Sunday, October 23, 2011

OKTOBERFEST!


I grew up going to Leavenworth every year around this time. We had a family reunion every year. All the extended family would meet to celebrate birthdays all at once. (There were like 6 or 7 right around late Sept. early October) 

Leavenworth is this little town, nestled in the Cascade Mountain range that has a Bavarian theme. ALL the stores..even the Starbucks, the McDonalds and the Subway are in "Bavarian" style buildings. It's quite quaint. Now, if you have young children, it's a good destination for winter time, the main street of town has a large hill that beckons even the most fuddy duddy old guy to sled down it. It's beautiful all lit up in the snow for Christmas. And in the fall, for Oktoberfest, it's a brilliant display of fall colors everywhere. It's also very busy. And if you have issues with people drinking around you I'd advise not going there during the HEIGHT of the Oktoberfest festival. 

Allan has swapped over to a Canon 30D camera. (I'm just a SMIDGE green)  He's also gotten a nifty fifty to play with. This was our first real outing with the new camera. 

We ate at Uncle Uli's (great little place BTW) where Allan had the Bratwurst Burger...it basically replaces ground beef for ground bratwurst...and he said it was the best burger he's EVER had. It was also very kid friendly, long benches outside seating, but under a balcony so you stay dry on a rainy day. 

Allan and Liam passed the wait time (it was Saturday of a festival day and VERY busy) by playing thumb war and rock-paper-scissors, which Allan kept cheating with by adding in, Fire and Rain...a la Joey from "Friends." 


I did say it's beautiful. The lower right picture on this collage is from a spot where about 15 years ago was destroyed by a forest fire. The fire was on either side of the 2 lane highway into Leavenworth, and  before it was over the fire threatened the town itself. The beauty of the vibrant colors through the scorched land is breathtaking, believe me when I say the photo doesn't do it justice. It's amazing how much it's come in just the last few years much less the last 15! 

For a week, we had a dog, and he joined us on this outing. He was a sweet little thing. A mix of Cairn Terrier and Dachshund. But, alas, both Allan and I were terribly allergic.  Here you see again the recovery of the forest fire, and the Willkommen banners in the wee town. 


And NO post would be complete without kiddo collages...I gotta say, I may be biased but she's just too cute. Also, Allan upstaged me this time around with pictures of The Bug. All but two of these are Allan's, my favorite included, which is the top left. 



And of course, there's Liam. Who really doesn't like having his photo taken anymore :( But we still manage to get a few here and there.

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