Day 2 and 3!

WE ARE IN OREGON!!!

This is us in Leavonworth, not Oregon, but it's fun none the less!

We travel slow…….but last night we crossed over from Washington into Oregon!  Good thing because the 20% tax on hard alcohol was killing us!!!  We are in the land of beauty and no tax!  Woohoo!  Let the shopping begin!

I will be posting a couple of days in one because we didn`t have any internet access and once again I`m not sure when this will be posted.  Anyways…….

Play me a song piano man!

After Oroville we headed off for Leavonworth.  A stop at the Wal Mart in Omak confirmed why I hate Wal Mart so much.  The smell of people alone was enough to make you barf.  We needed groceries and were able to sift through the Mexican produce and actually find some tomatoes from Canada! The drive was beautiful and we arrived in Leavonworth in time for happy hour.  We setup, had a drink and headed into town for a German dinner.  The food was amazing!!  Everyone had schnitzel (of course) and I had Rainbow Trout.  Soooo good!  There was even a little old man piano player!  He was so cute I had to take a stalker picture of him. 

After dinner we wandered around town a bit and found the world`s biggest garbage can.  Well, I am sure there is one bigger out there but to me that shit was big! 

BIIIG GARBAGE

Brooke and Chad arrived just after 9:00, setup, had a visit and we were all wiped and ready for bed.  In the morning we got up to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells that is Leavonworth!

We had some fun at the shops, including Kris Kringl.  Obviously it`s a store dedicated to Christmas!  Since Trent and I are HUGE Christmas lovers, we picked up a few goodies which many of you will have the pleasure of witnessing this Christmas season!  I know you are saying oh god…….here we go, but I mean come on.  How could you not purchase something at a store where you find one of these in September!!

After Kris Kringl we stopped at a salt water taffy store.  Salt water taffy is probably one of my favorite things on earth.  Aside from Sadie of course.  There were about 100 flavors of taffy to choose from.  I have been holding off until we got to the coast but I couldn`t resist! 

The next stop was the hat shop.  Many, many hats can be found here.  And apparently a lurker as well……

Trent, Brooke and the Lurker

Since it was sunny and hot I figured I should probably buy a hat to protect myself from the sun.  I chose a green Bavarian style hat.  It was a little warm walking around with it on, but it definitely kept the sun out of my eyes!  As I was paying, the Mexican sales lady who I couldn`t understand, stuck a feather in my cap.  I am pretty sure she called me macaroni.  Maybe it was mama cita, but one can never be sure. 

Check out my new Bavarian Chapeau!

I must say that Leavonworth was a lot of fun.  We stopped at a German beer gardens for a morning brew and ran into a little accordion player!  Trent enjoyed his tunes.

Next stop was lederhosen and beer wenches!  We got some great shots of us enjoying ourselves at a German bar.  I will scan the pictures for you once we are back in the land of technology, but here is one of Trent to wet your whistle! I did manage to snap a few preliminary pics before I got yelled at! 

After we finished up in Leavonworth we headed out for Oregon.  We weren`t sure where we would stop so decided to go until we found somewhere nice.  The drive out of Leavonworth and down to Oregon was gorgeous.  It was about 32 degrees the whole drive which was a tad warm and it was pretty twisty but the views were amazing.  Recently there were some bad fires in Washington and we passed through a huge section of burnt area. 

As we winded our way down through the hills we saw some AMAZING views of the Columbia River and the Gorge.

We found an awesome state park to stop at around 5:00 and pulled in only to find out that they were full.  As we left and pulled back out onto the highway, Dad and Mumsey heard a loud BANG and we all pulled over, only to discover a blown muffler pipe.  The next hour was spent on the side of the road, in the desert, in 32 degrees, and it smelled like garbage.  Pops was able to get a clamp or something on the muffler pipe (ok I am no mechanic here people) and we were on our way.  

We crossed over the bridge and it brought us into Oregon.

This is where everything changed.  We haven`t been in Oregon long, but I am already in love.  The scenery is so beautiful and we aren`t even on the coast yet!  We pulled into the Melamoose State Park at around 6:30, had a bite to eat and enjoyed the breeze off the river and a few bevvies before retiring for the night. 

This morning we are headed to Troutdale which is only about an hour or so drive.  We will spend the day shopping at the outlet malls then head out tomorrow (Monday) for the coast and Fort Stevens.  We can`t wait!

Hopefully we will have wifi when we arrive in Troutdale so until then………