We headed in to Forks to do laundry, and to check out the town made famous by the 'Twilight' series... it was an interesting little town. You could tell that the town was trying to make the best of its notarity, that's for sure.

Museum
We stopped at the Forks Timber Museum, because that's the easiest way to catch up on a town's history -- you can learn a lot about a place by what they show you about its past.

Devastated, but not defeated
Not long after a group from Seattle visited to see about promoting the region for tourism, the town of Forks basically burned to the ground

The Rebuilt town
It recovered surprisingly well, it seemed.

big tree!
It sure took a lot of work to fell one of these big trees, that's for sure. They'd chop at this thing for two to three days... on ONE tree!

Another one
It must have been pretty impressive to be around these big old trees...

Wind Storm of 21
This happened on February 1, 1921, and serves as a reminder that while we've had some pretty serious wind storms these last couple of years, its not really new to the area... they've been happening for a lot longer than we've been here, it seems.

Pointing out a house
Outside the museum, the little guy was fascinated by a Stump House

A 'Stump house'
How a logger ever convinced his wife that this was the lap of luxury is beyond me! There were pictures in the museum of kids playing around these things, too... whole families lived in a stump.

A really big playground
There was a play ground in Forks that was pretty impressive

New
Most of the items in the park were quite new...

Not bad for a small town
Actually, the playground was pretty good for even a big town!

Having fun
The little guy had a lot of fun climbing on everything

Picking Flowers for Mom
Mom left to wrap up the laundry, while the boys stayed in the park and played

Checking out the engine
This engine was on display in the park.

Cam drive
It was a steam engine, but the drive mechanism was a cam shaft, which was far more effecient than the offset arm drive that most people are familiar with.

Hi Tech
The pistons driving the cam were very large. Train engines like this could haul fantastic weights, and they represent a very high level of technology for the period they were built in.

Armored Gun Carriage
This self-propelled artillery piece was also on display

The business end
It sported a 76mm cannon

Interesting Display
Its too bad they had to put the fence around it, but it still was a pretty interesting display.

Ruby River
The Ruby river snakes out of the trees.

Ruby Beach
The river dumps into the Pacific, and the sand bar and beach it created is called Ruby Beach

Playing in the water
The little guy really liked playing in the water!

The beach
The beach is pretty impressive, with a lot of heads and stacks

Destruction Island Light
The lighthouse stood out in the sunlight. it was a great day!

Ignoring the Big Water for the River
The little guy took one look at the waves on the beach, and then went back down the bar, to the quietness of the river.

Making ripples
He had a LOT of fun tossing rocks into the water, watching the ripples

The Calming Surf
Meanwhile, on the other side of the bar the waves of the Pacific lashed at the beach... it was very soothing!

Watching the waves
I really enjoy watching the waves break on the rocks along the shoreline. I could do it all day, and have a great time!

Heading back
After a while, we headed back up to the parking lot. The Shadow Lady got a great shot of the little guy and me heading up the trail.

Back at the lodge
Back at the lodge, we checked out the 'Big Water'... it became a daily thing while we stayed there.

Kalaloch Beach
The beach was largely empty, which we really enjoyed!

Ending the day
We probably won't be able to do that next year...

 

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