Wednesday, October 20, 2021

A Day In Leavenworth, WA

I love when there's plans and no plans at all at the same time. We had our Sunday in the Seattle area booked with whale watching, so we had a list of things we could do for our Saturday. To be honest, we were indecisive about it. We had a whole list of things we could do. We settled on a quick stop to the troll under the bridge, then checked out Leavenworth, WA. This wound up being the best decision ever!

The troll is cool and a must visit, especially since it's such a quick thing. It's in the middle of a neighborhood (not far from where we stayed) with plenty of (free) parking all around. After our little troll photo shoot, we drove two hours west of Seattle to Leavenworth, WA. I had never heard of this German town until we went there, but I guess it's a thing. The town is done up at Christmas time as a holiday village. We went to check out the town, plus do some hiking, but we were pleasantly surprised when we pulled into town to find Oktoberfest going on!








In all honesty, we didn't know what to expect from Leavenworth and we were quite shocked to find a crowded festival when we drove through town. We decided on hiking first and then heading to the festival. We were looking to hike the Icicle Gorge Trail, however, that required a drive through the busy downtown area, so we simply pulled off the side of the highway, found a trailhead and hiked.

How do we know this was the best decision ever?? Well, when we were on our way back to the car, someone stopped us on the trail and asked how far the lake was. They had seen the most beautiful pictures on Instagram of a spot on this trail. I pulled my phone out and asked, "this lake?" The woman was so excited when I informed her it was only about half a mile ahead. Everyone was satisfied with this hike. There were colorful leaves, beautiful views, a river, rocks to climb next to the river, and the best company we could ever ask for. This is up there in one of the best hikes we've ever taken.


We can't miss Elizabeth's Doritos (or maybe it was Cheetos) mouth. She hopped out of the car and tried hiking with an orange mouth. I stopped her and made her wipe her mouth, but not before she got that cheese EVERYWHERE on her.


















After hiking, we went back into town and saw the festival was less busy than before. We were able to shop, enjoy the festival, and snagged a spot on a restaurant patio. The oldest indulged in a German sausage platter. I asuumed, wrongly, that he would share with me, but it ended with me ordering my own reuben sandwich!











We arrived back in Seattle late, but ready for the next day's adventure: whale watching!