Bavaria in the Cascades

IThe moon rises. Alpenhorns sound above us. Abbey voices soar through the evening. Ski Hill comes alive with “The Sound of Music.” We laugh and cry and sing “Edelweiss” as the von Trapps escape Austria. We “Climb Every Mountain,” sing “So Long, Farewell,” and make our way home. Linda and I are convinced once again that this play is one of our “Favorite Things.”

The Bavarian village of Leavenworth in the heart of Washington’s Cascade Mountains has the Leavenworth Summer Theater and more festivals during a year than you can count. Linda, an Indiana sister-friend, visited between festivals, but I hope to catch both the Autumn Leaf and Oktoberfest this year.

Most RVers head south to warmer climates by December, but I love the Christmas Lighting Festival. Leavenworth is outlined with white lights all year long, but Christmas (hopefully, with snow) is magical. I house-sat a chalet in Icicle Canyon one winter, and my daughter and family took me to Eagle Creek Ranch for a sleigh ride. I was snowed in most of the time! Fantastic winter.

The area’s first settlers arrived in 1885, but the big changes came with the Great Northern Railroad in 1892, the sawmill in 1904, and irrigation ditches for planting fruit trees. In the 1920s, the sawmill shut down and the railroad was rerouted. By the time the Great Depression hit, the only growth was in the fruit trees, pears, peaches, apricots, cherries and eventually, grapes.

The Leavenworth transformation began with creative minds that ultimately produced the first Autumn Leaf Festival in 1964. Remodeled buildings and all new construction followed the Bavarian theme that is now required by city ordinance. Incorporated in 1906, Leavenworth plans yearlong activities to celebrate its 2006 centennial.

Bavarian Breakfast
Linda and I started our day with breakfast at the Tumwater Inn, the town’s oldest operating restaurant and lounge. We had a Bavarian scramble filled with German sausage, mushrooms, melted cheeses, a German potato cake, and rye toast. We didn’t leave one crumb.

Wandering the canvas sun shelters that make up Art in the Park takes a long time with pottery, paintings, photography, woodcarvings, and other unusual handcrafted goodies on which to feast your eyes.

Fancy-rigged clopping horses offered carriage rides but we settled by the gazebo to enjoy “The Alpen Folk” with bass, guitar, accordion, and hammered dulcimer. Young Peter not only played a mean guitar but also yodeled in tandem with the accordionist. We sang “Edelweiss” until they lost us in German.

Polka music always makes me want to dance. Linda pulled me back just in time. I don’t know how to dance; the music just makes me feel like I can. Swaying I can do without endangering anyone.

Daily Fix
I thought I knew Linda well but I wasn’t aware of her addiction. No way could I keep her out of the Coldstone Creamery. I couldn’t let her eat alone, could I? Wherever we traveled during her two-week visit, she required a daily ice cream fix.

The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory assuaged both our addictions. The brochure asks you to consider becoming a franchisee (and join over 235 others who have lost their minds!). It is difficult enough to escape chocolate’s fiendish clutches without going into the business!
We watched young girls channel a fudge mountain around a marble table, catching it before it went over the side and folding it back unto itself. Drooling is not a pretty sight. And be good—Truffles the Bear sits outside in the flowers guarding the door.

Above and beyond the lush hanging flower baskets and murals decorating the buildings, I had favorite places to show Linda. Since my Arizona RV nest has an actual “yard” to decorate, I love The Metal Waterfall Gallery and its sounds. A cascading waterfall would fit nicely between the enormous boulders I arranged on the lot last year.

Nutty Display
New to me was visiting the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum. I had no idea there were so many. Clara and George Wagner gathered nutcrackers throughout the world. In 1995 they opened the museum with over 5,000 nutcrackers from the 15th century to the present. As one of the world’s largest collections, it has become a National Heritage Foundation site.

The tour starts with a 15-minute nutcracker history video that declares: “Nuts have been a significant part of the food supply since the beginning of time, and over the years, man has created ingenious ways to open the shells.” As with any artwork, a nutcracker is valued more if it is signed. It was immediately apparent to me that the two-foot tall $9.95 nutcrackers I bought at Kroger’s last year for my Christmas display would not qualify.

From the toy soldier nutcrackers we all recognize from the Nutcracker Ballet to Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed and the Wizard of Oz, this collection makes the museum a unique and fascinating stop.

Inspiring Music
We ended the hot day sitting on a shaded grassy knoll in Riverfront Park. The Icicle Creek Music Center presented a youth Chamber Ensemble and Orchestra Concert. The music was deep and broad and lifted our souls. Wow!

A couple sat back-to-back supporting each other, eyes closed, swaying to the music, totally enraptured and unaware of anything else. A little girl on Daddy’s shoulders exuberantly led the music, only occasionally balancing herself with hands on his bald head. Youngsters lay belly down with chin in hand, quietly listening. Little ones danced. Music and people watching; it doesn’t get much better than that.

Pick up “Sonnenschein auf Leavenworth,” the official guidebook, to learn about the many plays, music programs, shops, galleries, restaurants, and festivals. It will also tell you about RV parking, campgrounds and anything else you ever wanted to know about Beautiful Bavarian Leavenworth. God Bless.