Our recent trip to Oregon was wonderful, to say the least.
We arrived the night of Thanksgiving and spent the night/half the next day with my husbands brother, his wife and their two children. It was a lot of fun and interesting to be considered their aunt. After a few thousand “Aunt Tracie”s I got pretty used to it.
The next morning around noon, Matthews friend came by and picked us up for the 4 hour drive from Portland to Leavenworth, WA.
We took the scenic route through the Dalles and were able to stop at Multnomha falls.
You can’t hike to the top right now but you can go to the recreation area at the bottom. It’s really pretty. And a quick stop.
Leavenworth, WA
We arrived in Leavenworth well after dark and we stopped in to grab a wiener or two. 😀
The town was lit up beautifully with Christmas decorations. It was a magical and gorgeous Bavarian town modeled after Munich itself.
However, the lines to grab a bite to eat were not magical….
With the COVID situation – seating is limited obviously. However, the restaurants still seemed ill-equipped for outdoor dining.
They had tables outside and 6 feet apart…. but for being a mountain town, they had little to no warming units near many of the tables.
So, after standing in line for “Munchen Haus” for about 30 minutes with no movement forward in sight, we hopped lines with numb toes and grabbed a quick table (about 15 minutes or so wait) at a place called “Leavenworth Sausage Garten”. I can’t say I loved the sausages… but they were good, just not for me. Which gives me anxiety about how I will like the food when we really are in the real Bavaria.
After the sausage fest 😀 we drove out to our airBnB in Plain, WA. About thirty minutes into the mountains north of Leavenworth proper. It was beautiful, but not recommended for normal cars and trucks. The roads ice easily and the snow gathers fast. We were lucky to have a great driver and a heavy SUV… that was only 2 wheel drive… again, not recommended.
I felt my first “drift” in a car.
(Shudders)
Anyway – back to the trip.
Icicle Ridge Trail
The next day we found a hike called icicle ridge trail. Right outside of Leavenworth proper.
The hike was a long series of steep switch backs with a gorgeous backdrop of the mountains that improved with every foot of elevation gain. It was seriously breathtaking (both in view and in effort).
The end of the trail was a snow covered ridge that overlooked Leavenworth. Which I prefer the backdrop of the mountains, but the view of the town was pretty awesome too.
The hike is about 5.5 miles round trip, it was not overcrowded, but I would recommend going earlier in the morning as the trail is narrow and passing people going up and down can get a bit tricky. It took us about 2.5 hours with stops for pictures
I won’t bore you with how much fun we had back at the cabin we were staying in. But I will recommend the game “Heads Up” – it can be downloaded on your cell phone and is sure to get some laughs.
Rhein Haus
We decided to wait to go back into town until Monday due to crowding.
So Monday, mid-morning, we packed up and stopped in Leavenworth on the way back to Portland.
Again, the food – it’s just not for me, so I’m probably the wurst (haha, get it?) person to take advice on where to eat here… but I had some fish and chips. The brats were loved by everyone else at the table and so was the beer – which I enjoyed a bit as well.
All the tables had a center fire – so it’s the best possible place to eat for warmth if you end up there in the winter… just know that the lines are long and slow, so a weekday is best for the eating and shopping, the weekends best for the hiking/exploring.
Some other things to do that we missed out on:
- Skiing at Stevens Pass
- München Haus – beer garten
- Das boot at Rhein haus (you can’t do this during COVID as it requires two people to share)
- Sleigh riding
- Petting reindeer
- Snowmobiling
- Icicle brewing company
Any hiking past this month is pretty much non-existent unless you are snowshoeing or cross country skiing due to snow. We just happened to get in at a great time for good hikes (most hikes are around 9 miles so be prepared)
The town is so cute and nestled in the mountains, everywhere you look is like a picture book. It would make a fun day trip if you aren’t into outdoorsy things.
That’s it for my time in Washington, stay tuned for my take on the current Portland situation, a hike with ten waterfalls and some time at the Sand Dunes on the Oregon Coast.
Until next time,
Auf Wiedersehen
Nomad Nutrition 