A Whirlwind Washington Adventure

We were lucky to get a short trip in up to visit with my Husband's Sister up in Seattle for a day and then we headed east to visit a charming mountain town where we stayed in a cozy A-frame cabin for the night. It was a very hot trip in the mountains, like crazy hot. Made me wish we stayed a little bit longer to soak up the Puget Sound.

My husband used to travel constantly with work and one such work trip led him to the small mountain town of Leavenworth, Washington. The entire town is themed like a Bavarian village. He really enjoyed it there and wanted to share it with us someday. Since we were going up to Seattle anyway we decided this would be a good time to check it out, especially since we are moving away from the Pacific Northwest in a few short weeks and this might be our last chance for a while.

My little merman.

                                                   Perfect day on the Puget Sound.

 This is one of the prettiest drives I have been on and for once I was not driving!

 Can you spot the little blue A-frame hiding in the trees? I think I have found my dream home.

 It was in the 90s when we got to the cabin so we decided to visit the creek on the lower part of the property. The water was crystal clear and ice cold a perfect little oasis. We were even visited by three goats who came running down the hill on the opposite side of the creek. They were very happy to play in the water too.

The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

 Solomon enjoying the loft in the cabin. One guess where he chose to sleep.

Leavenworth,Washington.

 So much detail in this cute little town. I loved all the murals and detailed woodwork on all the shops.

                   Solomon melting in his jeans. I figured it would be cool in the mountains so I packed pants and long sleeve shirts. I couldn't have been more wrong.

 There was a statue of three goats outside this building, the kids thought that was great after our random meeting with the goats at the creek.

Before our very hot, and very long drive back to Portland we stopped and visited some cute farm friends.....well most of them were cute......

A stroll along the Lewis River

A Sunday day trip to visit our beautiful neighbor to the north Washington and the stunning Lewis River.  Lucia Falls Park has a short but gorgeous trail along the river that is a great little hike for small kids. The trail is a loop but we always turn around at the end and walk the riverside trail twice. I am so envious of the homes on the other side of the river with decks and little ladders down to the river, oh what a view, a home for poets and artist and dreamers for sure.

A faerie throne and lighthouses

Well our first day provided an optimistic light for our short spring break. Sunshine on the coast?! The many rain showers we drove through simply vanished into endless blue sky. The rest of our trip proved to be wet and cold. I am very happy that Ben and I purchased a new sleeping bag for the trip, we needed it. The yurt was COLD! Much,much colder than the yurts in Oregon. I slept like a baby though, both nights, must have been the sound of the ocean, best white noise ever. I am usually a night owl, trying to sneak in a few hours of drawing,sewing,or knitting while my motherhood is momentarily at pause while the kids are asleep. On our trip we pretty much went to bed when the sun went down and woke up just as it was rising,quite a change for me,but refreshing.

I pretty much expected the rain so I looked up the local thrift shops before our trip and we spend a good part of our Monday hitting thrift shops all up and down Hwy 101. I scored some fabric,Sophie found several books, Ben got a bunch of records, and Solomon is the proud new owner of a wooden Semi-Truck. On the last day we drove back down to the Oregon beaches before heading home. I was a bit disappointed by Cape Disappointments lack of rocks, it was nothing but one heck of a long sandy beach(there was however, quite an amazing selection of driftwood), so we had to hit my old reliable spot in order for me to feel satisfied. However,it was high tide and many other folks had the same idea. I only left with two small milk agates after braving the tides and a sideways blowing rain shower.
Maybe next time........

p.s.I made a faerie throne with the hopes of suprizing Sophie.She found it in the car before I could. We put it in the woods behind our yurt and the faeries left Sophie a whole sand dollar in return.