RV Travels With Huggy

When our exercise class leader at the YMCA where I go to my class told us about a bus tour to the Bavarian village of Leavenworth, on the east side of Stevens Pass over the Cascade Mountains, I thought I would like to go. I bought a ticket to ride over on the bus with the group at a cost of only $35

There were 37 of us who met at 08:00 Saturday, Oct. 7th at the Y. The bus left at 08:30 and it was great to be able to be a passenger and just enjoy the view. By now the leaves are turning their fall colors, especially at the higher points while crossing Stevens Pass on US-2.


Here is a photo taken through the bus side window just a bit east of the summit. I found it fascinating to be looking down on clouds from a bus, not an airplane.


This is another from the bus window, just a little beyond where the last photo was taken. We were moving out of the clouds but you can still see a cloud cap on the top of the hill.

The total trip was about two and a half hours, partially because of heavy traffic and two lane roads. I think it could be driven in about two hours if there were no traffic concerns. Leavenworth is an old railroad, lumber and mining town that was dying in the 1950s when the railroad closed most of their facilities in the area. One townsperson who had visited the Bavarian area of Germany noticed how similar in appearance the two settings were and proposed they remodel downtown buildings in a Bavarian look. It took off and Leavenworth is now one of the most popular tourist places in the state. They are having various festivals all the time and this weekend was the middle one of their Oktober Fest. The weather was perfect, with a temp about 70F and sunshine, so the town was crowded with people. Again it was nice to just hop off the bus and not have to worry about getting my car parked.


This is a street scene looking east showing people and part of the downtown area. The main few blocks of this street were closed to traffic, allowing only pedestrians and horse drawn carriages.


Another street scene, this time looking west. This is one of the few towns I know of where you can easily find Christmas items on sale all year round.


This is a part of our group, just below the steps from the highway level above. The blue thing in the photo that kind of looks like a telephone pole is actually the base of a vary large May Pole.


Here is another view showing more of our group. The cute blond gal third from the right is Ginger, the Activity Director of the YMCA who setup this trip. It was well organized and a lot of fun.


The main bandstand and pagoda for the town is active with entertainment, especially during the various festivals. Most of the entertainers wear old traditional Bavarian style clothing, as these performers are doing.


Of course there have to be horse drawn carriages in a town like this to ride around in and here is one.


Another street scene. There are lots of flowers around all the time.


We wanted to get a group photo so took this just before we started boarding the bus for the return trip. If you count you will note that there are not 37 here as they sort of came stragling in over the next few minutes, but this has most of the group. Bruce, at the end on the left side, also is with the YMCA and was partially raised in Germany so speaks the language well. That isn't necessary in Leavenworth as everyone speaks English, although there are quite a few citizens of the town who were German born.

I got home a little before 18:00. It was an enjoyable day and something that I don't have much experience doing in the past (bus tours.) I think I will look into more of these tours as they are fun and not really very expensive. If you don't buy a lot of things in all those little shops!

Labels: Photos, Trips to see things