Auf Wiedersehen Leavenworth

Auf Wiedersehen. Goodbye.

We spent our final day in Leavenworth wandering the main street and getting in all the shopping we could handle before it was gone for good. So we headed to the Leavenworth city center.

Sure will miss this beautiful place. We went to the Danish Bakery "Konditorei" and got ourselves some Danishes. Konditorei in German means cake shop. Like most bakeries, they wake up each morning bright and early and begin the cooking. I know because one morning I went there before anyone else was awake and the only people up were these bakers and the men watering the street plants. Anyway, their treats are so yummy!

Mike and I purchased an assortment of their famous Danishes. They definitely were yummy. They had Apricot Danishes, Lemon Danishes, Strawberry Danishes, Blueberry Cream Cheese Danishes (my favorite), Cherry Custard Danishes, Burnt Cream Danishes, and Cream Cheese Danishes.

They had so many treats! I can't believe how many things they made each morning. Some of the fun additional pastries and treats they offered were: Cherry, Apple, and Raspberry Cream Cheese Strudles, Traditional Baked Cinnamon Crisps, Almond Kringle's, Cream Bollen's,  Cannoli Shell's, Pralinas, Florentina's, Schillerlocken's, and Cashew Squares. I imagine they all taste super yummy but they were all so pretty too!

All of the shop employees told us that we "had" to try the Munchen Haus" for lunch. It was a pretty simple place - more fun than yummy, but still pretty good. They served traditional German Bratwurst and Hot Dogs along with a dozen different types of mustard. At night they have live music because most people enjoy the beer that they brew so they create a way for people to stick around longer, but because we went for lunch we missed the live show (both of music and of drunk people). 

This is my favorite shop in all of Leavenworth. The Oil & Vinegar Cellar. Yummiest combinations EVER.

Just another painting that we saw on of the side streets. The paintings really are on every single building.

The Nussknacker Haus.
Above this shop with Nutcrackers they have a Nutcracker Museum, which has over 6,000 Nutcrackers. Doesn't really sound like a lot, but it really is.

For our final feast we went to dinner at the Renaissance Cafe.

When we first got there we were pretty skeptical about the place. I got some really strange food called "God's Food." It was not very good. But then I also got a sandiwch - it was AMAZING! 

To end the night we went to the Leavenworth Summer Theater and saw the Sound of Music. I had never even seen the movie to this classic before so I was in for a treat. I found out in was a story based in the mountains of Austria. What a perfect setting for this play. We were in an Austrian themed village and the play took place at an outdoor theater up in the mountains of Leavenworth, it was the perfect setting. The play was excellent and I loved the story. It is my mom's favorite movie and I now understand why.

Leaving Leavenworth.

Our beautiful (super long) drive home. Washington was beautiful, Oregon was beautiful, Idaho was horrible.

Practically every bit of land in Washington was covered with  Apple Orchards and Pear Orchards and
Grape Orchards (?)/Wineries. It was so fun to see them all. There were so many!

We set up some S'mores on the dashboard to cook while we drove home.

FINALLY HOME TO UTAH!!!!!
Vacations are so much fun but when it's time to be home, it is so nice to finally get there!

Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery

A National Fish Hatchery. Did you ever know those existed? What about 70 of them? I may be oblivious but I had no idea there was one, let alone 70. Two of them are even located in Utah - Vernal to be exact. I would like some more history of those. 

Mike and I wanted to go hiking so we asked about where to go. We were told to start at the National Fish Hatchery. So, we went. When we asked the worker about hikes in the area she said that before hiking we must start with a tour of the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery. We probably could have argued, or skipped it, but we decided, 'What the heck.' And so we did. 

What we learned:

Before Americans knew just how much their actions impacted the environment, specifically dams and fish, they built the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in 1933. They build the dam without realizing the effect it would have on the Salmon and other fish that lived in this river. Nowadays, dams are built with Fish Ladders, providing fish a way to still migrate the river, travel home, and spawn. Once the Grand Coulee Dam was built, the salmon migration along that river seized. People who relied upon the fish for food now had nothing to eat, so the government stepped in. They came up with the idea of fish hatcheries, and they put them in all of the areas affected by the dams (yes there are more than one that were built without Salmon Runs). 

The Leavenworth fish hatchery was constructed in 1935. Just two years after construction of the dam began. (Obviously the need for food taught these Americans a quick lesson.) It covers 170 acres of land. They raise the Salmon until they are a certain age and then they release them into the wild.

You can learn more about the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery here.

Baby Chinook Salmon and Coho Salmon

There are where the baby Salmon are kept (isn't the background amazing?).

