it is La Push Beach. Freaking AWESOME, eh? I was THERE.

Proof I was there!

As I mentioned in my last post, I had the recent privilege to visit the beautiful Victoria, BC. On the way back we decided to drive through Forks and swing in to La Push. We'd driven through Forks way back in Spring 2007 before the Twilight craze. My husband even treated me to Bella Italia in Port Angeles, because it was the only decent place to eat. I remember seeing the sign to La Push, put didn't go. We were there to visit Olympic National Park so I could get extra credit in my Geology of the National Parks class at Portland State University. I didn't know anything about La Push, except that the highway sign indicated it was an Indian Reservation and it completely out of our way.

*CONFESSIONS* (You have been warned)

In the fall 2008, I finally read Twilight and my old flame for vampires reignited. Smitten and Bitten! Okay, okay, I admit it. I love Twilight. Team Edward all the way. *swoon*  Ahem, yes and since I had been in the area just the year before, all my memories of the place were intact. I could close my eyes and almost feel like I was there. Stephenie Meyer captured the location perfectly. My heart longed to go back and explore the area once again.

My wish finally came to fruition last month. Unfortunately we didn't make the earlier ferry from Victoria and that meant no time to explore. I didn't even have time to snap a picture of Jacob's rental (which looks like his home in the movies complete with motorcycle in front yard) or Jacob's Java. But here's a shot of the convenient store on the Reservation and a fun bulletin board out front.

The notes are addressed to Jacob, but there is some Edward love there too. Though I stared endlessly into the lush forests lining the highway, I didn't spot any massive wolves or pale humans running at inhumanly speeds.

2007- Forks was a tiny sleepy town non-residents drove through to get from one part of Olympic National Park to the other. Those were the tourists of the area. NOW- I saw as many different license plates from all over the North American continent as I had in Victoria. These weren't people coming to visit the park. Oh I'm sure they did, since they were there, but that isn't what brought them in the first place.

While in Victoria, we saw a German family with small children on one of the tours we took. Then we spotted them & their rental RV on our ferry coming to Port Angeles. When we were driving out of La Push we saw their RV again headed to the reservation RV park. Now don't tell me the young mother isn't a Twilight fan! Why else would they travel all the way from Germany to La Push?

We drove back out of La Push and on down to Forks. What I had read online and in newspapers about the affect Twilight had on Forks was confirmed. At least 50% or more of the signs in front of shops referenced something related to Twilight.

Talk about an economic boost! The power of the written word. And it all started with a dream....