What is it about yodeling that makes you want to tap your foot and warble along, if you only could? That is how I felt on a recent trip to the Bavarian village in the Cascade Mountains of Washington - Leavenworth. The atmosphere is set…Read More

What is it about yodeling that makes you want to tap your foot and warble along, if you only could? That is how I felt on a recent trip to the Bavarian village in the Cascade Mountains of Washington - Leavenworth.

The atmosphere is set with the street lined with European looking doorfronts with window boxes of colorful flowers and quaint paintings on the shutters that make you feel as though you are Hansel or Gretel coming upon rows and rows of enchanted houses in the forest.

They say that this Bavarian village has nore festivals that the entire state of Bavaria and I, for one, believe it! Nearly every month some sort of special event or festival is planned.

Go in April and see an authentic Bavarian Folk dance Festival complete with dance lessons for we "non-dancers". Later in the spring, when the Wenatchee River chruns with white water rapids from the spring run-off, kyak and raft races are the highlight.

Summer, which is when I visited this time, is when the street entertainers are at their peak and everything from ponny rides to face painting is offered! Entertainment is there in the park daily and The Yodelers are my favorites of it all! Late summer brings a jazz festival and well as those lazy summer blues and other music to the city, especially at the outdoor cafes.

Fall kicks of with a Bavarian quilt show every September and also the Wenatchee River Festival, when they celebrate the return of the salmon from the sea. But that's not all! Fall brings tons of festivals celebrating everything from the Autumn Leaves to Oktoberfest. Every weekend there is a celebration of some sort!

But Christmastime is when Leavenworth is the most spectacular of all. This lovely mountain village bedecked with Christmas lights and other decorations captures all the charm of a true Bavarian Christmas. It is like being in another country.

Any time of year there is something for everyone in this lovely mountain town that will lift your spirit, and make you too, want to return again and again.

This is the route into (or out of) Leavenworth to the west, and the main reason there's a town there in the first place. Lots of people don't like Stevens because it tends to be two lane, and gets clogged and therefore very dangerous…Read More

This is the route into (or out of) Leavenworth to the west, and the main reason there's a town there in the first place. Lots of people don't like Stevens because it tends to be two lane, and gets clogged and therefore very dangerous on weekends. But it's just so beautiful, especially Tumwater Canyon, the last descent into Leavenworth. The road winds down along a rampaging, unrunnable river, what occasionally flattens out into a gorgeous mountain lake. The roadway is carved out of sheer walls in places, in others loops through aspen groves or provides pullouts to allow access to the river. I just love it, and always try to make the trip a little more dangerous.
In winter, the less visually exciting part of Stevens (crossing the summit ridge above the tree line) suddenly changes into legitimate winter wonderland. You stare across valleys at mountains topped in ice and avalanche academies, the lower slopes crosshatched by the patterns of snow blown through evergreens and yellow tamrack. The air sizzles, the white landscape dazzles. It's a great drive. There are actually guys who have one of my dream jobs--they patrol the pas with a cannon (actually a 155 mm recoiless rifle) and use it to shoot down avalanches across the valley. Boy, that'd be a feather in your resume, huh? There are places to stop and eat on Stevens, (don't miss Zeke's Burgers with his Viking ships and caboose kitchen and weirdness--or the Squirrel Tree Inn at Cole's Corner) but mostly it's just a nice drive thorugh countryside, mountain, and excellent alpine valley. At the other end, get a cup at some Kaffe Haus in Leavenworth and head up the Icicle. Close

Just a few miles east on Hiway 2 is Peshastin Pinnacles State Park--the pleasant ending of a long struggle over climber's access to one of the best-known climbing sites in Washington. It's a day use park in which you can find any level of…Read More

Just a few miles east on Hiway 2 is Peshastin Pinnacles State Park--the pleasant ending of a long struggle over climber's access to one of the best-known climbing sites in Washington. It's a day use park in which you can find any level of climbing challenge you want. The pinnacles stand out from the eroding cap and are steep, bizarre and riddled with caves and trails. You can learn a lot around here, because some major climbing studs work out on the pinnacles. Close

They have hiking and skiing and rafting and mountain biking in Leavenworth. Big woop. Who doesn't? Step into town and you find out where to do that stuff in about ten minutes. But they also have stuff to do in Leavenworth…Read More

