On our way back from the baby shower, Michael, Camille, and I made a quick stop in Leavenworth to recharge her car. I remembered this when I was on the way home and snapped this picture from the train. The view was all forest and mountains, completely hiding the charming little town. You’d never guess there was a Bavarian village tucked in there.
Leavenworth didn’t always look like what I would imagine a European postcard would look like. In the early 1900s, it was a timber town and a regional hub for the Great Northern Railway. But a series of devastating fires, followed by the railroad’s relocation to Wenatchee in 1925, left the economy in pieces. By the 1950s, Leavenworth was fading.
Enter two Seattle businessmen, Ted Price and Bob Rodgers, who bought a struggling café at nearby Coles Corner in 1960. Inspired by Rodgers' time stationed in Bavaria during WWII, they transformed the cafe into The Squirrel Tree and pitched a bold idea: remake Leavenworth into a Bavarian alpine village. Somehow, it worked. Today, the entire town center looks like it belongs in the Alps.
We didn’t stay long, but it made an impression…gingerbread
trim, murals, and flower boxes everywhere, all hidden from the rails by
gorgeous scenery.
My last photo of the day was taken in Cashmere, WA:
