Sunday, July 12, 2009

Tourist Time in Leavenworth

Ohmigosh! Two posts in three days!

Seems like we finally had a day with something to write about besides work (John) and hanging out (me)! John has a couple of days off, so today we got up early (sure seemed early to me!) and hit the roads heading east towards Leavenworth, WA. If any of you have been there you know that it's a Bavarian village up in the mountains of central Washington. Definitely a tourist trap, but a kind of neat one! Many of the shops carry a higher quality of product than you normally find in touristy towns and it's fun to hear the polka music over at the gazebo! Best accordian music I've heard in years!!

We enjoyed good brats sitting in an outdoor restaurant, picked up some cheese and taffy to take home and even found a Christmas present. The plan is to leave the grandson's gifts with their parents during the next couple of months rather than try to find storage room in the RV and then pay postage to ship them! Goodness - we've really got this retirement/budget thing down pat, don't we??!!

On the way home, we stopped at Deception Falls and took the half-mile hike along the Tye River and Deception Creek. Beautiful place and a joy to spend a little time in the "wilderness" again. It was also a reminder that we are not around water as much as we used to be and we miss it. There was a quote on one of the information sign-posts that struck a chord:

There is no rushing a river. When you go there, you go at the pace of the water and that pace ties you into a flow that is older than life on this planet. Acceptance of that pace, even for a day, changes us, reminds us of other rhythms beyond the sound of our own heartbeats.
- Jeff Rennicke, River Days: Travels on Western Rivers

Good thing we had that little chunk of peaceful time, 'cause the rest of the drive home took two hours longer than it should have! We assumed the problem was either an accident or construction but we saw no sign of either. Pretty slow going, so we caught up on some phone calls. Hmmm. Reminds one of that old saying: something about making lemonade....

All in all a fun day. And, the kicker was that it appeared to have been cloudy and rainy in Everett all day and it was mostly sunny and about 90 degrees in Leavenworth - yeah!!

3 comments:

  1. Glad you enjoyed Leavenworth! I got to go there once, I think, and always wanted to go back but never got the chance! Such a neat place!

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  2. By the way, you will have to fill in South Dakota, Montana, maybe Wyoming and Idaho on your map of where you have been, unless it doesn't count since it was just Uncle John!? :)

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  3. Oh, I assume it counts - I just haven't gotten it done yet!

    Hope you're all having a good summer. We're hoping to swing by your folks' in the later part of September - do you get there often? We'd love to see all of you again!

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