They have hiking and skiing and rafting and mountain biking in Leavenworth. Big woop. Who doesn't? Step into town and you find out where to do that stuff in about ten minutes. But they also have stuff to do in Leavenworth that you don't run into in just any old pseudo-Bavarian tourist trap.
Dog sledding, for instance. Tell me you did THAT on your last vacation. It's a great way to blast around in the beauty of the Cascade winter, and the dogs are just regular guys, don't put on airs at all. Call Enchanted Mountain (763-2975) or Alaska Dreamin Sled Dogs (763-8017.
Or how about that sleigh ride I promised? What could be more wintery, more Christmasy, more over-the-river-and-through-the-woods-on-a-sleigh-ride-together-with-you than that? Red Tail Canyon Farm has been putting people behind the massive butts of Percherons for years and know how to do it. (800-678-4512). And Eagle Creek Ranch will also trot you through the woods with sleighbells jinglin', group rate or one-horse open sleigh. (800-221-7433) Seriusly, it's easy enough to look down my nose at overplayed popular Christmas songs and rustic doings--but a sleigh ride can be a total blast. It's like chariots, sledding, and stagecoach races all in one, tearing through the white woods in an odd quiet, hearing the horses breath, watching their breath fan out like a locomotive's exhaust, feeling the wiping skid of the runners on the snow pack, hearing the wolves slavering behind you...no, wait a minute, that's fiction: the truth is, this is big fun.
So the sleigh's don't run so good in summer, no problemo (oops, this is Leavenworth--Nein Problemen or whatever). Just call up Red Tail Farm and discover that they can also do HAY rides (which sounds almost the same). So you can work on your hay fever, chew on a hayseed, or make out with some turkey in the straw while ploppin along a country lane--and they usually toss in a barbecue. Also keep Eagle Creek in mind in summer--their huge ranch up in the National Forest is a great place for hikes and pack trips and they will put toghether horse expeditions and wagon rides for you.
My own favorite sport, which I call Dive the Deepest Mountain is also perfect for Leavenworth, and I developed it here. Just carry a mask and fins when you like up to places like the Enchantment Lakes, then jump in and freeze your pachacas off. Run whitewater underwater. The best place for this is the River Island Park, where they build a foot bridge over to a river island to create a truly fine town park for walking, losing kids, or swimming from several soft beaches lined with trees and shrubs. I have seem trout and underwater swimming snakes (!!!) here, and have also found that it's a great place for diving for treasure--especially about a mile downriver from the park, where the rafting tours hit their first drop and all sorts of cameras, money, fishing gear, and whatnot falls into the water available for salvage.Close

FESTIVALS Actually the original idea behind the Bavarian Putsch was just to have a Bavaria Festival, but the concept blitzkrieged out of control. And Leavenworth is still the most festival-happy place going. The start the year out with the Bavarian Ice Fest--snowshoe races, dog sleds, tug…Read More

FESTIVALS Actually the original idea behind the Bavarian Putsch was just to have a Bavaria Festival, but the concept blitzkrieged out of control. And Leavenworth is still the most festival-happy place going.
The start the year out with the Bavarian Ice Fest--snowshoe races, dog sleds, tug of war with the object of making you fall down into some freezing slurpie of doom, and fireworks for those who didn't catch cold.
Then they have a Maifest on Mother's Day, and of course they have little Frauleinish dumplings out there in their drindls dancing around a Maypole in innocent disregard of it's phallic origins. Or not. Concerts, but they tend to be of the oompah Germanic type music or weirdness like handbell choirs, which should like syncronized cow jumping. Am I being too cynical here? Come to Maifest and decide for yourself.
Also in May, and continuing all summer, is the Art in the Park thing, in which the park is always full of canvases and easels on weekends. Local output, and it ranges from very, very good to absolutely dreadful. There's also a Craftfair in June (and how they missed spelling it with a "K" is a mystery) which is about what you'd expect--crafts in a place where they import cuckoo clocks and trolls to sell to tourists in fake Swiss malls.
Also in June are the International Folk Festival and Kinderfest, which pretty much depends on how you feel about, respectively, folkdancing and children. The long-awaited Clogging on Children Fest has not, so far, manifested. And the International Accordian Celebration, if celebration is indeed the word. You knew there were going to be accordians in here, just like bagpipes always raise their shrieking heads whenever people start talking about Gaelic or Celtic or whatever. This is NOT Riverdances With Wolves.
I always got a kick out of the Autumn Leaf Festival in late September, early October (they tried to pay the trees to turn in May, but no go.) Okay, you have wurst feasts and marching bands and a MAJOR polka scare, but autumn leaves are pretty and the decorate the town with them. You don't HAVE to sit around listening to the damn polkas, the hills are not alive with the sound of them--head up the Icicle or Tumwater for a gorgeous drive or cycle. There is a Salmon Festival, a River Festival and, as I'm sure you assumed all along, an Octoberfest (they don't even spell that with a "k"!)
Then at Christmas they do sort of every Christmas shtick you can think of--and they are essentially paid to think of more. They light up an impressive tree, have the Claus family over while Scrooge bops around humbugging, do caroling, have sleigh rides, throw concerts. And then it's New Years, when they celebrate the traditional values, such as getting drunk and sexually misbehaving, then the whole bloody cycle starts over again.

