Leavenworth, Washington, USA

Beer Garden - Leavenworth, Washington, USA

Kris Kringl Store 
- Leavenworth, Washington, USA

Native Indian Dance during Salmon Festival
- Leavenworth, Washington, USA

Downtown Leavenworth, Washington, USA

German-style Umpa Band 
at King Ludwig's - Leavenworth

Leavenworth, Washington, USA

Leavenworth, Washington, USA

Leavenworth, Washington, USA (9/18-19/2009)


Leavenworth is a spectacular town about 2 hours west of Seattle in the North Cascades - a must go-to if you are in the area.

The residents of Leavenworth made this old mining town into a Bavarian-style village – the whole town! (see photos) You would think you were in Germany and soooo cute. It was hard to hold Pat back.



We met a German couple that live in Barvaria and they told us they love visting Leavenworth. Because of modern development, they believe Leavenworth is more 'Barvaian' than Barvaria in Germany.

We hit Leavenworth during their Salmon Festival where they cerebrate the coming back of the salmon with Native Indian dances and lots of other fun stuff. We enjoyed learning more about salmon and northwest birds of prey (e.g. eagles). 

Did you know that 80+% of salmon are now hatched in hatcheries and less than 1% of those make it back to lay their eggs naturally?

King Ludwig’s in Leavenworth is a great place for dinner with a German style ‘umpa’ band - again, great fun (see photo). The Kris Kringl store is a huge year-round Christmas store with great Christmas inventory.

Please also see our 5 other blog posts for the beautiful state of Washington, USA:

USA Washington Gig Harbor Tacoma

USA Washington Orcas Island San Juan Islands

USA Washington Port Townsend Olympic Peninsula

USA Washington San Juan Island

USA Washington Seattle


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Travel for half the cost for all levels of travel from budget to luxury and 100's of other unique travel tips! From a former Economic professor, experienced traveler (106 countries), award-winning travel photojournalist/blogger, featured speaker at large travel shows, host of the travel TV show Plan Your Escape® TV aired on the CW network, and travel columnist for the Huffington Post, our popular 5-star customer rated groundbreaking and comprehensive how-to world travel book Plan Your Escape, Secrets of Traveling the World for Less Than the Cost of Living at Home reveals secrets how you can travel and see more for half the cost for all trips (even a weekend getaway), experience more adventure and romance, safely realize your travel dreams with comprehensive planning tools and checklists, travel the world for less than $100/day for a couple, and much more!
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Mount Hood & Hood River, Oregon and Walla Walla, Washington, USA

Mount Hood, Oregon, USA

Pat Thinks She is 'Queen for the Day' 
 at Maryville Museum - Washington, USA

Trillium Lake - Oregon, USA

Naked Winery in Hood River, Oregon, USA

Wind Surfing - Hood River, Oregon, USA

Mount Hood & Hood River, Oregon and Walla Walla, Washington, USA (9/14-17/2009)

The towns of Hood River on the Columbia River and Walla Walla in Washington's wine country are well worth a visit. 

Hood River is beautiful and is known for its wind surfing (see photo) and the Fruit Loop - 35 very scenic miles of wineries, bountiful fruit stands, flowers, and baked goods (see photos). Hood River's Fruit Loop is a day’s adventure.

A drive up to Mount Hood is another scenic drive where we visited the famous Timberline Lodge built in 1937 at the foot of Mount Hood where they have year around skiing. Timberline Lodge was used in the movie The Shining. 

We also hiked around Lost Lake and Trillium Lake. The beautiful forest drive out to Lost Lake is worth the trip alone and Trillium Lake is amazing – hiking along a beautiful alpine lake through old growth forests (see photos). 

On the drive to Walla Walla, Washington, we visited the Maryville Museum (see photo) housing quite a number of famous pieces of art. Walla Walla in Washington's wine country is also fun. It is a beautiful town with old homes, green parks, and great wines. Walla Walla is a fun place to visit.