Before they are released into the wild, they are kept here - I  know you can't really tell, but the Salmon were huge! I can't believe that Salmon grow to be 3 - 6 feet long! They kept jumping out of the water, and some of them got pretty close to jumping over the wall.

The front of the Salmon pen that they are kept in before being released into the wild.
(Another fish started to jump out of the water.)

Then we ventured out for a hike (which turned out to be more of a walk) and disappointedly, we didn't see any bears. It was very beautiful though.

If you don't know a lot about Salmon, they hatch with no parents on gravel beds in rivers. Then they swim out to an open body of water where they grow. When they feel like it's time, they swim back up the river, to the place where they were born and they spawn. The unique thing is that after they spawn, they die. They just decide when it's their time. Some spawn after three years, some after 6, 7 or even 8. 

Salmon returning home to the shallow river bed to spawn.

While Mike and I were out hiking (walking) we saw some Salmon spawning in the river. I wanted so badly to wade out in there and catch us some Salmon.

More Salmon swimming in the river.

And more Salmon.

It was such a beautiful area, and we both learned more about our American history. It was really neat to learn about what happened, the natural effects caused by our ancestors, and what is being done about it. Glad we were able to go, and definitely would suggest it to other people - it's a short visit, but fun and interesting.

Leavenworth Fun

Movies. An arcade. Mini Golf.

Great way to spend our vacation time correct? Correct! We seriously took it so easy and just did whatever, whenever we wanted to on this vacation! It really was so relaxing and care-free. It was perfect. There was always something to do, but we didn't mind just sitting in the condo and watching the Food Network or a rented movie either (we actually did this daily). But when we weren't shopping, or watching a movie, we were at the arcade and played all sorts of games but more than anything else -  we played some basketball.

The Leavenworth movie theater apparently only has one movie play each weekend. The movie over Labor Day weekend was ParaNorman. It was fun to go see a movie in the theater but I definitely wish that they had other options available as well (we definitely would have gone to see another one too). We weren't overly impressed with ParaNorman. It was good - but still, like Coraline, somewhat strange and creepy. A lady in California wrote a movie review on ParaNorman and I couldn't agree more with the things that she had to say. ParaNorman Review It's a cartoon and targeted towards kids, but it is definitely not a film I would want to take my kids to, thankfully, we don't have kids and it was just us and two teenage girls in the theater. (Convenient also for when Mike's soda exploded all over him and the chairs around us.) While the movie wasn't five stars, we still enjoyed going to see it.

Before the movie and after the movie. Before mini golf and after mini golf. Before going anywhere each day, we stopped at the arcade to play some basketball. It was so much fun. We were trying to beat the game and guess what - Mike finally did it on our last day :^D Way to go husband!

I was trying to waste some tokens so I put 10 into a little lottery game. You had to stop the light right on the lottery dot and would you believe on the 10th token - I did it!!!!! I won the lottery of tickets (I think close to 300)! :^D

We ended with over 2500 tickets!

The Leavenworth Miniature Golf course is soooo cute! I absolutely love looking at the pictures we took and seeing the gorgeous tree covered mountains in the background, what a perfect setting. Fitting right along into the city's perfect character - it too was a Bavarian themed course. I loved the design and theme of each hole.

Hole in ONE - boo ya!

Me & Mike

We had a blast relaxing and having fun. The arcade, the mini golf, and the movies alone are enough for us to go back again one day.

History and Beauty of Leavenworth

We ventured out in the city; to explore, to shop, to eat, to enjoy, and to take advantage of everything it offered.

Something we loved right off the bat was the German. The majority of the signs were in German. I guessed what this one meant - but also pulled out Google for the official translation: "Welcome to Leavenworth." Yep, my guess was spot on! ;)

They had some cute older gentlemen at a wagon downtown, they were all dressed in the traditional German Lederhosen attire (like in this photo from here).

I felt silly asking for a picture with them but they volunteered to take one of us.

After taking the picture the guy started telling us about the history of Leavenworth and everything the area had to offer. A synopsis of his history lesson is:

After World War II, two soldiers who had spent time in Austria came back to Washington. They discovered that the setting of Leavenworth, a city within the mountains, reminded them of Austria, a place they had grown to love. They began building homes and shops with the Bavarian feel that they had discovered in Austria. Since then, the city has continued to grow, and the Bavarian motif has remained.

The maypole in the center of the city:

And now, for picture overload, here are some photos of the buildings along the main street where we went shopping. It was only approximately half a mile long, but so full of character!

Beautiful city correct? I love the Bavarian character of the building's architecture and decor.