65th BIRTHDAY VACATION: PART TWO
The second day of our vacation we decided to do a little exploring of the outlying area around Leavenworth. We had gone online beforehand and found some hiking trails that were "easy" and not too long, so that morning we decided to try out a couple of them. We were going to go to the "Bygone Byways Trail" first. Our information said that we were to proceed about 20 miles from a certain intersection on the edge of town, and then we would see a sign for the trail. We rode out Highway 2 towards Stevens Pass and about 18 miles out we started looking for the sign. We didn't see it when we reached 20 miles out, so we kept on going. At 25 miles outside of town, we turned around and went back the other way. Still no sign, and we didn't even see anywhere to pull off the road to get on a trail. We gave up on that one, but continued on back towards town as there was another trail that was only 1.5 miles out of town. When we suddenly found ourselves back in Leavenworth, we knew we had missed that one also. So, we turned around and backtracked and finally saw the turn off for this trail. It's almost like you won't find these trails unless you know where they are to start with! At any rate, we parked at the trail head to the Old Pipeline Bed. The trail starts right beside the Wenatchee River and goes over a bridge that was made from half of a huge pipe.
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| Linda crossing over the Pipeline bridge |
The river was absolutely raging below us, but the bridge was really sturdy so there were no worries. The view from the middle of the bridge was absolutely gorgeous but very noisy!
Once we got over the bridge and a few steps away, the noise level went way down and we had a lovely view out over the river to the other shore.
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| View from the Trail |
The trail was a nice mile or so walk along a relatively level path alongside the river. We were glad it was totally in shade because it was getting on towards mid-morning and the temperature was rising. There were pretty wildflowers and plants in bloom all along the trail, and it even had the "Christmas tree" smell that is so prevalent in forests around here. We came to a small creek and met a couple with three kids who were headed back to the trail head. They told us that apparently the rest of the trail had washed out because there was no way to go any further than the creek, unless you were an experienced mountain climber. We were most certainly not that, so we turned around and headed back. I had hoped to get in some bird watching, but the trail really wasn't conducive to that kind of activity. It was a short but very enjoyable walk, which was good because my back had been hurting me for several days and I wasn't up for anything strenuous. After one last picture of the scenery, we got back in our car and headed for the next stop.
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| Heading back to trail head |
The next stop on our list was to check out the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery. We drove up to the Hatchery but since it was out in the hot sun and it was getting close to noon, we decided to save this for another trip. At least we know where it is! From there, we continued on to Wenatchee, WA, stopping on the way out of town to pick up a couple of sandwiches for a picnic. Wenatchee is a larger town that is around 20 miles from Leavenworth. Arriving in Wenatchee we remarked on how similar it is to Yakima, at least in the way it looks coming into town. We found the Wenatchee Riverfront Park and settled in at a picnic table for lunch. The scenery was beautiful and the weather was pretty close to perfect except for a stiff wind blowing off of the river. The Wenatchee River is a pretty big river, and the city seems to done a great job of showcasing it with this lovely park. During lunch we did get the opportunity to watch some birds and butterflies flying around. After lunch, we drove a few blocks and parked near a used bookstore that Linda wanted to visit. It was a funky little place and had loads of books, but we didn't spend much time there as Linda decided she has been spoiled by the Little Free Libraries she visits...free books! No bookstore can compete with that unless you are absolutely dying for a specific book. We left the bookstore and took a short walk along the sidewalks downtown just to see what was there. Back at the car, we decided to head for home base (Starbucks) and relax a bit since my back had just about had it.
Back at home base I decided to try out one of the new drinks from Starbucks, the Mango Pineapple Frappuccino Blended Creme. That's a long name for a drink, but let me tell you it really delivers on flavor! I may have to get that again soon.
After our relaxing break we decided to poke around a few of the stores in Leavenworth. There is a wide variety of merchandise for sale in Leavenworth. They have nic-nac shops, wineries with tasting rooms, biergartens, sit-down restaurants, gift shops, ice cream stores, and even a distillery, plus many more. The one store we always go to is the Christmas store, Kris Kringl. I have never seen so many Christmas decorations in my life, and every time we go they have new and different things. This year they had a collection of Beatles ornaments which were very pretty. Of course, some of these ornaments are extremely expensive and I would feel funny putting them on our little three foot tall artificial tree, which we bought in Lumberton for a fraction of what those ornaments cost. But they also have some inexpensive ornaments and such a wide variety that everyone can find something they like. We try to get an new ornament every year to go on our tree, so we decided on this one below for our 2017 ornament.
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| Our new Christmas ornament for this year |
After poking around in quite a few stores, we decided to go back to our room and rest for a bit. This didn't last long, though, as it was getting close to cocktail hour. So, we headed for our next stop, the Icicle Brewing Company. We decided to have a beer here and then go to another restaurant for dinner. All beers are brewed on site and there are quite a few to choose from. Linda likes a dark beer while I usually go for a much lighter one. Upon perusing the menu, I decided on the Colchuck Raspberry Wheat. Linda was intrigued by the description for the Dark Persuasion beer, tasting like "German chocolate cake." We carried our beers out to their beautiful patio in front of the brewery, right alongside Front Street. The weather was perfect, not too hot and not cold at all, with a light breeze. There was music playing in the background but it wasn't so loud as to deter a good conversation. The beers were excellent! Linda's actually did have a chocolaty-coconut flavor to it, and the Raspberry Wheat was one of the best wheat beers I've ever had. We checked out their menu and came to the conclusion that on our next trip we will eat dinner there as well.
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| Relaxing at Icicle Brewery |
After our delicious beers we took a short walk one street over to our destination for dinner, Blewett Brewing Company. It should be obvious by now that Linda and I love our microbrewery beer! Leavenworth does not lack for breweries, as is true of most cities in our fair state. Upon reading reviews of eateries in Leavenworth, I had read that this brewery recently merged with the pizza place next door, and had received rave reviews for both the beer and the pizza. I had been craving pizza, so this was a no-brainer. We chose to sit inside for dinner as the sun was bathing the outside area in tons of hotness. Before ordering dinner, we ordered a flight of five of their beers to sample together. This was a great idea as I had been wanting to try other types of beer beside my usual favorites. The brewery picks four of the beers on the flight and we got to pick the fifth beer. We decided on the Nut Brown Ale just to be sure we got one dark beer. We sipped on the beers while waiting for our pizza, and came to the conclusion that we both liked the Barnstorm Pale Ale and the Crikside Citra IPA best. Both were very similar and had a definite grapefruit flavor to them. All of the beers were very good, as evidenced by the fact that there was none left. We ordered a "Sister Kathy" pizza, a homemade crust topped with crimini mushrooms, roasted garlic, provolone cheese, arugula and parmesan cheese. Linda remarked that she had never had pizza with lettuce on it before. The one pizza was just the perfect size for two and it was out-of-this-world delicious! When we left the brewery, we were pleasantly full but not stuffed. On our way back to our hotel (which was only about a block away), we passed by a gift shop called Ganz Klasse. It wasn't open at the time, but there was a beautiful, unusal tea kettle in the window so I had to take a picture of it.
We somewhat staggered back to our hotel and settled in for the evening. The next morning we had breakfast and coffee at our home base and then bid a fond farewell to Leavenworth...until the next time!
That's all for this week, but I hope you will check back next week to see what we've been up to since we got home...and I promise a picture of Summer next week.
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