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

BEADING AN HEIRLOOM

Not many people engage in work that is expected to last  one thousand years. My friend Sharon Sargent took up beading about twelve years ago. On this piece she spent two years, (not full-time) making Ruby, a wall hanging. Beads so small I had to get a magnifying glass to see them.

Sharon estimates that she could have done it in a year if she had devoted full-time to the piece. She has two daughters and will begin another similar wall hanging with a green color theme, in 2012.

The beads look huge through the camera lens. But, I could not see the individual beads with my naked eye.  A piece like this, glass beads woven so perfectly the wall hanging moves like a fine silk fabric;  a treat to behold and touch. Native Americans do marvelous bead work but nothing I’ve seen with beads this tiny. An amazing feat. I’ve visited museums all over the U.S and several in France, Spain, Portugal and Germany. The Louvre has at least one tapestry that I can remember, 900 years old,  made from cloth with fine metallic threads enhancing it.  Sharon’s bead work will easily, with care, last for a thousand years, most likely more. I am truly in awe.  Not surprising,  it took every prize in a recent exhibit.

Handwork is something I respect since I’m a quilter and rug maker. I’ve enjoyed the results of my projects, but I do not have the ability to stay with something as difficult as working such tiny beads. Now that I’m an avid RVer, I see Bert and Sharon, old friends, just once a year. Sharon and I were members of a stock club years ago and she was our bookkeeper. She was just as precise with the books as she is with her beading. Reminds me of that old adage, if your are going to do something, do it well. That’s Sharon.

 

A Visit With Very Unique And Interesting People…

Jim says:

Yesterday Mary and I visited with our good friends Horst and Margot Schneider who live here in Yuma, Arizona. We are parked adjacent to their home.

Horst is 90 and Margo is 89 and they are still full of life! I took this photo of them during my last visit with them just before Christmas.

I first met them in 2006 when the Yuma Sun Newspaper did a full-page article about my 2004, 343 day,16,000+ mile RV trip through Mexico and Central America. Horst saw the article and asked the newspaper to have me contact him. He explained that he also was an author. They invited me to their home and we’ve been great friends ever since. They met as teenagers in pre-World War II Germany and have been together ever since. They have lived most interesting lives and are just full of stories which they love to tell.

Last December I wrote a separate and more complete Blog entry about Horst’s book. Click this link to view that Blog entry…
http://blog.seattlepi.com/ramblinman/archives/189267.asp

During the last year life has started to change for them. Margot never did drive and for the first time Horst failed to pass his driver’s license examination. Not later than April 15th of next year they will be moving to their oldest daughter’s home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We’ve promised them that we will visit them in Baton Rouge in 2013 on our next scheduled trip back to the east coast.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2011
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.panamaorbust.com

The End Of A Very Pleasant Annual Event For Me!

Jim says:

Yesterday I got to visit with my good friends Horst and Margo Schneider who live here in Yuma, Arizona year-round.

Horst & Margo’s 2010 Christmas photo.

Horst is 90 and Margo is 89 and they are still full of life!

I first met them in 2006 when the Yuma Sun Newspaper did a full-page article about my 2004, 343 day,16,000+ mile RV trip through Mexico and Central America. Horst saw the article and asked the newspaper to have me contact him. He explained that he also was an author. They invited me to their home and we’ve been great friends ever since. The have led most interesting lives! The met as teenagers in pre-World War II Germany and have been together ever since.

Horst has written a book about their early years in pre-World War II Germany and how they came to arrive in the United States.

You can see all about it, in addition to his numerous poems and short stories, on his website at http://bookandpoems.com

You can listen to Horst read one of his 500 word short stories entitled “Sweet Cherries” by clicking this link…(It will only take a couple of minutes and you will enjoy it!)
http://five.bookandpoems.com/SWEET%20CHERRIES-A.HTML

Margo is also a very talented painter. Here’s just one sample…

Just one of Margo’s paintings in their home.

Last December I wrote a separate and more complete Blog entry about Horst’s book. Click this link to view that Blog entry…
http://blog.seattlepi.com/ramblinman/archives/189267.asp

During the last year life has started to change for them. Margo never did drive and for the first time Horst failed to pass his driver’s license examination. Not later than April 15th of next year they will be moving to their oldest daughter’s home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

A genuine sexy senior citizen!

Margo has an identical electric scooter except that it is red. What else?

Without a visit with Horst and Margo, my future visits to Yuma will just not be the same. I’ve promised them that Mary and I will visit them in Baton Rouge in 2013 on our next scheduled trip back to the east coast.

I sure hope I have that sparkle in my eye when I get to be their age! They rank at the very near top of the list of the finest people I’ve ever known in my life!

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2009
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.panamaorbust.com

Rising Up Again and Again

Five Blog entries ago I told about my annual visit with my good friends, Horst and Margo Schneider here in Yuma, AZ. I also mentioned the most unusual lives they have lived, among which includes meeting in pre-World War II prior to Hitler, being a German POW who was shipped to the United States and eventually worked for U.S. Intelligence.

That and many other stories are described in his book which I just finished re-reading. Horst is a master story-teller and does a great job in his book…”Rising Up Again and Again”…with a sub-title of “How Life Can Be Fun If You Want It To Be”. To obtain your own copy of his 250 page book for only $15.95 + $4.00 S/H, go this his website at http://bookandpoems.com where you will also find other numerous short stories and poems he has written. You won’t be disappointed!

What an amazing couple. They’ve been together for 71 years and are still very much in love like a couple of teenagers! Don’t forget to go back five of my Blog entries to see their photo and read about my recent visit with them.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2009
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.panamaorbust.com

A very pleasant annual event in Yuma, AZ…

For me! Yesterday I got to visit with my good friends Horst and Margo Schneider who live here year-round.

Horst is 89 and Margo is 88 and they are still full of life!

I first met them in 2006 when the Yuma Sun Newspaper did a full page article about my 2004, 343 day,16,000+ mile RV trip through Mexico and Central America. Horst saw the article and asked the newspaper to have me contact him. He explained that he also was an author. They invited me to their home and we’ve been great friends ever since. The have led most interesting lives! The met as teenagers in pre-World War II Germany and have been together ever since.

Horst has written a book about their early years and about how they came to arrive in the United States. You can see all about it, in addition to his numerous poems and short stories, on his website at http://bookandpoems.com
Margo is also a very talented painter. You can see one of her paintings over her left shoulder.

I sure hope I have that sparkle in my eye when I get to be their age!

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2009
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.panamaorbust.com