The thing about living in a valley partially surrounded by mountains is that you can’t necessarily always drive wherever you want to. Winter through Spring you’re kind of at the mercy of mountain pass conditions. It might be fifty degrees and sunny at our house, but have a couple feet of snow falling forty minutes away up in the Cascades. A little different than life back in Michigan where driving conditions are fairly uniform (if the road outside of your front window is clear you can bet all the roads are clear). Well the passes were finally looking sunny and dry yesterday morning so Mary and I headed off for a short day trip to Leavenworth, WA.

Originally a thriving timber community, Leavenworth’s economy slumped when the Great Northern Railway Company relocated out of town in the 1930s. Then fifty years ago some clever Leavenworth officials decided to spark the tourism economy by transforming the city into a mock Bavarian village. The whole town jumped on board and today every building you see there is clad in a Tudor-style exterior. I think it’s actually built into their building codes. So even gas stations, banks, and McDonald’s are following suite. It’s all very immersive and the alp-like peaks jutting up in the background add to the effect.

We spent a couple hours walking around the city, eating German sausage, drinking German beer, and generally just enjoying the nice weather. We also popped into a few of the shops and snacked on gelato and handmade chocolate. Pictured below, lunch at Munchen Haus.