Seattle peeps

[kognito]

We are over near Coeur d'Alene for the next week or so, and were talking about checking out Leavenworth on our way west.

Any of you folks ever been to Leavenworth?? Any "must see" sites/things to do there?

Thanks!

[lip277]

It's a cute 'German' town.
It was an old railroad town that was in distress in the 1960's (railroad closed down and such) so...
They decided to become touristy and transform into a place people would want to go to. If you are going to be passing through on Highway 2 - worth a stop for lunch.
From there .... ???

I'm kind of jaded as my family is Danish and we have a 'real' version called Solvang in California. My Mom used to go to Danish summer camps there when she was small (in the early 40's). Leavenworth is 'manufactured' - but - it's not too bad. They have some descent restaurants along the main drag and the odd store. It's not as 'German' as it was 15 years ago though.... There are some Italian and Chinese restaurants and... oh well.....

I'd recommend going - if for nothing else - The drive is absolutely scenic.

[lupinsea]

Kevin summed it up pretty well. A "manufactured" touristy Bavarian-themed down town. Although, most of the theme-ing is in a 2-4 block x 2 block area on the east or south side of Hwy 2. Most shops sell touristy stuff, there are a few art galleries and plenty of christmas type shops, some places for candy and goofy knicknacks. Nothing that really stands out or is a must see.

What I like about the place is you can get some grub over there that's pretty similar to the stuff I've enjoyed in Germany. One place called King Ludwigs (yeah, I know) has some great meat platters of various sizes served on chunky wood tables and long bench seating. We'll sometimes drive over in the winter for a short day trip and then home. And when over there I try to get the people in our gourp to order the large meat platter, it's big enough to feed about 4-6 people comfortably. They also have smaller sizes as well as normal menu items.

There are also a few beer gardens in town. One of my favorites is this little notch between a few of the buildings called Munchen Haus (http://www.munchenhaus.com) (a few reviews, seems mostly accurate (http://chefmoz.org/United_States/WA/Leavenworth/Munchen_Haus_1088458379.html)). It has a one story shack on the street side and then pathway takes you back into a court yard between the adjacent building. Nice plantings soften the place and they have an upper balcony. . . it's all open air. Menu is mostly braughts and beer but it's good. Nice if you want something lighter and the weather is good for open air dining.

http://homepage.mac.com/jgreening/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2008-10-20%2022.26.20%20-0700/Image-75F042F99F2E11DD.jpg
The beer garden.


http://homepage.mac.com/jgreening/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-01-03%2013.21.14%20-0800/Image-322230AC5DCD11D9.jpg
Levenworth around the new year. Hwy 2 is a block to the left and the beer
garden is just off to the right of the picture where there's a job in the
building fronts and sidewalk. King Ludwigs is about 2 blocks down at the
back of the scene in the photo.



If you have time perhaps try some hiking in the area, maybe some river rafting. But the drive should be pretty good. I assume you'll be coming across I-90 and then taking Hwy 97 north to Leavenworth. Hwy 2 westbound over Steven's pass is a nice way to reach the Seattle / Puget Sound area. Much more scenic than back tracking to I-90.




.

[ZBB]

I'm kind of jaded as my family is Danish and we have a 'real' version called Solvang in California.

Solvang feels manufactured though...

Although its much better than Helen, GA which is horribly manufactured quasi-Bavarian town (albeit, worth one visit if you live in Atlanta)...

[operknockity]

Solvang feels manufactured though...

Although its much better than Helen, GA which is horribly manufactured quasi-Bavarian town (albeit, worth one visit if you live in Atlanta)...

I've never been to Solvang. It's on my list, but somehow I never get to it.

We also have a few truly, horribly, manufactured, small, quasi-Bavarian towns in LA. The ones I know of, and have been to, are Alpine Village in Torrance and Old World in Huntington Beach.

[kognito]

I've never been to Solvang. It's on my list, but somehow I never get to it.

We also have a few truly, horribly, manufactured, small, quasi-Bavarian towns in LA. The ones I know of, and have been to, are Alpine Village in Torrance and Old World in Huntington Beach.


I've been to Alpine Village many years ago. Probably early 90's was the last time. Been there a few times with some German co-workers. We laughed and laughed each time we went.

But we were laughing at the folks, not with the folks!!:lol:

[kognito]

If you have time perhaps try some hiking in the area, maybe some river rafting. But the drive should be pretty good. I assume you'll be coming across I-90 and then taking Hwy 97 north to Leavenworth. Hwy 2 westbound over Steven's pass is a nice way to reach the Seattle / Puget Sound area. Much more scenic than back tracking to I-90.




.


We picked up rt 2 at Mackinaw Island in Michigan this year, and drove it across the UP, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. In western North Dakota rt 2 is in pretty bad shape, so we dropped down to interstate 90.

I think we are going to pick up rt2 again west of Spokane.

Don't have an exact date as to when we will be in Seattle area. But I need to get out to Sequim to have a face-to-face with my financial adviser.

We also need to find a place to spend the 4th because we don't usually make reservations in RV parks, but it might be hard to find an rv park not booked out for the 4th weekend.

Thanks for the pictures!

Will post in this thread agian when we get closer, maybe we can have a get together for dinner, or something

[lip277]

Solvang feels manufactured though...

The Solvang of today is not the Solvang of earlier times.
My Mom refused to go back after the mid 1980's as she did not like how commercial and watered down it had become - in her taste.

