Leavenworth — Village of lights
In this blog, I m going to share the fun and happiness we had while planning and executing the trip to Leavenworth,WA. You might be thinking, what is a big deal going to Leavenworth when you are staying in Portland as it is nearby. Let me take you to a roller coaster ride we had been through. 😀
One fine morning, we all were having a chat about Christmas leaves and celebration plan. I had this thought for a long time, literally long time, I wanted to see a white Christmas, basically with a snow and lights. And a suggestion came up for Leavenworth — which is a small town in Washington. All agreed to it magically; after few days, our planning started with a cup of Chai and snacks.
Commenced with Food and snack packing plan (*classic Indian mentality), listed our favorite SHIN noodle (Yum Yum), Plates, Cups, breakfast — Puliogare, Lemon Rice, Pulav and all. Noted down all the winter needs and play stuffs. Everyone had a thought in their mind, how the weather gonna be. The day came — 24th of December, with a monotonous VROOM, we started the trip. All were good till we reach a place where the board says — “ROADS ARE CLOSED DUE TO AVALANCHE”. We all were shocked, silent, then changed our mood and started alternate plan for Christmas. Finally after a long long discussions, we decided to come back to home and have a good time chatting and eating the food we packed. 😝
You might be thinking , so that plan is a flop one? Ha ha !!! There we go, with another crazy idea of postponing all and reserve it for“New Year”.
Background music — “Evanda enaku custody Naanga evolo periya Lambody”.
Same planning started a day before New year and we had our mind open for any natural calamities this time and had a backup plan of coming home and enjoy our own companies & have fun.
This time, with a loud VROOM, we started to Leavenworth. We booked a hotel(Red Lion) in Wenatchee which is a city near Leavenworth (15 -20 mins) as Leavenworth hotels were all packed for New year. We decided to stop every 90 minutes to catch up and refill our snacks as our trip time gonna be 4–5 hours. We had multiple stops until we reached Wenatchee.
What a scenic view it was! I don’t have a tendency to sleep while traveling. So I could enjoy the most. It was all nothing but white! The white flakes covered in the tall trees reminded me of all Christmas Carol movies which I use to watch during this season; and the roofs of house covered in snow and a yellow light coming out from their windows gives such a warmth and peace. These were all in my dreams, few years before and now I m here, giving my eyes a visual treat; what else you can give for a nature lover and an artists; I gathered lots of painting ideas.
After 5 hours of travel and endless break, we reached Wenatchee. Decided to refresh and start back to German Town — alpine style building hidden on the cascade mountains.
Must see places and tourist stuffs:
- German town — its like a fairy tale — lights, food, happening place
- Go for a Sleigh Rides in the woods /Horse ride around German town
- Winter Karneval — Usually happens in January
- Drury falls
- Wenatchee lake
- Alpine falls
- Enchantment peaks to see fall colors
Well you might be thinking — “Wow! they have covered all the places”. Nope! I have different story for you.
After refreshment, we left to German town from hotel, It was damn cold. But still the dusk looks good in the vibrant lights and snow bed. We packed snow suits, hand warmer, toe warmer, body warmer, boots and all set to explore. Reached the village parking lot and me, sliding through everyone,in the boots. I used a decent word sliding but actually I was slipping. Yes, It was hard ice everywhere and roads are filled with a thin layer of ice. Better to wear a ice cleats on top of your shoe/boots/ whatever.
After a full clown show of me slipping and sliding, with my hubby’s help I could walk little steady till the village. At the very moment, my eyes stopped wandering and my world suddenly started moving slowly. Looking at the breathtaking view (refer below pic captured straight through my eyes)— buildings with all possible color lights, sound of happiness, kids playing in the snow, tall trees covered in lights in place of leaves, horse leading the sleigh with the people full of happiness and excitement. Recollecting my consciousness, I have moved forward trying to cope up with the speed of the world.
I barely stopped to take a photo for few moment, trying to immense through the view as much as I can. Tightly holding my partner’s hand, I have started moving close to icy layered snow to get a good snap of us and of course few solos. Kids started looking for a snow sleds when others are playing with that. When the warmers forget to do its job, our hands and leg got colder and colder and my nose turned to red again. ( My inner Rudolph came out for a moment). While searching for a warm place; found a round tent with a strong yellow lights like a Merry-Go round. Reaching there, we felt so comfy as it has heaters attached to the entrance of the roof and layered bench to sit and get cozy. After few moment, we decided to do some reels which we always do whenever we are traveling new places together. We did a reel for— Patak Patak song in that cold weather, people around us started clapping and whistling right after our free show in an open podium. Never mind, we all don’t care about having a proper stage to show our talent.
Time to go back as it is getting colder and we had loads of plan for new year. We reached back to hotel, again going mufti — I mean changing to cozy comfortable cloth to add few more memories to the last few hours of 2022. Started with a good shots and party mode on!!!
** *With all due respect,moving the time to 11:59 PM 31 Dec 2022 ***
The countdown starts 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 … Happy New year!!! We all ran to get our gifts. Yes we played Secret Santa / Chrisma — Chrischild and extended the game till New year to share the gifts. Everyone got their presents, we opened the gifts and literally we all were happy as kids. For an instance, we all became kids, having face full of laughs and cheerfulness, opened our gifts, took numerous photos and started gathering in a round circle. Yes the game is still on, now its time to guess your Chirsmom — who was your Santa; Tada - two of us guessed their Secret Santa correctly.
After Playing games and moved back to our party, I can’t forget the songs we played and danced for it.
Highlights: “Oru kootu Kiliyaga” and “Oru Seval thaan, adai kaathathey”.
Day 2: Good morning! actually Good afternoon!
Yes, we were planning what to do on first day of the year. We are still not over with the beauty of German town and wanted to visit the same place during day time. Coincidentally, all had a same thought. Wearing new dress picked for 2023 and visited the German town again but this time with a proper ice cleats in our shoe to not show our balancing skills in Ice which has been proven a day before 😜. Today is not for just playing, we have covered almost visiting all shops and admired the beautiful buildings and got a souvenir on the remembrance of Leavenworth — Village of lights.
With a heartfelt goodbye, we went back to hotel and spent the night there luckily we got 2 rooms with a secret door in between, so it did not feel like we were in separate rooms. We had a quality time talking, catching up with families… Sleep tight!!! we have to leave tomorrow — says my hubby.
Day3: Morning Morning!!! Things were moving fast, preparing breakfast, Packing things, getting ready, loading the stuff in car. There we were, started back to Beaverton with a small pit stop on snow park nearby and played on snow and walked for few minutes on the trail. And our day ends with Yummy Yummy “Fish Biryani” and other Indian foods.
👋🏻 See you all in my next blog. Thank you for taking the Roller Coaster ride with me!!! Do share your experience if you have been to Leavenworth …
