Leavenworth, Washington

Yesterday I drove the motorhome the 33 miles from Cashmere to Leavenworth Washington.

We continued traveling along U.S.Highway 2 West.

After 12 miles we stopped in the City of Leavenworth, Washington.  A Bavarian-styled setting as in the Swiss Alps. Here’s the history of how it got to be that way from their official website…

The History of Leavenworth

Believe it or not, our area wasn’t always Bavaria.  Instead, the towering mountain peaks and bountiful land was known amongst Native Americans as some of the most plentiful land anyone had laid eyes on. The Yakama, Chinook and Wenatchi tribes all hunted the same land for deer & elk, and also fished Icicle Creek for salmon.

Settlers hungry for gold, timber, and furs soon settled the area, and by 1890, Icicle Flats was born. The area exploded with the arrival of the rail line near the turn of the century. At that point, Leavenworth was a whole lot less Bavaria and a whole lot more Deadwood! The logging and sawmill business was great…until it wasn’t. When the railroad re-routed its rails and moved out of town, it almost turned Leavenworth into a ghost town. The area scuffled along for more than thirty years, always on the brink of extinction.

In the early 1960’s, town leaders had a bright idea: change Leavenworth’s appearance to draw visitors. If the gorgeous alpine hills had no equal except in German Bavaria, the city planned on completing the experience.

This was no mere facelift. In addition to completely renovating the downtown area, community leaders created a series of festivals, drawing revelers into town. From there, the Autumn Leaf Festival, Maifest, and the immensely popular Christmas Lighting Festivals were born and continue to this day.

To say the change worked is like saying you can taste a hint of cabbage in kraut.  For decades, Leavenworth has been a top tourist destination in the Pacific Northwest. More than a million tourists walk our streets every year, finding Bavarian authenticity and Northwest hospitality.

Here are some of the photos that I took there…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Every year on the first weekend of December they have a Christmas Lighting Festival and light the city with millions of lights. I attend one of these festivals perhaps 20-25 years ago. Here’s a photo of that event from their website…

Our visit finished, I drove the motorhome another 21 miles mostly north and slightly west to Thousand Trails Leavenworth RV Resort. Mary and I are members of Thousand Trails. In doing so, we went from 1125 feet of elevation to 2250 feet elevation…

Here’s the usual dinette window photo…

First it’s too hot, now it’s too cold! Yesterday was a cloudy and cold day with some showers. High temperature for the day was 57 with a real feel of 50 degrees.

Forecast high temperature for today is 63 degrees and cloudy with showers.

We’ll continue our westward travel tomorrow morning.

Enjoying Thousand Trails RV Resorts is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Washington. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust