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jamesqLeaving Portland mostly consisted of having wonderful toast with smoked salmon and avocado at Roman Candle Baking. That healthy fare was immediately ruined with the addition of a milk shake from Salt and Straw. This is why I'm fat.
Next up was gas for the car. Since Oregon is completely full-serve, I opted to do that as my last act in Oregon - you know, to make it easier.
Climbing out of the Columbia valley, I saw a lot of great scenery, and stopped off at a lookout where you could, on a clear day, see four volcanoes (Baker, Adams, St. Helens, Rainier). It wasn't crystal clear, so you could only see Mount Hood and Mount Adams. Sheer distance rendered St. Helens and Rainier unviewable.
There was also an abandoned farmhouse a hundred yards or so from the lookout point, so I checked it out.
Checked into the Leavenworth Howard Johnson. That was where I discovered this wonderful bit of actor-from-one-roll-surprising-you-in-another:
Apparently, Kristofer Hivju is the Wyndham Rewards Wizard! The commercials are fantastic:
Fantastic as that is, I'd pay to see him do this in character as Tormund Giantsbane from Game of Thrones. "The beds are like Breanne of Tarth - large, and you want to fall asleep on top of them."
I'd ordered some chocolate from Texas (they don't ship to Canada) and it was waiting for me at check in. I didn't even have to ask for it, they just handed me the box.
Next up, a fancy dinner at Kingfisher Restaurant. This was mostly on the strength of a meal at O'Grady's last October. This was better. Basically, they have Prie Fixe meals, but today was buffet style for a very large party. Not an exclusive party though, so the staff bent over backwards to accommodate me. As it was buffet, I opted for smaller portions of what would be all three prie fixe meals. It amounted to a little more than what I would have otherwise eaten, but the variety was wonderful and the food quality was top notch. I'm glad I drove 4 Km out of my way to go there.
I was hoping to go see performances of Singing in the Rain and The Sound of Music while I was there (Leavenworth has live, outdoor theatre every summer), but they were sold out. Alas. It seems it's good enough that they sell out, and people visit just for the theatre. And here I was expecting to just grab a ticket at the venue because it would only be small-town fare.
The next day I explored Leavenworth, including some of the very nice parks that are just south of main street. They've got some gorgeous parks and beaches there.
Later I hit up main street to do the standard Leavenworth tourist thing - buy weird food and take advantage of all the alcohol. Well not so much since most of it is wine, and the one place with spirit tasting is mostly gins. They have one rum, but I already have a bottle of it from last time. I did buy a print though.
So how is Leavenworth when it's not Octoberfest? Pretty much the same really - maybe just not dialed up so high. It's still a tourist town, and all the same shops were there, parking is still a pain. There weren't as many people minding the shops, and some of the shops were taking advantage of downtime to renovate/rearrange/restock. For example, half the stuff in Bergdorg Cellars (a favourite from last time) wasn't there. It's still a quaint little bavarian town in the middle of the Cascades.
The weather was ridiculously hot. The highest I encountered was 35C, at which point I went back to my air-conditioned hotel room and had a nap. It hit 38C while I was safely within.
Once the sun went behind a mountain, I ventured back out for dinner. Yesterday was high end dining, today was what they call Alpine cuisine. I have sausage for lunch and schnitzel/spätzle/beer for dinner. I think that one day of German fare and another day of good, non-german food (repeated as necessary) is exactly the right way to enjoy a multi-day trip to Leavenworth. I call this the Schnitz-and-giggles diet.
Next up was gas for the car. Since Oregon is completely full-serve, I opted to do that as my last act in Oregon - you know, to make it easier.
"What'll it be?"Ok, I didn't actually say that last part, but I sure wanted to. What I did is sighed and entered my information because I really just wanted this to be over. Seriously, on those rare occasions when I get full service, I just say "fill 'er up", the guy fills my car and tells me how much it is, I give him money, he gives me change, and we both move on with our lives. This is how it's been my whole life, including the other times I've gassed up in Oregon. It's like this place was designed for self-serve only (everything pay-in-advance) and then they just added a bunch of attendants who's sole job was to hold the pump handle. I get that this was a make-work project for the state of Oregon (and I'm OK with that), but couldn't they at least behave like full service gas station attendants everywhere else in North America?
