When I was a kid living in Burien, I spent at least two or three weeks a year at my aunt's cattle ranch On the Olympic Peninsula at a little place called Deep Creek just off 101. (not the town) About 16 miles from Forks, WA. I really loved that area because it was so unbelievably green. All the roads were too lane black top, very twisty and in some places, you could barely see the blue sky through the canopy. Almost a rainforest in places.

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Especially when I was junior high and high school age, I spent a fair amount of time in Forks at the general store (and post office) which at the time I was there was pretty much the only thing in Forks. Just the general store, lots of trees and the school. As a kid I didn't even think of it as a town

We would bail hay nearby then take a break for lunch and go to the general store to buy a soda and relax until we had to go back to work throwing hay bales. At the time, I would have never thought that Forks would become famous. For vampires.

Many years later. The Twilight books would come out. And then the movies. And since the movies, were also shot partly in forks. And the setting was in forks. The tourists came to Forks. Hoping to see a vampire. Or maybe a tree stump they saw in the movie.

 According to thetimes.com,
‘Some twenty years ago Stephenie Meyer opened Google and typed: “Rainiest place in the United States”. She found the town of Forks: a small settlement on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state — and Forks found itself in the eye of a literary storm. Meyer, a Connecticut-based author, set her vampire romance series Twilight in the town.’ 

I'm sure over the years it's brought some income into the area. Forks has certainly grown hugely since I was a kid. Now they have a couple of motels. A Subway shop. (Back then I would have killed for a Subway sandwich.) A Napa auto parts store. three motels. A couple of campgrounds. It's a veritable paradise of commerce compared to what I knew back in the mid 60s. 

Much of this commercial growth is caused by yes, Vampire tourism fueled by the Twilight books and movies and not everybody is thrilled, some of the residents are kind of fed up with the whole thing. 

According to nypost.com,
“Ask a fourth-generation local like Graham, and she will say a lot of the vampire publicity does suck. “I’m not against progress, and not against tourism,” she said. “But it does make me annoyed that the streets are clogged with cars. My kids will never know the quiet little town I grew up in.” 

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It's been decades since I've been back to Forks. I would never recognize the place now but maybe I need to go there? Buy an ice cold soda and reminisce about the days when there were no vampires. But lots of hay bales for me to throw. 

'Twilight vampire tourism' ruined Forks, Washington: locals (nypost.com)
How romance novels have shaped Americans’ real lives (nypost.com)
Twilight town pleads for end to decades of ‘vampire tourism’ (thetimes.com)

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