Leavenworth

“Das war ein Riesenspaß” = That was tremendous fun! Leavenworth, Washington is a bustling Bavarian-styled village in central Washington state. If you slept through junior high World Geography like I did, be informed that Bavaria is one of 16 federal states in Germany, similar to how Texas is a state in the United States: related to the others, but still different.

“But Tessa, WHY is there a Bavarian town in Washington?” After logging and railway activities declined in the 1920’s, the town reimagined itself in the 1960’s, to create this popular alpine tourist wonderland. $$ – TOURIST DOLLARS FOR THE WIN – $$

In Leavenworth, every building proudly displays Alps-influenced architecture. Prime example: here is the town’s Starbucks! They must have the worst sales of any Starbucks in the nation. How can anyone find it without the green mermaid logo?

If (as his brothers frequently complain) you’re tired of Philip Miller as the sole supermodel in my posts, you’re in luck! Because here we were joined by fresh meat: my Uncle Brian and Aunt Dotty from Illinois, and my stepmom Janene and her husband Marv, from Western Washington, in their RV.

Bavaria has a very distinct culture, including traditional clothes like lederhosen, and regional foods such as pretzels, strudel, schnitzel, kringl, white sausages, beer and the like. “When in Bavaria, do as the Bavarians do …!” If we must!!

Of course, you can’t go all Bavarian without Bavarian music. The most unusual instrument is the alphorn, a enormous, hollow wooden horn. This is not the instrument for you if you drive a Kia, since this one-piece beauty is 10-15 feet long.

An alphorn has no valves, keys, or slides; players rely strictly on changing the tension of their lips to produce different notes; leading me to surmise that alphorn players are probably very skilled kissers. They even have an Alphorn festival in May to which 80 or more alphorners (alphorni? alphornettes?) attend.

Also regularly heard in the village square is the Steirische Harmonika, a button accordion which is the signature instrument of Alpine folk music. Also here: a hand-cranked barrel organ with the signature (stuffed) monkey on the side; organ grinders often travel with a (real) trained monkey that would collect coins from spectators.

Continuing down the Bavarian tradition, we come to the humble nutcracker. Here, it’s not just for Christmas, oh no! The Nutcracker Museum, in fact, spotlights more than 9,000 from around the world.

Presenting my personal favorites: Seargeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and teeeny tiiiiiny nutrackers so small they fit INSIDE a nut. Is that like a snake that eats its own tail?

Allergic to nuts? OK, how about gingerbread then! It’s famously associated with Bavaria because one of Germany’s most popular gingerbreads, Nuremberg, comes from Bavaria.

What could be more traditionally German than the famous Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The Sound of Music? Here, you can see it in a tree-studded outdoor theater, where the Mother Superior seating you just MIGHT be a local schoolteacher who has performed in this beloved tradition for 26 out of their last 30 seasons.

Yep, around every corner here in Leavenworth is some new visual delight, transporting you right to the heart and soul of fake Munich.

Although reindeer are NOT native to Bavaria, the geographic latitude of Leavenworth is equivalent to Northern Russia, leading to a three-generation family-run reindeer farm being located here. It seemed possibly corny, but ended up being super fun and educational, even for a reindeer expert like Bad Santa (Philip).

We learned a LOT about reindeer, pet the reindeer, fed the reindeer willow branches, and reflected on why reindeer are the perfect choice for the important mission every December 24.

This farm has over 50 named reindeer, including new babies; as well as chicken, bunnies, and –inexplicably– camels; as well as a large gift barn and a snack bar called “Blitzen Brew,” selling (amongst other things) Alaskan Reindeer Sausages, which was a little disconcerting since we were just petting their kin 10 minutes earlier. What the schnitzel!?

Then there’s wine. Lots of wine! This area is perfectly situated latitudinally, identical to the top wine-growing regions in Europe. Add 17 hours of sunlight a day, irrigation from the nearby Columbia River (the 4th largest in North America), and many thirsty tourists like us, and you’ve got the makings of some great wine tasting in-town and in surrounding vineyards.

There are more than 1,050 wineries and counting in Washington State.

We spent a lazy, sun-drenched afternoon at Leavenworth’s Silvara Cellars Winery, where the owner even pulled a chair up next to us to enjoy the live music on the lawn. Besides full-glass wine tasting, Silvara allowed us to bring our own snacks …. a LOT of snacks.

Besides grapes: apples! Washington grows 65-70% of the entire apple consumption of the U.S. and nearby Wenatchee, Wash. is the apple-growing capital of the WORLD. Charming farm stands and fruit vendors dot the roadsides.

A popular activity in Leavenworth is tubing the Icicle or Wenatchee Rivers on hot summer days. We squeaked in to the last probable week of tubing before the river is so low that you have to walk it instead of floating it, but still enjoyed a couple of lazy hours of watery relaxation.

If you can’t float, you can hike the downtown Waterfront Trail (or any of 800 miles of nearby trails) or drop your kayak in the river. If you can’t hike, you can still hang at your campsite with cherished friends and family. Cheers to that!