Will post in this thread agian when we get closer, maybe we can have a get together for dinner, or something

Sounds great....

[lupinsea]

Will post in this thread agian when we get closer, maybe we can have a get together for dinner, or something

Sounds good.

I'll be in my Jeep and out in the hills in central WA the weekend of the 4th, though. How long will you be in town?

[kognito]

OK, looks like we found a place to stay in Graham. We are arriving sometime on friday the 26th and staying until the 6th of July.

It looks like I can save a bunch of miles, and avoid a lot of city highways if I go down 18 from the Snoqualime area. Anyone know how good this road is for big rigs?? We are about 30,000 pounds, and about 63 feet long (F550 + 40 foot 5th wheel)

Any areas have "must see" 4th of July celebrations?

We have already been to the space needle and Pikes Market, any other things we should check out?? Isn't there an area of interesting house boat/ homes on one of the lakes?

[lupinsea]

OK, looks like we found a place to stay in Graham. We are arriving sometime on friday the 26th and staying until the 6th of July.

It looks like I can save a bunch of miles, and avoid a lot of city highways if I go down 18 from the Snoqualime area. Anyone know how good this road is for big rigs?? We are about 30,000 pounds, and about 63 feet long (F550 + 40 foot 5th wheel)

Any areas have "must see" 4th of July celebrations?

We have already been to the space needle and Pikes Market, any other things we should check out?? Isn't there an area of interesting house boat/ homes on one of the lakes?

Hwy 18 should be fine. You'll have a bit of a grade to go up about 2-3 miles from I-90 but there are slow-truck lanes on the right and big semi-trucks use this route regularly. Once over the pass it's a gentle grade down hill and easy after that. The only grade left to worry about is the uphill from Puyallup on SR 512 until the 90 deg bend. Not super bad but it's a uphill grade.

Woohoo. . . Graham. Exciting.

Tacoma is close by and they'll probably have a good fireworks display over Commencement Bay. Seattle also is having a display but I'm not sure which is the "best". As well as other cities in the area. Depends on what you're looking. But Tacoma would be the easiest to reach with one of the larger fireworks displays.

Get down on the water front, about where point "B" is on the google map (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=graham,+wa&daddr=47.276201,-122.4646&hl=en&geocode=&gl=us&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=12&sll=47.182946,-122.414818&sspn=0.318279,0.285301&ie=UTF8&z=12). Expect crowds and traffic. Doug lives about 1-2 miles from there just up on the hill if you want to give him a buzz or something somehow.


As for things to see in the area. . . hm.

House boats can be found around Lake Union and Portage Bay in Seattle. They're easier to see from the water as a lot of the slips are gated off. I'm not sure there are other house boat enclaves.

It's further north but possibly exploring the San Juan Islands (Whidbey (Fort Casey is cool to explore (http://homepage.mac.com/jgreening/photoarchive/PhotoAlbum29.html)), San Juan, Orcas, Bainbridge, Vashon). There's the Hoh Rain Forest (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en-us&q=hoh+rain+forest&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=FTxBSszNHJCosgOFjfH5CA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title) on the Olympic Peninsula if you're in the mood for some hiking with your moss. Not sure there are many other rain forests in the continental U.S. From downtown Seattle you could do a float plane sight seeing flight on Kenmore Air taking off and landing from Seattle's urban Lake Union. Maybe doing a day trip or over nighter to Victoria B.C. (pretty quick by float plane).

It all depends a bit on what you're interested in seeing. I'm hoping Kevin can chime in, too.

[lip277]

Cool.
Yep - I'll come in later and give some thoughts (today is not a good day....)

TTYL....

[kognito]

OK, gotta admit that Leavenworth was better than we expected.

[lupinsea]

Really? Cool.

It can be good or bad depending on expectations. Taken for what it is it can be a fun little place to stop in, grab something to eat, maybe a beer at a German themed beer garden and then bug out.

[lip277]

Glad to hear....

If you're in Seattle this weekend...
Nice 'local' car shown just north of town

Greenwood Car Show (http://www.greenwoodcarshow.com/)
I'll be there (in the morning) with a fellow 2002 nut -

[lupinsea]

I went to the Greenwood car show a couple years ago. I was surprised how big it was. Both sides of a 10-12 block long stretch of road were shut down to traffic and lined with hundreds of wonderful cars.

Very cool.

Also, saw this in the local paper (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travelswithbrian/). It's up in Canada on Vancouver Island but could be fun for a couple day trip up there.

[kognito]

couldn't be for Greenwood, but we saw a steady stream of hot rods and old coupes driving north on 97 while we were heading south.

Seriously, must have seen 60 -70 cars, and many car trailers heading north

[ZBB]

Very cool.

Also, saw this in the local paper (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travelswithbrian/). It's up in Canada on Vancouver Island but could be fun for a couple day trip up there.

Which one -- the "road to Tofino" item?

I've been out to Tofino a couple times with my wife. The drive from Victoria to Tofino is 4+ hours. Great drive, great places to stop (Cathedral Grove is just one).

Tofino itself is very sleepy, but there are some very good B&B's, and its a great place to get away for a few days, go on walks, etc.

Although, the 2nd time we went there, I hit a baby deer with the rental car. We were very lucky that it didn't do any damage...

[lupinsea]

Where were a few postings that looked interesting along there. Can't remember which one exactly now.