On the Road to Forks

I signed up for a electronic spinner retreat with the guru of all things fiber - Judith MacKenzie in Forks, WA.  (Yes that is Twilight territory!)  I was lucky to hook up with another Raveler - LoveChild AKA Jude from the Bay Area and we met up at SeaTac and carpooled to Forks.  It was rainy when I landed in Seattle - their normal weather pattern, and I was able to collect my stuff and met up with her when her plane landed.


Jude had texted me before she left the Bay Area that she forgot to pack her shoes so she was shoeless except for thongs.  We agreed to stop along the way to buy some shoes.  Weather in Forks was forecasted to be cold and snowy.


On the road, we did not see any malls that so frequently dot the landscape here in California and we finally stopped in Sequim (squim) to see what we could find.  We stopped at a farm store and there were no suitable shoes there and when we asked about a mall, the clerk (a young guy) looked confused and finally stated that there was a JCPennys down the road.


Back in the car, we checked the interweb and low and behold, found a yarn store!  Since it was closing soon, we decided to stop at the yarn store first - we have our priorities!  It was a totally cute place with everything a fiberaholic needed - yarn, needles, books, looms, spinning wheels, knitting machines, felting kits, you name it, it was there.

For those already following my blog and my Yarn Diet this year, I walked away from the yarn store after fondling everything with nothing - my willpower was fierce.  Jude did buy some cool yarn that she will be crocheting.


We also found a great Chinese restaurant called Dynasty Chinese Restaurant.  It was definitely a find and when we talked to the waiter, he stated there were only about 10 Chinese people in town and most worked in this restaurant.  The food was comparable to what I can get here and in the Bay Area.


After stuffing ourselves with what we believed to be the last good chinese food, we headed on our way to Forks.  It was dark with winding roads plus some snow flurries, but we made our way without mishap.


It was very cold to this Southern Californian but there was no snow when we arrived.  We stopped off at the Rainforest Art Center where the retreat was being held and saw that everyone was diligently spinning away.  We were too tired to unpack our spinning since it was a two plane trip for me and then another 5 hour drive before we arrived in Forks so we headed to the hotel - The Miller Tree Inn.

 Here is a photo of one of the baths - it was just so cute with the claw foot tub.

Bill, the innkeeper, was there to greet us and settle us into our room.  We both crashed eagerly anticipating the next day and the start of our adventure with Judith MacKenzie.


There is a resident cat who was very sweet.

Sad to say, we never found a shoe store and I loaned Jude my fleece lined Crocs for the weekend.