Some more sophisticated arts events can also be found throughout the season. The Icicle Music Center puts on festivals and concerts series, bringing top international musicians in fields as wide as jass, chamber music, bluegrass, string quartets, and full-blown symphonies. Call (800)574-2123 for the current schedules. I just say Mark O'Conner up there and it's a VERY cool venue, up at Sleeping Lady on the Icicle.
There is also a summer theater with outdoor stage (guess what play that was later made into a movie starring Julie Andrews gets done a LOT? If you said, "Heidi" you're not all that wrong, by the way.)

While in Leavenworth during the Christmas season it is impossible to not feel the energy of the holiday. People are friendly and some even speak a bit of German (which I love). Shops have great Christmas gifts and the food is wonderful. The snow really…Read More

While in Leavenworth during the Christmas season it is impossible to not feel the energy of the holiday. People are friendly and some even speak a bit of German (which I love). Shops have great Christmas gifts and the food is wonderful. The snow really helps to enliven and inspire a Christmas cheer!Close

Christmas is a wonderful time in Germany and so it is here in Leavenworth. The town is decked out in lights on every building and street vendors show their wares as do all the shop owners. Unique gifts, food, tours of local B&B's…Read More

Christmas is a wonderful time in Germany and so it is here in Leavenworth. The town is decked out in lights on every building and street vendors show their wares as do all the shop owners. Unique gifts, food, tours of local B&B's and lots of music make this a magical time of the year.Close

No, it's not spelled wrong. This is a truly German event complete with German folk music direct from the homeland, dancing in the streets, good food and beer. Where else can you get this kind of entertainment for $10.00 per day. Held each…Read More

No, it's not spelled wrong. This is a truly German event complete with German folk music direct from the homeland, dancing in the streets, good food and beer. Where else can you get this kind of entertainment for $10.00 per day.

Held each October (around the middle of the month), this is an event everyone should experience at least once.Close

What a perfect winter wonderland in and around this great town. There are 8K of trails from downtown to the golf course and a total of 23K near town. If you like more adventure you can ski in the Lake Wenatchee Recreation Area…Read More

What a perfect winter wonderland in and around this great town. There are 8K of trails from downtown to the golf course and a total of 23K near town. If you like more adventure you can ski in the Lake Wenatchee Recreation Area nearby. It's good, dry snow and the scenery is spectacular.Close

We took a weekend trip to Leavenworth from Seattle to have some fun in the snow with the kids. The town was very nicely decorated for Christmas with tons of lights which the wife and kids really liked. We were looking to do some sledding…Read More

We took a weekend trip to Leavenworth from Seattle to have some fun in the snow with the kids. The town was very nicely decorated for Christmas with tons of lights which the wife and kids really liked. We were looking to do some sledding with the kids. While there is sledding in the main town square, it is an unimpressive hill. To go where the real fun is, head behind the main part of town to Enchantment Park. It is a baseball field area with playground. There are smaller hills for the little kids but also larger hills that are even a rush for the big kids and adults. If you really want to have fun get a snow tube instead of the plastic sleds and you will fly on these runs. Plenty of area to build snowmen and for snowball fights too. Close