Gruelle's on the Road

Upon leaving the Boomerang at Lake Chelan, we thought we'd like to visit one of our Thousand Trails membership parks just outside of Leavenworth, WA since we had not been there before. The park is nestled in the eastern foothills of the Cascade Mountains, and located within 20 miles of the nearby village of Leavenworth, with its Bavarian architecture, unique German restaurants, specialty shops and art galleries. We had not visited the town of Leavenworth since our youngest kids were in high school, we were ready for a revisit.
Happily to our surprise, Dan & Jenny Sheppard were head there as well. So we traveled together and were able to spend several days together in the park as well as Dianne's 60th birthday in Leavenworh.
Now there was a certain squirrel who seem to think that he/she should also share in our food & games, and did invite him/herself whenever we where outside. Tame like I have never seen.

Leavenworth is a truly unique city that reinvented itself4 decades ago. The odds of a dying timber and rail town successfully converting itself into a tourist mecca, much less an alpine Bavarian village were pretty slim. Nonetheless, the townspeople of Leavenworth found a way to do it. During the early 1960’s Leavenworth found itself declining in employment, population and interest. In a last-chance effort to turn a struggling town around, the leaders of the community decided to change Leavenworth’s appearance, hoping to bring tourism into the area. Using the beautiful backdrop of the surrounding Alpine hills to their advantage, the town agreed to remodel their hamlet in the form of a Bavarian village. Hoping to create more than a mere facelift, the entire community rallied to create the illusion of Bavaria in the middle of Washington state. The story of Leavenworth is a testament to the determination of the human spirit. And today it thrives and is visited by thousands.