The fair flesh, that blood-red apple, those smoldering-ember eyes: They not only drive people onto the North Olympic Peninsula, they also ignite the minds of cooks and innkeepers.
Twilight, Stephenie Meyer’s saga about Forks High School student Bella Swan and her boyfriend-vampire Edward Cullen, is bathing the whole Peninsula in love this weekend.
And we’re in the middle of a rare moment. It’s Valentine’s Day, it’s Presidents Day and it’s probably a rainy day somewhere in Clallam or Jefferson county — ideal for Twilight fans to immerse themselves in a Bella-Edward interlude.
Resorts and motels across the region got ready early, and many were completely booked by last week thanks in large part to their “Twilight” packages.
A sampling: the Resort at Port Ludlow proffered a “Cullen-airy Delight” dinner of vegetarian vampire salad, New Moon pasta and forbidden-fruit sorbet plus blood-orange martinis, all conceived by catering coordinator Lauren Reinertsen; the Kalaloch Lodge tucks a map of Forks plus Twilight trivia, water bottles and dessert in with its cabin keys; at the Tudor Inn of Port Angeles, guests are sent off to dine at Bella Italia, the restaurant where Edward and Bella sighed through their first date.
Betsy Schultz, owner of the Tudor Inn since 2001, takes care to make her place romantic for people with Twilight on their minds, and the Peninsula often cooperates.
“They come for our mountains and our mist . . . and they say it’s just as pretty here as it’s described in the book,” Schultz said.
Women and girls appear on her doorstep thirsty for a look at the vampire himself — and Schultz doesn’t disappoint.
She has big cardboard cutouts of Edward and Bella that travel from room to room — and is on her second copy of Edward, since people hug him with more ardor than they do his fragile-looking sweetheart.
“Twihards,” as they’re known, are spilling onto other parts of the Peninsula, added Miriam Villiard of the Resort at Port Ludlow, a waterfront hotel about 105 miles east of Forks.
“It’s gone beyond the teenage mania,” Villiard said.
Groups of grownup friends all like a taste of this romantic saga, which she calls “brain candy.”
Out where it all started in Forks, motels and inns are likewise enjoying a busy weekend.
“We have grandmas and granddaughters, aunts and nieces, and husbands bringing wives,” said Dew Drop Inn desk clerk Barb Dias.
“We’ve got people coming from Germany this weekend, and from the Peninsula,” added Joan Evans of the Pacific Inn.
“We are all booked up for the Twilight rooms.”
This brings innkeeper Schultz to another romantic thought.
Don’t despair if you couldn’t find a room or a dinner reservation for Valentine’s evening, she said. True love is just as sweet after Feb. 14.
“Remember,” Schultz added, “you can treat your honey to a romantic night any night of the year.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.