Please also see our 5 other blog posts for beautiful Oregon, USA:

USA Oregon Coast Cannon Beach Seaside

USA Oregon Columbia River Gorge

USA Oregon Portland

USA Oregon Wine Country McMinnville

USA Oregon Oregon’s Central Coast Tillamook Depoe Bay Newport

 

Please enjoy 250+ wonderful places around the world, with award-winning photos, from our BLOG ARCHIVE on the right ----> 

Travel for half the cost for all levels of travel from budget to luxury and 100's of other unique travel tips! From a former Economic professor, experienced traveler (106 countries), award-winning travel photojournalist/blogger, featured speaker at large travel shows, host of the travel TV show Plan Your Escape® TV aired on the CW network, and travel columnist for the Huffington Post, our popular 5-star customer rated groundbreaking and comprehensive how-to world travel book Plan Your Escape, Secrets of Traveling the World for Less Than the Cost of Living at Home reveals secrets how you can travel and see more for half the cost for all trips from weekend getaways to longer vacations and trips, experience more adventure and romance, safely realize your travel dreams with comprehensive planning tools & checklists, travel the world for less than $100/day for a couple, and much more!
Buy this popular book on Amazon.com (also available as Ebook for $9.99), CLICK HERE

Columbia River Gorge, Oregon, USA

Multnomah Falls -
Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

Columbia River Gorge - Oregon, USA

Crosby Stills Nash Concert 
- Troutdale, Oregon, USA

Wayne at Multnomah Falls Overlook
- Columbia River Gorge, Oregon, USA

Bridal Veil Falls -
Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

Multnomah Falls -
Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

Ponytail Falls -
Columbia River, Oregon, USA

Horsetail Falls -
Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

Columbia River Gorge, Oregon, USA (9/12-14/2009) - The Columbia River Gorge is sensational!

The Columbia River is the border between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington. About an hour drive east of Portland, the 80-mile-long Columbia River Gorge was formed thousands of years ago through the Cascade Mountains with huge floods from melting glaciers leaving a beautiful mile-wide river valley lined with beautiful waterfalls and hiking trails. Lewis and Clark passed through the gorge in 1805.

On the southern Oregon side, you can easily access many of the wonderful falls with a short walk from the highway. We took longer but great hikes to the top of Multnomah Falls and also to Bridal Veil Falls, Horsetail Falls, and Ponytail Falls (see the beautiful photos). Interstate 84 is a great way to get around the gorge.

Amazingly, we also attended a Crosby, Stills, and Nash concert at McMenamin’s (those guys again) Edgefield property (a restored poor farm) in Troutdale. Wayne saw Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young in concert 30 years ago and it was fun to see them again with a modern update such as: ATM machines, people discussing paying for their hotel with Federal Express points, Graham Nash sipping a class of red wine during the concert, and with a much older crowd (like us, I guess).














































Along the route Lewis and Clark pioneered on their trailblazing journey in 1805, the Columbia Gorge cuts through the Cascade mountain range which is made largely of volcanic (basalt) rock, leading to a number of spectacular cliffs. The bountiful presence of water on the west side of the Cascades leads to a number of very tall waterfalls which intersect the river.

Please also see our 5 other blog posts for beautiful Oregon, USA:

USA Oregon Coast Cannon Beach Seaside

USA Oregon Mount Hood River and Walla Walla Washington

USA Oregon Portland

USA Oregon Wine Country McMinnville

USA Oregon Oregon’s Central Coast Tillamook Depoe Bay Newport

 

Please enjoy 250+ wonderful places around the world, with award-winning photos, from our BLOG ARCHIVE on the right ----> 

Travel for half the cost for all levels of travel from budget to luxury and 100's of other unique travel tips! From a former Economic professor, experienced traveler (106 countries), award-winning travel photojournalist/blogger, featured speaker at large travel shows, host of the travel TV show Plan Your Escape® TV aired on the CW network, and travel columnist for the Huffington Post, our popular 5-star customer rated groundbreaking and comprehensive how-to world travel book Plan Your Escape, Secrets of Traveling the World for Less Than the Cost of Living at Home reveals secrets how you can travel and see more for half the cost for all trips from weekend getaways to longer vacations and trips, experience more adventure and romance, safely realize your travel dreams with comprehensive planning tools and checklists, travel the world for less than $100/day for a couple, and much more!
Buy this popular book on Amazon.com (also available as Ebook for $9.99), CLICK HERE