Leavenworth Washington

We've now lived here in Washington for four years and we finally made a visit to Leavenworth. The town is modeled after a Bavarian Village. It also sits at the base of the eastern slope of the Cascade Mountains. It is a 2 hour 28 minute drive East from hour home. In order to get to Leavenworth we have to drive through Snoqualmie Pass which gets snow and sometimes the Pass is closed when there's too much snow and one would definitely need chains {which we don't have}.
I really really don't like driving in snow. I have in the past and it made me nervous beyond belief. The Christmas Lighting festivities in Leavenworth take place the first three weekends in December so I made sure we went on the very first weekend. I wanted to avoid the snow.

And when it comes to children and road trips you know they'll want to have to pee at some point before reaching your destination. We were cracking up at Riley because he kept laughing at the fact that his warm pee was melting the snow. He apparently found that hilarious. And no, we didn't see any rest stops or else we would have had him use the restroom.

As one can imagine especially during this time, the town was packed. Since it was our first time here we were like, "this is crazy!" So many people for it being such a small town. We found parking about four blocks away from the main strip.
It's definitely a cool looking town. I didn't know what to expect at first, I thought it would be boring. I almost didn't want to come but I'm glad I did.

We got here a little after noon. We walked around but we didn't go inside any of the stores. It was just too crowded to really look around unhurried.

There were several Christmas characters walking around ... Rudolph was the closest one to us. Riley asked if he could take a picture with him. I'm glad Riley is not shy when it comes to people in costume because Sydna and Nathan were. It was challenging to get them to open up. But, no problem with this one here.

It was going on 2:30 pm by this time. We were getting hungry and were looking for a place to eat. There were a decent restaurants to choose from but they were ALL crazy busy. We first went to a pizzeria and the wait was an hour, no thanks. So we kept walking and searching. Finally we came across a Mongolian restaurant and ate there. It was about a 45 minute wait. I loved all the veggies and spicy teriyaki sauce.

Riley behaved himself quite well. He not once complained about all the walking and waiting we did at the restaurant.

Our visit here went by so fast. Well, since we got here around noon and after a bit of sightseeing then stopping to eat we had just under an hour to spare before the caroling and tree lighting took place. So, we got closer to where the main tree was set to be lit and waited there amongst the throngs of people.

It was a cold evening but I had my thick long jacket on so I was fine. Jacob is always cold even if he's wearing a jacket. Jacob and Nathan are constantly talking silly so we are constantly laughing, then Riley tries to add his two cents in but it's really not funny then, lol. He does crack himself up though. He thinks he's just as funny as his daddy so that's what gets us laughing all over again.

The wait didn't feel long at all. Santa made an appearance then a choir got on stage, and just before the tree lighting they sang Silent Night. I'm always surprised whenever a religious Christmas song is sung at a public place. I love it but society tries so hard to stay away from Christianity that I get amazed whenever something gets done right. Everyone was singing. I think most people are just tired of all the political correct bs that has gone on for far too long and people are searching for a sense of community. Community done right that is.

Riley was in awe once all the Christmas lights were turned on. It was actually pretty cool to see.

I wanted to make sure I got a picture with my middle son.

And where ever we go Reagan is always on our minds. I'm always talking to him in my mind.

The village looked quite enchanting. Obviously it looked a lot better in person.

We were on our way back home around 8:00 pm. Once we got closer to Snoqualmie Pass it began to snow. Great! as we were getting closer to it -it was snowing quite heavily. We were going so slow. Semi's were also driving extremely safe however that didn't calm my anxious heart. I just wanted to get out of that area. We were probably on that snowy freeway for close to fifteen minutes but it felt so much longer to me.

We had a good time but we definitely want to go back during a less busy time so we can look around without the major crowds. And Jacob also wants to eat some German food {I'll pass}. I hear it's pretty there in the Spring and Fall.