Leavenworth, WA

Today was my birthday and I got to pick our destination.  I chose Leavenworth, a quaint Bavarian village located in an alpine setting along Washington's Highway 2.   In 1962, after the Great North Railroad relocated from Leavenworth to Wenatchee, the town's economy became sluggish.  After visiting the Danish-themed town of Solvang in California, a committee suggested that Leavenworth could be remade into a Bavarian village.  The idea caught on, and today Leavenworth is a year-round thriving tourist village.  Arrive early, because it's hard to park!

The snow-capped mountains add to the charm of Leavenworth

We didn't buy any souvenirs, but Dave and I had a good time window shopping and taking pictures.  After brunch at Cafe Verona, we walked all around the town and then walked downhill to the path along the Wenatchee River.  Suddenly we were away from the mobs of tourists and enjoying the beauty of nature, along with the company of a few other nature-lovers. 

From the path along the Wenatchee River

After spending a few hours in the Leavenworth area, we drove back to our motorhome.  We are parked at the Chelan County Expo Center in Cashmere, a few miles east of Leavenworth and a few miles west of Wenatchee.  One other motorhome came into this park yesterday, and our two rigs have the place to ourselves.  Sunday afternoon we will return to Wenatchee Confluence State Park for a few more days. 

Since we ate brunch in Leavenworth, we decided to eat dinner in Cashmere.  It's my birthday, you know, so I can't cook today!  We stumbled onto a non-fancy, but oh so tasty barbecue place called Country Boy's.  Yummy, yummy food--we highly recommend it if you're in the area and like southern-style BBQ.

Oink, oink--you'll get a lot to eat at Country Boy's

We rounded out the day by watching a DVD of The King's Speech.  It was a great movie, and I can see why it won so many awards.  Now my birthday is almost over and I can relax until next year, when I face the big 6-0 birthday!

Thanks for indulging me today, Dave!

Chelan, WA

Highway tunnel along Alt Hwy 97 from Wenatchee to Chelan

We are still staying at Wenatchee Confluence State Park, but today we drove north on Alternate Highway 97 to the town of Chelan and the lake that the town is known for, Lake Chelan.  Someday I'm going to go for a boat ride on Lake Chelan up to Stehekin, but today wasn't the day.  Instead we went on an errand to Walmart, bought some lunch at Subway, and ate at Don Morse City Park beside Lake Chelan.  It was windy and a bit chilly, so we ate in the car. 

Our first view of Lake Chelan from Alt Hwy 97

This city park has a 9-hole putting course, tennis courts, basketball area, playground, skateboard park, and a very nice campground with full hookups and quite a few trees.  Someday we'll come back and stay in this campground for a few days.  In the RV Park Review site, this campground is called Lakeshore Park.

Playground at Don Morse City Park with Lake Chelan and the Cascade Mountains in the background. 

After lunch, we decided to take Highway 97 (not Alternate 97) from Chelan back to Wenatchee.  The Columbia River spans the two highways, so it's a very scenic drive both directions.  The east side, Hwy 97, has more orchards and the west side has more rocky hills. 

Dave told me that we were going to Chelan Falls, so I said, yippee, I like to see waterfalls.  Well, there weren't any waterfalls at Chelan Falls, just a PUD powerhouse.  It had stolen what once was falls.  However, we saw several very nice county PUD parks, one of which we plan to camp in in the future.  Beebe Bridge County PUD Park's address is Chelan Falls, but don't be fooled, there's no falls and no town, unless you count it as a town if it has a post office, which it does.

The powerhouse that stole Chelan Falls

Beebe Bridge crosses the Columbia River near Chelan and divides Hwy 97 from Alt Hwy 97.  Beebe Bridge Park does not have sewer hookups, but it's a lovely park right on the river.  Again, this park has a tennis court with basketball area, a nice playground, soccer and baseball fields.  The best part is that the off-season senior rates are $12 per night, and you don't have to be a Washington state resident to take advantage of these rates.  The regular off-season camping rate is $23 and the summer rate is $28 per night, which is kind of high for partial hookups, but the setting and location of this park is worth a stay.  Here's the review for this campground: Beebe Bridge County PUD Park

There are lots of interesting sights and many parks along this stretch of the Columbia River

Some of the scenery from the road on the way back to Wenatchee

Our final two stops were to check out Daroga and Lincoln Rock State Parks.  Both were nice parks but we liked Lincoln Rock better.  Daroga has camping, but no sites with sewer.  Lincoln Rock has full hookups sites.  Both parks are right on the Columbia River and have lots of amenities like tennis courts, soccer fields, etc.  At Lincoln Rock we saw the following small creatures all over the place, but we couldn't quite figure out what they were.

Marmot, maybe?  Definitely not a squirrel!

Wenatchee, Washington

Thank you very much to all who commented on both sets of my Sophie pictures.  As much as we would like to see our new granddaughter every single day, we thought we had better let the new parents settle into an at-home routine.  We decided to go on a ten-day trip with our motorhome.  Our destination was Wenatchee, the apple capital of Washington state.  Wenatchee is a good six hour drive from our home in Vancouver, WA, a bit further than we prefer to drive in a day, but definitely do-able.

