July 3

Leavenworth, WA.  This place was a must see since we had just done a trip to Germany last year.  Leavenworth is a German themed town nestled in the Cascade Mountains that was transformed from a dying timber town into world famous Bavarian village in the 1960’s to avoid becoming a ghost town.  Facing economic collapse after it primary industry left, civic leaders made a radical, coordinated decision to completely reinvent the town’s visual and cultural identity.  The entire downtown area is designed to look like a German village, with shops, restaurants and breweries.  Where they also host numerous themed events to include Oktoberfest and large Christmas celebrations. 

We stayed at A KOA campground that was just down the street from the downtown area.  When we made these reservations, we did not realize that it was 4^th of July weekend, the campground was super packed.  We noticed during the 2 days at the KOA we were the only campsite without children or 2-3 dogs (will rethink a KOA in the future on a holiday.) 

Back to the town, we felt as if were back in Bavaria for sure.  The first thing we did was look for some German food, which was everywhere but we were hoping for more than wurst.  Score we found a place that had authentic rouladen with sides of roasted potatoes sauerkraut and red cabbage.  There were so many stores and restaurants but not enough time to see them all.  We were able to squeeze in a visit to a nutcracker museum.  Apparently, it is the world’s largest collection with over 9000 items ranging from ancient nutting stones to modern, pop culture themed figures.

July 6

We had a one-night stay in Kellogg , Idaho before we arrived at Glacier Nation Park for 4 days.  Always on the hunt for unique places our overnight was at the site of a gold mine.  Yep, we were ready to get out our pick and ax but they kind of frowned on it.  Instead we took their mine tour.

Around 1905 the hillside where the mine was had been blasted closed to hide the mine entrance. This left tracks, a mine car and tools inside, a sure sign that someone intended to come back.  However, they never did and the mine stayed hidden and lost for over a hundred years.  In the 1960’s the mine entrance was exposed during the building of Interstate 90.  In 1991 the owner saw water seeping out of the hillside.  Hoping it was a spring, he dug into the entrance and discovered more of the mine.  Soon after, the owner put a piece of plywood over the entrance and kept it closed for years.  In 1996 the property was sold again to retired miner who uncovered the rest of the mine turning it into a attraction and RV park.  There could still be gold and silver in the mine but for the time being it will stay a attraction.

July 7-10

Glacier National Park (West) can you believe it, this make our 7^th National Park this year.  With Glacier being so far north in Montana we decided now or never.  Our timing was perfect as all the passes and roads were completely open (they had snow and flooding just a few weeks ago) The layout of this park is far different then most it basically has one road in and one road out the “Going To The Sun Road”, needless to say you need to take your patience pill while trying to get to your destination.  Our first stop was to Logan Pass.  Logan Pass is the highest point on the Going To The Sun Road, with a visitor center, stunning views and access to the popular hiking trail, the Hidden Lakes Trail.   This trail was awesome, we saw a little bit of everything during our hike, wildflowers, deer, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, chipmunks, ground squirrels and of course we walked on a glacier

There are so many hiking trails, but we know our limits and stick to the 3-6 mile hikes, like the popular trail, Avalanche.  This one was so busy that we were up at 5am to be able to find parking at the trail head by 6:30am.  This hike was about 5 miles (we did 13,800 steps) long.  We followed raging rivers and old growth forested paths that brought us to Avalanche Lake.  This lake is fed by 5 waterfalls from the Sperry Glacier.

There are so many places to stop in the park to just soak in the views.  That I just have to bore you with more photos.