The View from a Drawbridge

One of the best things about moving from Florida to Washington State is that I’m getting to experience seasons again for the first time in many decades. And my favorite season happens to be Autumn. What I didn’t realize, though, is that you actually have to make a bit of an effort to see leaves change in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle is called the Emerald City for a reason. The whole area is mostly evergreen trees. Still beautiful, but you know, I want to see some orange at this time of year.

So, planning ahead last year, and hoping I’d have someone in my life to take a romantic mini-break with by now (Not. Sigh.), I requested some time off in October. I decided to head on up to Leavenworth.

Leavenworth is a Bavarian-style village in the Cascade Mountains about 2 hours east of Seattle. The drive there along highway 405 is absolutely stunning. I enjoyed seeing the rivers and the mountains, and didn’t even mind when my ears popped when I went over Stevens Pass. And yes, here and there as you’d go around a curve you’d see pockets of brightly colored leaves.

And Leavenworth itself is a quaint, romantic (waaaaah!) and touristy town, full of shops and restaurants (see this blog entry to learn about the best one) and a gorgeous waterfront park. They keep faithfully to the Bavarian theme, almost to the point where you think if you see another bratwurst or hear another oom-pa-pa, you might lose your mind. Most signs are also in German, and you even glimpse goats grazing on the hillside. It’s stunning in the fall, and I bet it is even more so in the winter.

If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend you visit Leavenworth!