Cascades

La Conner, Anacortes, Leavenworth, Roslyn and Snoqualmie Falls
V and I jammed as much as we could into 4 days. While we were up in Northern Washington checking out the tulips, we also explored La Conner, a quaint little town along the Swinomish Channel. We also drove through Washington Park in Anacortes, then drove down Whitbey Island to the ferry in Clinton back to the greater Seattle area. The next day, we headed east to the cascades. V heard about another quaint Bavarian Village about 2 hours away so that was our first destination. After we left Leavenworth, we continued our scenic drive though the Cascades and headed to...Roslyn! Thanks V for indulging me in this pitstop! On our way back to Seattle, we checked out Snoqualmie Falls.

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La Conner - after touring one of the tulip gardens, we headed to La Conner for some window shopping and lunch. La Conner is a cute little town along the Swinomish Channel.

In La Conner

Swinomish Channel and Rainbow Bridge

Heart gate and guardian

in a Zen Garden

Also in the Zen Garden

Washington Park in Anacortes - Washington Park is on the western tip of Figaldo Island in Anacortes. Amazing scenery! We drove the 2+ mile loop around the 220 acre park and were treated to amazing sights. The road was narrow, it actually felt like we were driving on a pedestrian trail and weaved through dense forests at times, but the views of Rosario Strait were breathtaking. We could see many of the San Juan Islands, too.

Gulls hanging out

Believe it or not, there's an eagle in this picture. Click on it to see a larger view.

After leaving Anacortes, we decided to drive down Whitbey Island rather than taking the 5 fwy back. The scenes were beautiful because we were surrounded by water, but it felt very remote, too. The drive seemed to take a long time, but we were pretty tired by this time. BTW v, did I thank you for driving the whole time? I sincerely appreciate it! Gave me the chance to enjoy the scenery. Once we reached the southern tip of Whitbey Island, we had to take a 15 minute ferry ride across Possession Sound. Once we arrived on the 'mainland' we were home within 20 or 30 minutes.

One of the many lakes on Whitbey Island

Waiting for the ferry to cross Possession Sound

Looking towards Mikilteo

Leavenworth - ok. well, i certainly won't say that the 2 hour drive to Leavenworth wasn't worth it because it was beautiful. Parts of it reminded us of the mountain peaks of the sierras, but parts of it were quite different. The peaks seemed higher and more craggily (that doesn't seem like a real word but it actually came up fine in spell check!). And I loved chatting with V the whole time. Also, the town was...well...cute. However, it would have been a lot cooler if it was a REAL Bavarian Town that was designed by Bavarian settlers. uh. no. Some random guy who was knowledgeable in Bavarian architecture turned this basic mining town into...TA DA! A little Bavarian Village with piped music throughout town. Serious. No Bavarian or German ancestors settled here. Mostly, the little town is a tourist trap with lots of shops and expensive food. So now we can say "Been there. Done that. Check."

Driving though the cascades to...

Leavenworth, a Bavarian style village. Key word, 'style'.

Where even Starbucks is there to

The quaint Bavarian architecture, perfect for an Alpine setting

Roslyn - a pilgrimage for any diehard Northern Exposure fan. Jimmy and I came here 10 years ago when the show was just about to end. I can't believe it's already been 10 years since the show ended!! Anyhoo, V indulged me and we stopped for about 40 minutes. It appears that the town still gets a lot of traffic from NE fans since there's still a whole lot of NE stuff around. We chatted with a few of the store owners. The guy who owned the gift shop in Joel Fleishman's office was an extra on the series. It was really cool chatting with him, but sad, too. It was like he was living in the past in his 'glory days' holding onto the hopes of a remake or a movie spinoff. He was really friendly though, and so was the lady in Ruthanne's store.