Forks Rainforest Bathroom on the Drive from Port Angeles

On the hour drive from Port Angeles to Forks during our vacation, we needed the restroom. We stopped at the Storm King Ranger Station and discovered they have not only a clean and dry indoor bathroom, but also an easy walking trail through the Forks rainforest, called the Moments in Time Trail.

Dogs are allowed only on the part of the trail that goes through the ranger station area. The rest of the trail is a mile-long loop that goes past some cabins the State of Washington rents out. A branch of the trail goes off to Marymere Falls, too. We tried to find the falls, but we got too antsy with the dogs waiting for us in the car.

We saw three deer during the hour we were on this trail. I petted one of these fuzzy mossy trees. It felt soft! It was May and there were little blue flowered meadows everywhere, just like Edward and Bella's meadow.

It was a school day, and some kids from one of the local middle schools were there with some teachers. One of the kids said about us, "Cool! You guys are in camouflage!" We just let them think we were cool. In reality, we are not used to the constant rain, but having lived in Forks before, we knew we'd better come prepared for rain.

I'm back up to 159 today. I know! Scott wanted this yummy salmon dip at Costco the other day, so we indulged last night. It is likely two pounds of water gain from the salty salmon. We'll see.

We went on this trip to see how Twilight has changed Forks. I will be posting more about this in the days and weeks ahead!

Fat Kids Gotta Eat?

One of many motorboats we saw in Port Angeles, WA sported the quoted slogan, "Fat Kids Gotta Eat!" I Googled this slogan and discovered an (adult) website with a burger and pizza theme. "I hate exercise," the site declares. In my fat days, I would have bought right into the club and been glad to find kindred spirits. Now that I am trying to stay in shape, I think it's sad that people recruit others to be fat with them.

Anyway, today I weigh 157.8, same as yesterday. I overdid it on the Dark Chocolate Cherry Almond Clusters yesterday. I did walk a mile and do ten minutes of vigorous gardening.

I did really well on the first day of our vacation, when we were driving to Seattle. I had my Special K and organic vanilla soy milk breakfast, and then salads at the fast food places where we stopped for lunch and dinner. I felt my shorts get looser.

It was a vacation, though, so I didn't plan on losing weight overall, just maintaining and not gaining any. I did pretty well with that, mostly because I have learned to love exercise. I'll be 50 soon, so I take exercise slowly. I mostly walk, do housework, and garden.

Port Angeles is a great place to walk around! East First Street is like every old Main Street in the USA. There are many little shops to poke into, and if you are a Twilight fan you get excited about the restaurant where Bella Swan and Edward Cullen went on their first date, Bella Italia, and about the movie theater and dress store where Bella went with her friends.

Part of the reason we took this trip is we lived in Forks, WA in 1996 / 1997. We wanted to see how Twilight has changed Forks and Port Angeles. More on that in the days to come!

Overate on My Vacation...

I just took this picture ten minutes ago! I think I look great for almost 50, if I do say so myself. And, I am ten pounds overweight. Sorry I have been away so long without warning, but it is a bad idea to announce to the world when you are going to be away from home! I'm back, and over the next few weeks I'll tell you all about the yummy food I ate on my vacation without getting even more overweight than I already am, and hopefully I will also shed these extra ten pounds that have plagued me since Christmas. This coming Christmas I am giving myself something other than ten extra pounds!

Yesterday was my first day back, and I weighed in at 160.4. Today I'm at 158.8, so I lost 1.6 pounds yesterday. For exercise, I hand clipped weeds in the garden vigorously for about twenty minutes. The darn Johnson Grass gets out of hand whenever I'm away.


Here is what I ate yesterday and lost 1.6 pounds:

Special K and organic vanilla soy milk

1 can of Healthy Choice chicken noodle soup, solids only (I gave the salty broth to the dogs.)

Small hamburger patty with two tablespoons barbeque sauce and two cups of steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots (I buy these frozen at Costco.)

1 brown sugar Pop Tart!

So you know what's coming, for our vacation we went to see how much Twilight has changed Forks, WA from when we lived there for the 96/97 school year. We got video of walking in the rain forest and on First Beach in the Quileyute Reservation. We ate at Bella Italia, and we even found authentic Mexican food in Port Angeles, WA.