Leavenworth

No, not the one with the military prison...

This is Leavenworth, WA - a "Bavarian Village" tourist trap on the other side of the Cascades and our destination today. It was very cheesy. We love cheesy.

Why do we have so much fun with these places? Well, of course, they invariably have a great fudge shop, and in this case a taffy shop as well - both extraordinary. They also have restaurants - here a bunch of German ones featuring such things as pork hocks and sausages and schnitzl and sour kraut. And artsy shops with blown glass, and Bavarian clothing stores (maybe we skipped that one) and tea cups and tiny toy tea services and more tea cups. And, well, lots of stuff, including tea cups.

Leavenworth was a dying timber town in the 60s when it decided to restyle itself for tourism. Being right up against the towering Cascade Mountains, it certainly looked Bavarian - so they redid everything with that theme. Amazing really. (Especially with all the tea cups.)

And the drive there was just as extraordinary - through mountain passes, waterfalls and massive forests. It did rain on us - especially on the way back. It POURED on us, on the drive home.

Good thing we had, er... teacups, in case we'd have needed to bail the car out or something.

(More pictures - for a limited time - on my website - click here.)