Blogs from Leavenworth, Washington, United States, North America - page 2

Leavenworth, Washington is located in the eastern foothills of the Cascade Mountains. In the early 1960’s, due to the town’s decline as a timber and agriculture center, someone decided to transform the town into a Bavarian-themed village with corresponding architecture, German food and beer. Even McDonald’s is in on the act. It’s actually a pretty little village with cute shops and lots of flowers. We wandered around town a bit before heading to Seattle. As this was Diane’s first trip to Seattle, we went to Pike’s Place Market to see the “fish throwers” and the original Starbucks. We also visited lovely Gig Harbor and the Tacoma Museum of Glass, a very nice one. Next stop--Marathon Coach near Eugene, Oregon--to have some coach maintenance and repairs done after our summer trip to Alaska. ... read more

Its a 2 day trip to reach the Lakes. We had to start with a long drive to get to start of the Stuart Lake trailhead. The first part is not that remarkable, just a regular trail in that area. You see Stuart lake. We hiked in, and then found a nice campground for the night. The highlight was first look at the dreaded Aasgard pass which we will have to climb next day to get into the lakes area. Aasgard Pass: The next day we started with a hearty camp breakfast. The trail already begins with a boulder field. The highlight though is steep pass. I was quite apprehensive about crossing it. We had full backpacks and it required use of hands to get over the big boulders. The beginning was ok, and we were ... read more

I made it around the world and now I'm heading back out in reverse direction. Today at 6pm I'm catching my flight from Seattle to Sydney Australia. I have a working holiday visa that still has 7 months left on it, so I figured I might as well look for work over there instead of here in the States. Perhaps I'm just trying to ride out the recession abroad! I spent 1.5 months back in the Washington summer and now that it's over, it just flew by. I kept pretty busy floating the river, hiking in the mountians, surfing on the river, and swimming in the ice cold rivers to avoid the 90 degree heat. I also went to a family reunion, went surfing for 5 days down in Oregon, spent time hanging out with friends, ... read more

Hey guys, Yesterday I was on the river with the owner of the company's daughter, brie, and her boyfriend, matt, and went for a float which had a rather rude interruption - a BLOODY CROCODILE ATTACKED ME. Probably the scariest and most shocking 45 seconds of my life. The croc was trying to pull me under and had a grip like a bloody vice on my hip and chest. Fortunately, the combined padding and buoyancy of my PFD and thick neoprene wet suit was enough to keep me mostly protected from the crocs teeth and above surface long enough for brie and matt to paddle over and give the croc a few solid whacks with the paddles, scaring him off. However, the angle of his bite included my hip and that was bleeding profusely by the ... read more

While not quite the moon, or Alaska even, the city of Leavenworth will be my home for the next month! I found a grad student / accountant on craigslist who had an extra room to rent pretty cheap, and also just a few hundred yards from where my guide training company, Blue Sky Outiftters, puts there boats in the water for the rest of my guide training. Also, the view from my room is an absolutely breath taking view of Wedge Mountain. This crappy picture does it no justice, but there ye go. Unlike western Washington such as Seattle that sits in the coastal rains and such, Leavenworth is on the east side of the Cascades, and gets 300 days of sunshine a year! The city of Leavenworth is a big tourist attraction - the whole ... read more