Chelan/Stehekin

Prior to Leavenworth, we made a brief stop on the south end of Lake Chelan, about 60 miles away. Our main desire was to take a day-long journey to Stehekin, a tiny town of 75 residents reachable only by foot or boat, on the north end of this 50-mile-long, 1-2-mile-wide, narrow lake — which is the 3rd-deepest in the U.S.

WHY would we make this treacherous journey? Well, for pastries, of course! When Philip started his mega-diet back in April, he gave up all bread, cookies, donuts, pastries — you know, all the good stuff. At that time (260 pounds) he vowed that if he could get to 210 or less, he would reward himself with a treat from this place:

That’s right, a town of 75 has a world-class, famous bakery. We held our breath as he weighed in the night before, and ….. 209.8!! He qualified for extreme excitement in the form of a fresh raspberry white chocolate scone with streusel topping, with only 0.2 pounds to spare. Way to go, honey! Their speciality is cinnamon rolls as big as your head.

The name “Stehekin” comes from a word in the Salishan language that means “the way through,” but for the average visitor, you’re not going through, you’re dead-ending here and going back the way you came.

A NPS ranger gave us a guided “Glimpse of Stehekin” tour of Stehekin in a tiny school bus. Like many other Park Service employees, the current administration cancelled his job, but he still comes to work every day for free because he loves it so much. One stop was at the “old school,” which has been replaced by the “new school,” a Grade 1-8 with 12 students, most with the last name Courtney as descendants of the original founders here, and which had a graduating class of exactly 2 students last year.

We also visited the historic Buckner Orchards. The orchards were founded by three sisters (GIRL POWER!) in the late 1800’s, who hand-dug the first four miles of irrigation canals to their property. They continue to harvest from here, in the form of a huge party with music and food, and everyone comes from far and wide to help pick and squeeze for cider.

There are things to do in Stehekin, but those things are not shopping. There is one crafts cabin called The House That Jack Built, and one tiny t-shirt store attached to the bakery. End of shopping. There used to be a little bit more, but recent floods AND wildfires closed many businesses, including a Lodge, which have not and possibly will not, reopen.

We stopped by the most gorgeous flower and vegetable gardens that have been lovingly tended by the same barefoot, dirty-jeans guy for more than 40 years now. He loves talking with visitors and proudly showed us his flowers, his beehives, his farm stand.

Visitor activities involve things like fly fishing, hiking trails like the Chelan Lakeshore Trail, or riding a rented bicycle over the 12 miles of road. This isolated, magical existence really draws you in and makes you wonder, “what if …..?” and “could I live this way?”

We have been plagued by wildfire smoke this whole trip, and it’s crazy how fast conditions can change for the better or for the worse. Here is the exact same view from Stehekin on the morning we arrived, and the afternoon when we left … you just never know.

Eleven hours later, we returned to Chelan and collected Finn from the Rover.com petsitter. Here, like in Leavenworth, we are **literally** surrounded by the fruits of extensive agriculture. We RV camped at Summerhill Family Farm, surrounded by u-pick berries, apples, corn, melons and more — even a pen of bison.

For even more agriculture, we journeyed ten miles north of Chelan to Manson to a fun property called Blueberry Hills Farms.

Normally, the line is out the door at all times due to their multiple honors, including “Top Four Restaurants in Washington State Worth the Drive for Breakfast” (Seattle Times) and “2nd Best Destination Restaurant in Washington State” (KING 5 Viewers Choice Awards). But with the crappy air quality and nearby Little Giant Fire, we got the skip the crowds and ogle all the pies!

A dog-friendly back deck, delicious food, and fun decor featuring all the crapola the family cleaned out of Gramma and Grandpa’s house, including his extensive collection of reading glasses, make for a fun stop!

Manson has wineries and tasting rooms around every corner in the rolling hills of this burgeoning wine country. Also, smoky skies — darn it. Silver lining: that definitely lessened the crowds in this usually-jammed summer destination.

Our selection process for a lazy, wine-soaked afternoon went like this: (1) can we sit outside, (2) are dogs allowed, (3) do they have wine, any kind of wine. Thus — Tipsy Canyon Winery! Ding ding ding! We have a winner! Finn romped on the grassy hill while we enjoyed the pergola-covered patio and the full attention of the attendant, who had nobody to serve but us.

Finn’s knowledge of wine is limited by her inability to grasp a wineglass stem, but she did a little wine grape QC inspection.

Bonus! Columbia River/Wanapum Lake

We went from the busy, touristy fun of Leavenworth, 80 miles south to the peaceful, quiet beauty of the Columbia River, on a section that has been dammed to create a beautiful lake at Wanapum Recreation Area and its shoreline campground.

Wild turkeys in the campground, dappled moonlight skipping over the water, and a cool breeze skimming the river as we lounged on the sandy beach, made for a bucolic setting before the last two weeks of our trip begins!