Earlier: Washington's Olympic Peninsula draws fans of "Twilight" vampire series

Update: Get yourself to Oregon for a taste of Twilight

by Elizabeth Jardina, Sunset researcher

Those Twilight fans — man, they're serious about their books.

Thanks to Twilighters visiting this site to read our story about visiting Forks, Washington, this blog has had a couple of record-breaking days, as well as some delightful comments.

A special shout-out to Faith R., whose parents have decided to take her on a trip to Washington as a result of our Forks story.

If you too are serious about visiting northwest Washington, I highly recommend reading travel editor Amy Wolf's article about the Olympic Peninsula from this past June. If anyone else needs persuasion — reluctant husbands, skeptical parents — send 'em there. They won't be able to resist.

Let's also take a moment to say hello to Lisa Hansen, the owner of TwilightMOMS.com (and a lifelong Sunset fan!) whose posting of our link helped us get many new readers. And provided us this comment:

This place is truly has the most majestic scenery I've ever seen in my life. It's one of those places I want to visit over and over again for years to come and the residents are absolutely wonderful!!!

Lisa is also a key source for our forthcoming post about where the movie version of Twilight — out Nov. 21 (that's Friday, people) — was filmed. Look for it at the end of this week.

About Port Angeles and taking the ferry

A few commenters have asked why we recommend a land route from Seattle to Forks rather than taking one of Washington State's ferries. Simply: Because we wanted to minimize confusion. For visitors who are not accustomed to using ferries as transit, it seemed easier to stay on land than figure out the ferry system.

You can, of course, take the ferry from the Seattle main terminal (at Pier 52) to Bainbridge Island — with your rental car too — and then head up State 305 to State 3 to State 104, or you can take the ferry from the dock in Edmonds to Kingston, Washington and take State 104 to State 101 and continue west to Forks. Adult fare is $6.70 each way; the car is an extra $11.55.

This northern route to Forks has the advantage of sending you through Port Angeles, home of the restaurant Bella Italia, where Edward and Bella have their first date. (Of sorts. If that's what you call it when your vampire not-quite-boyfriend rescues you from a bunch of bad guys, then sits you down to watch you eat mushroom ravioli.)

Twilight, the phenomenon

We aren't the only publication who's been writing about visiting Forks lately. The Los Angeles Times has a great story from Saturday's paper about Forks, and the Seattle Times wrote about Forks last week as an inexpensive vacation destination from Seattle.

I was also going to mention that some of the stars of Twilight will be at the West Hollywood Hot Topic store tomorrow, Nov. 18, but the event is already way, way sold out. (And the West Hollywood event doesn't even include Twilight star Robert Pattinson, whose appearances have created teen fervor all over the country in the past couple of weeks, notably in San Francisco, where a girl's nose was reportedly broken in a melee at Stonestown Galleria.)

Again, stay tuned for our next installment of of Twilight travel — movie edition.