Our western destination was the town of Leavenworth, WA, where we connected with our West Coast families to spend a long July 4th weekend together. Roger and I had traveled through Leavenworth before but had never taken the opportunity to do more than buy a sandwich and fill a tank. I had, however, stepped into the local Visitor Center and learned a bit about the history of Leavenworth, which made me curious to come back for a longer stay.

Leavenworth was originally established in 1885 when the construction of the Great Northern Railway in 1892 brought settlers to the area and and the second largest sawmill in Washington state was built there.

When the railroad relocated and the lumber mills closed, the town looked next to recreation as a major economy and in 1929 opened a ski jump. To this day recreation is the town’s primary economy. However, in the 1960’s in an effort to bolster the economy further a couple of Seattle business created the idea of a theme town, and the community settled on a Bavarian theme. The idea survives and thrives to this day. When you first enter the town, you’re immediately struck by the German appearance of the buildings and stores (even Starbucks uses a German font), the windows filled with flowers, and the vast assortment of different restaurants that serve German food. That said, the village actually has no connection to Bavaria; instead the land boasts of a rich Native American and pioneering heritage.

We stayed at the Icicle Village Resort which was our home base for three days.

The highlights of our time in Leavenworth was the quality time we spent with our children and grandchildren, especially around the tables of some of the excellent restaurants we tried. Honorable mention for one of the best dining experiences in was dinner with the family at Blewett Brewing. Some of the best pizza we’ve ever had. (By then, we’d had our fill of German food.)

A white-water rafting trip was another highlight that took us on a 12 mile stretch of the Wenatchee River and through rapids that had us swirling around in Category 5 rapids and, of course, more than one of us going overboard. What fun!