A Weekend Excursion

We took a drive on Sunday across the mountain pass to the fake Bavarian village that is Leavenworth - and then decided to go a little further east on Highway 2 toward Wenatchee, mostly because Mark likes to say the name, but also because we thought there might be apple trees blooming in the area, this being apple country. We were right - there were apple trees blooming in abundance. Very satisfying.

And since we were in the area, we decided to also check out a 'garden' that we had read about in Wenatchee that was on the bluffs overlooking the mighty Columbia River. Ohme Gardens were developed by the Ohme family in the 30s - and I really mean 'developed.' There was nothing there to start with but the view and the rocks. The family hauled in paving stones and built paths and steps, planted native trees, flowers and shrubbery, put in a watering system, some ponds, some waterfalls and some little 'lookout' buildings, all in the name of creating a backdrop for a future house that never actually got built. They didn't have professional help - they didn't even really have mechanical help. They just plugged away at their dream, year after year, a path here and a lawn there, until word got around that they had created something really special that people wanted to see. So it eventually became a county park. It is full of native plants, not cultivated gardens, and winds around a bluff to take advantage of the slope and the rocks and the views. An amazing place under the circumstances. And actually rather amazing even without the circumstances.

This is the neighboring hill, to give you some idea of what they started with:

And this is what the 'garden' is like today - although individual pictures can't really capture it. It is revealed in small sections, as you walk around a boulder or reach the rise of a hill or look out of one of the viewpoints or sit by a little pond and waterfall.