Driving in the Snow

For anyone that doesn't live here in this area, you probably won't know what Leavenworth is. It's a town here in Washington that got together a few decades ago and decided that they should become totally Bavarian. They got it right too--When you go there you'd swear you were somewhere in that part of Europe. It caters to tourism. There are lots of shops and restaurants, as well as special parking for tour buses.

This is the time of year when the town really comes alive. There are so many places in the world that celebrate the holidays in a special way, but when you start with a town like Leavenworth and throw in some snow, it adds quite a bit of crowd appeal.

Sarah has been after me to go there for a while now. She has been 3 times during special school events, but was frustrated at the lack of freedom and time during those outings. Her friends and classmates were never "on the same page" and might end up wasting too much time in one store and not have time to see anything else. Sue and I talked about it last weekend and decided that we'd "give it a go" this weekend much to Sarah's delight. We took her boyfriend too of course.

We lucked out. The sensationalism-driven media in our area was calling for (insert bold, announcer-type voice here) "Winter Storm 2008" and was promising lots of snow and freezing temperatures. They were making it sound pretty bad as they usually do. Well, as it usually is they were wrong. Yes, there was snow, but no it was nothing like they predicted. As such, I'm sure it kept most of the people off the roads. We took Suzie's little old 1990 Camry wagon on the trip this time. It has ample space, it's nice riding, and has great winter tires on it. We drove over Snoqualmie Pass and over Blewitt Pass on the way over, and drove across Stevens Pass to Monroe on the way home, and it was much packed snow all the way. It was also snowing pretty much the whole way with a little break here and there. On the way back last night we drove in heavy snow for much of the trip. Some of the biggest and heaviest snow we encountered was when we got closer to home in the lowlands!

There were a couple of Lions Club tents selling freshly roasted chestnuts for a couple bucks for a cup full. It was the first time any of us had ever eaten them and I believe we all liked them. They were very unusual. I thought they had a somewhat "meat-like" flavor, but the others agreed that they tasted more like sweet potatoes.

After we all agreed to meet back at a certain place and I'd buy us all dinner, the two couples split up to go wandering. Suzie and I went on a hunt for a place to eat something . I was frustrated more than once because we couldn't get into a restaurant. Place after place we entered, only to find them overfilled or understaffed. Finally we ended up wandering down "food alley" (every town event has one) where the food vendor tents were set up. We were just about to get something "ala carte" when we spotted a Mexican restaurant. It was situated far enough off the main drag and was on a second floor that it wasn't crowded at all. We got to sit and enjoy a beer and a plate of nachos. It was the perfect thing to tide us over until dinner time. After all, it was already 2pm and we hadn't eaten lunch...

Everywhere you looked there were people pulling kids on toboggans and sleds. There were all manners of strange hats too, thanks to a hat shop in town. That hat store is so renowned for its unusual hats that people that come into town always put it on their "must see" list. So much so that this time there was a huge line out into the street for people going in. Did we? No. I hate lines, and neither of us needed to see hats that badly.

I didn't end up taking too many pictures. Sometimes the mood isn't there for me. I think it was partially the cold and partially the fact that everything was "flat" and nondescript from a white sky. Had there been a blue sky or something then maybe things would have been different. Here are a few so you can get an idea of things:



When we got back together, we agreed that we would go back to the car and drive to a restaurant across the main drag that Suzie knew of. It was just right. There was a parking place for me right out front, and there was no waiting to be seated. Add to that the fact that they had free wireless, so I got to use my PDA to check on the pass conditions before we left.

All in all, it was a very good trip and we had a good time. Would we do it again? Probably not. Even though Sue overheard a shopkeeper say that the crowd was about half of what it usually was, the place was just too crowded.

It's kind of nice to wake up this morning to snow outside. It gives a whole new look to the boring vista of rooftops that is my bedroom view. Although snow is a nice change, I'm sure it will get old fast.