Not in my wildest dreams did I ever envision myself writing in this article about hunting and fishing. And I certainly didn't think I would write about vampires and werewolves, But here it is.

Last week my husband and I took a trip to the great Northwest. We flew into Seattle then drove our rental car onto a large ferry for a scenic ride across the Puget Sound.

Getting off the ferry we drove for another hour or so to Port Angeles, Washington and yes, I will stop right here to say, yes, THAT Port Angeles, the one of Twilight Saga books fame. (For those of you not familiar with the books or movies, please excuse me and keep up best as you can.)

We went to Port Angeles for the sole purpose of seeing our son Ryan, stationed aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Active, before he departs to sea.

Words absolutely cannot explain, or give justice to, the beauty of the area. Lush tress everywhere, forests that go on forever, majestic mountains, and the most beautiful, crisp clear water you've ever seen.

It just so happens that a nurse, Julie Smith, who works with my husband, has two sons, Avery and Jordan. Both play sports for Jacksonville High School and they have an uncle who lives in Port Angeles and he offered to take us around.

That was the best offer we've ever taken up. We were met early Saturday morning by a well-built gentleman named Dennis Ingram who obviously was in very good shape.

Dennis has lived in Port Angeles all his life and took us down to Crescent Lakes where it was so clear you could see the rocks at the bottom of the lake. We went over to Forks (and we'll get back to Forks later you Stephanie Meyer fans) and then we stopped at a rainforest. Little did I know there was a rainforest in Washington.

The Hoh Rainforest was just absolutely incredible. Massive trees, like a spruce we saw that was over 300 feet tall with a 16-foot circumference. It was 550 years old.

We walked through the rainforest with exquisite lush vegetation, ferns growing everywhere, and walked through the Hall of Moss. Moss everywhere draped beautifully down from all the trees. Four feet of moss takes over 100 years to grow.

Trees that had fallen in the path had other trees growing out from them. It was a spectacular sight!

Dennis took us on a small hike through the rainforest, walking sprightly in front of us with my husband and I panting from behind (elevation, you know). I think it was around about this time that we started talking about age and our young looking physically fit Dennis told us he was just about 72.

Well, Dennis is also an avid hunter and fisherman. He talked of his hikes, and trust me, there are many hiking trails in the Olympic National Park. He told us of encounters with black bears, mountain lions and his success hunting elk and deer.

Dennis is such a great hunter that as we drove around he would say, "Now up ahead there should be a pack of elk," and we would turn the corner and there was the pack.

Dennis also loves to fish, taking guided trips down the river in his 16-foot river boat with the single oar that he steers. He fly fishes and told us all about Steelhead (he showed us his 22 pound mounted fish), cutthroat, trout and talked about his new technique of fly-fishing using a 13-foot pole as opposed to a 9-foot pole.

Dennis also took us to Three-Rivers by Rialto Beach where we had the best hamburgers at the Three-River Restaurant owned by his son, Curt, that I have ever tasted.

I had a barbecue hamburger, my husband and son a Quil burger. (I thought it said "quail" burger and thought they were crazy but it was named after the Quileute Indian Tribe).

We had an awesome day in the most unbelievable scenery I will probably ever see.

OK, now on to a little bit about Port Angeles and Forks. Stephanie Meyer, who wrote the Twilight series, is revered by people in the area. Port Angeles, a city of about 19,000, is a town whose industry is paper mills, logging and commercial fishing, all of which have dwindled over the years.

Forks, about an hour away, is a little place of 3,500 people with logging as their mainstay. Twilight has put these two cities on the map.

Forks, where the story takes place, has three Twilight Tour buses each day, four in the summer. It goes to the tiny high school down to LaPush and Rialto Beach and all the haunts of Edward and Bella, the two main characters.

There is a Twilight store that is packed all the time, especially right now with the opening of the second movie this Thursday.

In September, on Bella's birthday, over a thousand visitors crammed into the store and stayed at bed and breakfast inns and campgrounds.

Curt has seen a boom to his store which sits on the vampire/werewolf treaty line.

In Port Angeles, where the second movie "New Moon" will be shown Thursday, everything is booked. The city is having a vampire ball and many, many other activities.

People (OK, people like me) flock to Bella Italia where Edward and Bella had their first date, to the bookstore that Bella went into, and to the theatre.

All of these places really exist, even though the characters don't.

I have to admit though, I did look for vampires and werewolves everywhere I went, even saw some people I thought fit the bill.

When I came home and showed pictures and memorabilia to my children, one daughter looked at me and said, "Mom, you know they are fictitious, right?"

Of course they are … or are they?