Kathy & Eric's travels: A Ride to Leavenworth, Wash.

Thursday April 25, 2013

Downtown Soap Lake

This was today’s ride. The fellow with the trike and the Toy hauler in the park had told Eric that a ride up to Leavenworth was a really nice trip so we decided to go. I checked the weather and it looked like it was going to be about 75F. so off we went. Out through Soap Lake and a quick look at the downtown, through Ephrata and on to Quincy.

From there onto the long open highway toward Wenatchee.

Lots of farming….orchards and vineyards.

Coming down to the Columbia river and Wenatchee with the Cascade Mtns. in the distance.

Downtown Leavenworth.

History

The first route across Stevens Pass was built by the Great Northern Railway in 1892. The town site was across the Wenatchee River from Icicle and was named Leavenworth the same year the rail construction began. Captain Charles Leavenworth, president of the Okanogan Investment Company, purchased the land in the present-day downtown and laid the streets parallel to the new railroad tracks.

The railroad construction was completed during the winter of 1893. Lafayette Lamb and his brother, Chauncery Lamb arrived in 1903 from Iowa to build the second largest sawmill in Washington state.

Leavenworth was officially incorporated on September 5, 1906. A small timber community, it became the headquarters of the Great North Railroad in the early 1900s. The railroad relocated to Wenatchee in the 1920s, greatly affecting Leavenworth's economy.

The city struggled until 1962, when the Project LIFE (Leavenworth Improvement For Everyone) Committee was formed to transform the city into a mock Bavarian village to revitalize its economy.^[6] Owen and Pauline Watson, owners of a business on Front Street, formed the committee after visiting Solvang, California in 1958 and thought it was an excellent idea for Leavenworth.

Leavenworth is home to the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum, which opened in 1995 and contains more than 5,000 nutcrackers dating from prehistoric to modern.^[7] Leavenworth hosts an annual Oktoberfest celebration.^[8] Leavenworth's transformation into a theme town was inspired, and assisted, by Solvang, California. Later the Washington town of Winthrop followed Leavenworth's example and adopted a town theme.^[9]

A beautiful setting. Reminded us a little of places like Grand Forks, B.C.

Looking down to the main street from the highway which passes through above.

Tons of German restaurants and German music playing everywhere.

Cafe Christa where we stopped for lunch.

Eric wandering up the street.

The weather was beautiful and there were lots of people strolling the streets on a sunny mid week day in April.

If you want knick knacks this is the place to come. Every store is just loaded. Not for me thanks.

Back on the road heading back to Wenatchee through numerous apple orchards.

Along the river.

Heading up and over highway #2 onto the Waterville Plateau.

Out in the middle of no where is Waterville. A pretty little town and the county seat for Douglas County.

Main street.

Old buildings.

Old cars.

Old houses.

All quite lovely.

The next little town was ….Douglas…quite quaint! This was the original county seat but since Waterville had water it became the county seat.

The rest of the ride was through immense open areas filled with grain crops. The farms are spotted here and there as you pass along. Very lonely.

We think they might seed the grain in the fall as there is no irrigation up on the plateau and the snow and spring rain would provide the water for the wheat crops that grow here. Too harsh a climate for cattle.