Tuesday, November 13, 2018

A Fun Filled Two Days Driving the North Cascades Loop


Sunday, November 4 & Monday, November 5, 2018

With a Husky win still fresh on our minds, we started Sunday in an excellent mood!

As always when we stay at the Johnson's home, the day just has a to start with a quick look at what is going in the Montlake Cut, aka, Mark and Susie's back yard.

More rowers and as it says on the wall,
ANDIAMO!

Just a BEAUTIFUL day on
Portage Bay

Hey, moss on a tree in the
Pacific Northwest!

Who knew?

Dew on a Leaf

After going to church with the
Johnsons, they were still rowing
in the Cut

It was now about midday as we embarked on an overnight adventure, driving Washington's North Cascades scenic route.

The scenery was indeed a delight as the flora was turning all sorts of wondrous colors which we just don't see in Southern California.

After about three hours of driving, we finally arrived at our overnight destination . . .

. . . the Bavarian themed city
of Leavenworth, Washington

 It was cold and windy
but we LOVED it!

May Pole?

I did say that Leavenworth is . . .

. . . Bavarian themed, didn't I?

They were adorning the trees
with Christmas lights as the wind
continued to ROAR!

 Just a thoroughly quaint town

This bar served us a solid dinner
and some good spirits

Fortunately for us, snow had not
fallen in the town as of yet 

Monday morning in Leavenworth

Laurie and Susie getting ready
to partake of our hotel's extensive
breakfast buffet

What the . . . 

In keeping with the town's Bavarian theme, this man gets up on this ledge every morning at precisely 9:00 a.m. to wake up any sleepy heads in the nearby area by playing his Alphorn.

Have a listen to the sweet
sounds of our resident Alphornist

Our hotel had many great
Bavarian appointments

Mark and Susie by a river
running through Leavenworth

Us at the same spot

Ponies grazing

 Scary!

One of each please

We left Leavenworth after doing a bit of shopping to help out the local economy and headed to one of Mark's wrestling referee's home on the . . .

. . . Columbia River near . . .

Chelan, Washington

A Victory Bell in Chelan

Cool little stadium which is the . . .

. . . Home of the Goats!

We drove on to the city of Winthorp as our final shopping goal for the day.

Oh, the serenity we saw

We made it to Winthorp

Susie and Laurie immediately
started their latest shopping spree

Winthorp has gone whole hog
for the Cowboy motif

One of goodness knows how many
micro-breweries in the state

I like ice cream


It was getting late and we still had lots of ground to cover before getting home to Seattle.

Our route? The North Cascades Highway through the highest part of this magnificent mountain range through lots of areas where snow had fallen in the last few weeks.

Rugged but . . .

. . . beautiful in the eyes of two
California kids

What a GREAT adventure thanks to our hosts Mark and Susie Johnson!

What will Tuesday bring?

No comments: