Forks Used To Be More Than A Utensil

Remember when everyone and their dog was obsessed with the Twilight series? I read the books so quickly and I was completely enraptured by the plot. Before the most recent movies came out, I tried to go back and re-read the books and I just could not get myself as hooked on Edward and Bella as I once was. And don’t be sitting there at your computer while sipping a hot beverage thinking in denial: “Not me. I was never obsessed with Twilight.” Because there is no shame in enjoying a book series that stimulates arguments between preteen girls over the pros and cons of Jacob and Edward. No shame. Just embrace it. 

I remember during my short-lived obsession with Stephenie Meyer’s vampires, I asked my mother to take me to Forks, Washington (well, I begged her, but that’s more embarrassing on my part). I pleaded the we could take a trip to Seattle and just take a day trip to Forks. I just wanted to see where her sparkling vampires fictionally lived. Because who doesn’t want to believe that there is more to life than the ordinary? My friends in middle school and I would collaborate on travel plans, road trip ideas, other sights to see in the great state of Washington, anything to get us in short driving distance of Forks. Weeks went by and my friends and I still hadn’t persuaded our parents to take a trip to the North Western coast of the United States. 

Eventually, we were stuck. We couldn’t think of even one more sales pitch to the parental units. Nothing. One of us would bring up our travel plans to Forks and then the conversation would stop because none of us had anything new to contribute. After a while, my parents didn’t even listen to me when I brought it up at home. They would (not so subtly) change the subject and that would be all we talked about it for the rest of the night. Then my friends and I (and my parents) just forgot about Forks, Washington altogether. I didn’t hear anymore stories of friends of friends going up to Washington to visit. Forks went back to being a utensil and not this idealized place that I died to go to in my awkward middle school life. 

Which brings me back to my current (and much much longer lived) obsession with Harry Potter. The last masterpiece in Rowling’s magical books came out six (almost seven considering it’s almost 2014) years ago and I still obsess over them. I still have these beautiful dreams of frolicking through Hogwarts like I’m a witch. It has almost been seven years since that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released and people from all around the world are still flocking to Florida to buy a wand and a nice cup of butterbeer. Fellow Potter Geeks journey to England to visit the sights where the movies were filmed. 

For the past three years, I have been hinting to my parents (subtly and not very frequently because that method didn’t work very well with my Forks trip) about the wonders that the Harry Potter World has to offer. For three years, the Harry Potter World has reared its magical head into my conversations in comparison to the Forks trip that last a good month. (No hating on Twilight though. Twilight was a monumental part of my childhood and was the catalyst to my acts of fangirling that takes place today.) 

Now before you Nay-Sayers go and say that this is just a phase and I will soon get bored of trying to convince my parents to splurge on this trip of a lifetime, let me just (respectfully) say that you are very wrong. Twilight was just a series that I have devoted small amount of  time to when I was developing those neurons. Harry Potter has been that series that I read on a rainy day or when I’m bored. I waited (not so patiently) for each of the books to come out and then re-read them as I waited for the next one. When I need a little pick me up, I watch the movies. Harry Potter is a part of my childhood and so many other Potter Geeks because it’s been with us since 1997.

I have been talking to friends who have been lucky enough to experience all of it. The theme park, the European tours, the wand shop, the butterbeer, they’ve experienced everything. I even talk to people about their upcoming trips to the Harry Potter World. Would it be weird if I asked them to take me along? No? Okay. Perfect. Maybe if I’m lucky, you can come too!