We took Highway 97 north from I-90 to Highway 2, then east to Wenatchee.

The scenery was spectacular while traveling on US Highway 97.  Those are the Cascade Mountains in the distance.

  

One of the highlights of a trip to Wenatchee is staying at Wenatchee Confluence State Park--a confluence where the Wenatchee River meets the Columbia River.  When we arrived yesterday, the sun was out, the temperature was fairly warm, but it was windy as it often is in this area. 

We are taking advantage of the final three days of using our senior resident off-season state park camping pass.  We are camping for $6 per night, but not on weekends in April, and not after April 30--until October, that is, when we'll buy another pass for $50 and start the process again.   As Dave mentioned in his blog, this park is fully booked for this weekend because of Wenatchee's Apple Blossom Festival which starts tomorrow.  When we come back here next week, we will have to pay the regular rate of $28 per day. 

Pull-thru site #13

Our view of the Columbia River

He is Risen!

He is risen, indeed!  Thanks be to God!

This Easter morning we are especially thankful for Sophie Peace.  In the one week since she has been born, Sophie has brought us peace, joy, happiness, smiles, concern, and all those ups and downs that go along with new life.

Sophie--almost one week old

Sophie ready to leave the hospital on Wednesday.  Doesn't she look excited at the prospect?

Sophie does occasionally open her eyes

One of my favorite pictures from the hospital

Our little sweet pea modeling her daisy shirt

Meet Our New Granddaughter!

Newborn Sophie 

Our first grandchild, Sophie Peace, was born Sunday night, 4/17/11 at 11:30 pm.  Sophie weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces and was 21 inches long.  Our daughter-in-law, Kiersten, was put in the hospital Friday afternoon because of pre-eclampsia and the baby was born by C-section.  The miracle of life--it's precious!

Grandpa Dave holds Sophie for the first time

Kiersten, Tim, and Sophie--now they are three!

The hospital is 40 minutes from our house when travelling in the middle of the night and there's no traffic.  We met Sophie when she was only 2 1/2 hours old.  She slept the whole time we visited.  Now the proud parents are getting some much needed rest and we will visit again tonight.

Tim posted this picture Monday morning--sticker added!

Foreign Correspondence

I recently read another good book by an author that I enjoy.  The first book by Geraldine Brooks that I read was Year of Wonders, a story based on the plague in England in the 1600s.  Then I read her book People of the Book, which was inspired by a true story about a mysterious manuscript.  This intriguing story spanned five centuries.  I was surprised to recently come across another, totally different, book by Geraldine Brooks, Foreign Correspondence.

"As a young girl in a suburban neighborhood of Sydney, Australia, Geraldine Brooks longed to discover the places where history happens and culture comes from, so she enlisted pen pals who offered her a window on adolescence in the Middle East, Europe, and America.

Twenty years later Brooks, an award-winning foreign correspondent, embarked on a human treasure hunt to find her pen friends. She found men and women whose lives had been shaped by war and hatred, by fame and notoriety, and by the ravages of mental illness. Intimate, moving, and often humorous, Foreign Correspondence speaks to the unquiet heart of every girl who has ever yearned to become a woman of the world.  Beginning in the mid-1960s, the book shows world events through the eyes of an adolescent girl leading an isolated (or so she thinks) life in Sydney, Australia."

Little does young Geraldine realize that when she grows up, she will visit and work in all the places she spent so much time dreaming about. 

Check out Geraldine Brooks' website to find out more about this interesting author.  Her latest book, Caleb's Crossing, will be available in early May.  Caleb's Crossing was inspired by the story of the first Native American Indian to graduate from Harvard University. 

Author Geraldine Brooks

Mannequins and More in Monroe

This trip we are exploring the Bothell, Washington area.  Just north of here, in Snohomish County, is the small city of Monroe.  That's where today's travels took us.  The population of the city is around 15,000, so it's big enough to have all the necessary stores, but small enough to be a pleasant size.  We were impressed because the town seems to have a lot of new growth. 

We parked the car and went for a walk along Monroe's Main Street.  The following mannequin display gave me a laugh. 

It looked quite realistic except that they didn't have "anything" above the waist!

Bicycle parking

A couple of signs that I liked 

Monroe had a very large flag  in the center of  Main Street.

Daffodils under the flagpole

A view looking up at the flag 

Dave took this artistic picture of the flag and pole.

We also took a drive to check out the Leisure Time/Thousand Trails park in Monroe.  Thunderbird Preserve is located about 4 miles southeast of Monroe.  The park is definitely out in the country, and in a scenic area along the Skykomish River.  We were surprised to see that we could get a fairly good Verizon signal out at the park. 

I'm sorry that I don't have any Seattle pictures to share.  We were so close in distance, but we didn't have time to go there this trip.  I'm sure we'll be back to visit this area again!

I leave you with a picture I call "THE END(S)"