A new adventure

After a nice two day stay at an Air B&B in Mica, WA, I pushed onward into the eastern part of the Cascades.  My first stop was a little town in the mountains called Leavenworth.  The town was themed after the Bavarian area of Germany.  So after setting up at the KOA, I heading in to see what things were like.  I was very disappointed.  Very touristy, and only a few shops were German themed.  There must have been 12 wine tasting locations,  by only 1 beir garten.  The beer selection was not that great, so I only had one and headed back to the campground to enjoy the hot tub. The next day I drove north along the outer areas of the mountains.   Lots and lots of fields, and more fruit tree groves than you can imagine.  A very pretty drive.  The Cascade park was nice, but not a lot of the spectacular views like I had expected.  I guess the Tetons and Glacier spoiled me.  Interestingly, Cascade has 312 glaciers in the...

Arrived in Leavenworth, Washington today.  Opted for the KOA camping since it was really close to town.  Nice place and I hope to use the pool and hot tub after the kids clear out for dinner. Headed into town to check it out. It is themed like a Bavarian town in Germany.  Nice buildings and atmosphere.  Relaxing at the beer garden and doing some people watching.  It is hot here.  96 degrees when I got to town and a low of 65 later tonight.   So the light sleeping bag and sheet will be plenty.  There is no rain in the forecast, so the rain fly will stay off tonight and I will enjoy the stars. Heading north tomorrow up the east edge of the mountains will see how far I get, by I don't think I can make North Cascade NP.

So, after visiting the Two Medicines area with Lawny and his family, they headed south towards Bozeman, and I headed north on the east side of Glacier to look for a campsite. After a bit of cruising the eastern area, a couple of locals pointed me towards the Leaning Pine Campground a few miles outside of the Many Glacier entrance. Camp set up was easy, and I was thinking about trying to get a site inside the park the next day.  I was soon greeted by a beautiful Australian Shepard and a crazy long tailed, black and tiger striped cat.  They were both friendly so we hung out for a bit while I studied the Glacier trail options.  I selected the Grinnell Glacier hike for the next day and was pondering my next move, when a gal walking to the bathroom stopped by.  She asked if I was camping alone, and when I said yes, she offered to have me come down to her site for some company with her and her friend after dinner. I was feeling a bit lonely after leaving Rebecca in J...

Had a great time catching up with Lawny and his family.  The girls had lots of stories of the fun they had up in Canada, and they had a lot of pictures.  Was good to see them and get a little family time in! They had a nice B&B and I was able to sleep on the floor between the two beds the girls were sleeping in.  I even managed to sneak in a load of laundry the first night.  Clean clothes are always a good thing! We took the red bus tour (a short one) and then did a couple of short hikes.  Was fun to see the old lodges, so rustic and beautiful!

Bears!