overnight to leavenworth

my mom is still here for another day, so i'm kicking the week off with a recap of thatcher's and my overnight trip to leavenworth. i mentioned a couple posts back that my mom offered to watch the kids for a night, so thatcher and i could have a (much-overdue) getaway together. we've been talking about going to leavenworth, wa for the whole time we've lived here, so we easily settled on it as the location. we got both kids off to school on friday morning and then hit the road. 

we drove through the mountains (and snoqualmie pass) to get there, over 2 hours.

the ski hills just closed for the season in snoqualmie pass

this was a cute little historic "town" in the mountains

 thatcher found a hike for us to do about 10 minutes outside leavenworth. it's a joke between us that i am not a huge hiker. i've only been hiking with the kids (i.e. short hikes with lots of kid whining) since we moved here. sometimes the hikes are enjoyable, sometimes not so much ;) this was my first "real" hike here. it was called icicle ridge and it was about 5.5 miles round trip and an 1800 ft. gain. i even invested in hiking boots last month, so i was feeling pretty legit. haha. 

it became clear pretty quickly that this hike was going to be non-stop switch backs up the mountain. also that i am very out of shape. oof. the sun was beating down on us and thatcher even admitted the hike was a bit more challenging than he anticipated. i did my fair share of whining on the way up because my legs got so sore from the constant incline, but the scenery helped get me through.

 it took us almost 2 hours to get up the mountain side. i was so happy to have the hard part over. we ate our lunch up at the top and enjoyed the view before heading down (which was much easier/quicker). thank goodness! 

we checked into our hotel in leavenworth, which was really nice. we got cleaned up and headed out to explore the downtown. leavenworth is a funny place. since the 1960's it has been 100% bavarian themed from the architecture to the signage to the restaurants. it's a pretty touristy place because of this. it was definitely unique! 

we settled on a restaurant for dinner on the main drag and it was really good (neither of us ordered german food, though). after dinner we walked around some more then headed back to the hotel. 

saturday morning we could not sleep in if some one paid us :) i was awake at 6:30am and thatcher was shortly after that as well. at least we could lounge in bed because we didn't have any little people needing us to get up immediately. we decided to get ready for the day and we were out and about by 8am. the town was dead at that time, so it was sort of nice. we first stopped at a place called j5 coffee that was really cute. my iced honey latte was really good too! then we stopped at a little walk up cafe and ordered breakfast and sat outside. 

we called the kids and my mom to check in. ashford survived the night without us, which was his biggest obstacle. 

after breakfast, we walked through a nature preserve right next to the downtown. it was beautiful and we even saw a deer! 

then we went to the museum in town and learned a lot about the history of leavenworth, which was cool. we were the only ones in the museum ;) we decided to head out of town and stop at a few destinations on the way back to seattle. first was a beautiful canyon right outside leavenworth. 

next was lake wenatchee state park, which was also beautiful. 

then deception falls, which we visited before with the kids, but the falls were raging this time. it was incredible! it was also freezing cold there.

we stopped for a late lunch in the town of skykomish at a cute little cafe. then stopped at a lookout, which required another long-ish hike up a mountain followed by a 6 story climb up the structure. i went part of the way on the hike and decided to go back to the car because my legs were too sore. thatcher finished i because he is less of a wimp than me. haha.  

we got back to our house just before dinner time. the kids were so excited to see us. my mom said they were so well-behaved while we were gone. i was glad to hear it! we were so thankful to get the opportunity to get away just the two of us. it's amazing how restorative some quality time together can be. until our next adventure...