"Fill it up."
"How will you be paying?"
"Cash."
"You'll have to go inside for that."
"Buh? Ok fine, I'll pay with credit card."
"Ok, you have to get out of the car to enter the card info."
"So, at what point does your so-called full service start being less effort for me than simply driving to a Yakima self-serve?"
Climbing out of the Columbia valley, I saw a lot of great scenery, and stopped off at a lookout where you could, on a clear day, see four volcanoes (Baker, Adams, St. Helens, Rainier). It wasn't crystal clear, so you could only see Mount Hood and Mount Adams. Sheer distance rendered St. Helens and Rainier unviewable.
There was also an abandoned farmhouse a hundred yards or so from the lookout point, so I checked it out.
Checked into the Leavenworth Howard Johnson. That was where I discovered this wonderful bit of actor-from-one-roll-surprising-you-in-another:
Apparently, Kristofer Hivju is the Wyndham Rewards Wizard! The commercials are fantastic:
Fantastic as that is, I'd pay to see him do this in character as Tormund Giantsbane from Game of Thrones. "The beds are like Breanne of Tarth - large, and you want to fall asleep on top of them."
I'd ordered some chocolate from Texas (they don't ship to Canada) and it was waiting for me at check in. I didn't even have to ask for it, they just handed me the box.
"Excellent, my chocolate arrived."Getting it back to Canada in 30C+ weather without it turning into a giant mass was fun.
"That's full of chocolate? I wish I'd known that before I'd handed it to you."
Next up, a fancy dinner at Kingfisher Restaurant. This was mostly on the strength of a meal at O'Grady's last October. This was better. Basically, they have Prie Fixe meals, but today was buffet style for a very large party. Not an exclusive party though, so the staff bent over backwards to accommodate me. As it was buffet, I opted for smaller portions of what would be all three prie fixe meals. It amounted to a little more than what I would have otherwise eaten, but the variety was wonderful and the food quality was top notch. I'm glad I drove 4 Km out of my way to go there.
I was hoping to go see performances of Singing in the Rain and The Sound of Music while I was there (Leavenworth has live, outdoor theatre every summer), but they were sold out. Alas. It seems it's good enough that they sell out, and people visit just for the theatre. And here I was expecting to just grab a ticket at the venue because it would only be small-town fare.
The next day I explored Leavenworth, including some of the very nice parks that are just south of main street. They've got some gorgeous parks and beaches there.
Later I hit up main street to do the standard Leavenworth tourist thing - buy weird food and take advantage of all the alcohol. Well not so much since most of it is wine, and the one place with spirit tasting is mostly gins. They have one rum, but I already have a bottle of it from last time. I did buy a print though.
So how is Leavenworth when it's not Octoberfest? Pretty much the same really - maybe just not dialed up so high. It's still a tourist town, and all the same shops were there, parking is still a pain. There weren't as many people minding the shops, and some of the shops were taking advantage of downtime to renovate/rearrange/restock. For example, half the stuff in Bergdorg Cellars (a favourite from last time) wasn't there. It's still a quaint little bavarian town in the middle of the Cascades.
The weather was ridiculously hot. The highest I encountered was 35C, at which point I went back to my air-conditioned hotel room and had a nap. It hit 38C while I was safely within.
Once the sun went behind a mountain, I ventured back out for dinner. Yesterday was high end dining, today was what they call Alpine cuisine. I have sausage for lunch and schnitzel/spätzle/beer for dinner. I think that one day of German fare and another day of good, non-german food (repeated as necessary) is exactly the right way to enjoy a multi-day trip to Leavenworth. I call this the Schnitz-and-giggles diet.
