Our last summer trip before all things fall. I love Leavenworth. It’s a cheesy little town that had the bright idea to rebrand itself as a Bavarian-Swiss town to revitalize the struggling logging town. Kind of like Solvang, which is about an hour south of San Luis Obispo. This was the first Bavarian-themed town I experienced, and I liked Solvang also. I suppose I like cheesy.
We first made it to Leavenworth back in 2019 and we all had a really great time. We’ve been trying to go regularly but it hasn’t always worked out. There are only so many days in a year and too many places to visit. Sometimes we stop in Leavenworth on our way to other vacations. And I’ve gone a few times with friends, once to hike Colchuck Lake and two more times for yoga retreats. Which brings us to this trip at Sleeping Lady.
The yoga retreat I attend is held at Sleeping Lady, a beautiful resort in Leavenworth. And because I like to take everyone to places I’ve been—and places I think are worth sharing—I booked two nights at the end of August at Sleeping Lady. They were having some sale or something back in January. A major bonus of the place, is they have a cabin that sleeps eight. It’s rare to find places that accept more than six people without needing to book two rooms (ore pretend we’re only a family of six).
It was the last Wednesday of August and Brian had some work to finish before we left, which annoys the hell out of me when he does this. But that whole job thing is what allows us to go to places. Like Leavenworth. My grandfather used to say life is backwards. That you should spend your youth retired and work as an older person—when your kids are grown and gone, and your body isn’t what it used to be. I’d rather not work ever at all though. I read a comment online somewhere that said something to the effect that seals have life figured out. They just lounge on a beach all day. Haha. I realize this is a simple perspective, and that seals have to worry about being food for other sea life amongst other things. But the world that humans came up with kind of sucks. And we don’t have it bad. I’m fully aware we’re privileged but still, I wish things were different.
It was early afternoon when we pulled out. I packed up the car and still had ample time to kill waiting on Brian, mostly answering when are we leaving? multiple times. The drive east was smooth. No summer traffic which kind of surprised me. The 2 can get backed up between Monroe and maybe Index, before it opens up to Stevens Pass. But not this day. We made it to Leavenworth in record time, under two hours. I didn’t even need a map, haha. I knew exactly where I was going.
Sleeping Lady was new to Brian and the kids. Brian has only heard me talk about the place. We parked and took our bags with us to check in. It’s a decent-sized property, and you walk to get all the places. It’s not like a hotel where the parking lot is right outside and an elevator takes you within steps to your room. This place is like a summer camp, at least in my mind. Different cabins and buildings spread across however many acres. After checking in and making our way to our cabin, we had probably walked a good half-mile or more. No complaints; I like walking.
The Rookery, our cabin for two nights. It’s tucked up a walkway past the swimming pool, up a slight hill. It’s quite nice. There are six bunk beds and everyone picked their bed right away. And there is enough room in the cabin that we don’t feel like we’re on top of each other. This is often the case in state park cabins and yurts. Sure, we can all sleep comfortably but there’s no way all seven of us would hang out inside at the same time. This place had ample space.
Rookery kiddos.
Everyone got their stuff situated in the room and we set out to explore. When I came for the yoga retreat, I noticed they have a cabin for kids. The Play Barn. It’s like a game room. I hadn’t been inside before this day. It’s not what I thought but also kind of what I thought, but it’s all good. I suppose I envisioned more stuff in there. There’s a pool table, ping pong table, a piano, and a few games. It was just fine. The kids all entertained themselves until we caught up with our friends who were also there. They had come the night before. Once we all met up, we left for town. It was time for dinner.
Play Barn kiddos.
Brian and I are routine people. Almost to a fault. If we find something we like, we rarely deviate. Like the pizza joint in Leavenworth. There are other pizza joints, maybe even better. But we’ll never know because we like the first one we tried. And we’ll keep going there. Bonus, it has an outside patio for dining. I’d much rather eat outside when possible. We ordered and waited, and sat at two tables—a kid table and an adult table. This didn’t go over well with Blaise and Laine. There were looks. We don’t usually segregate, hence the looks. But it made sense. There were seven kids. And between kids and adults, there’s no way we would have all fit at one table anyway. They survived.
Pizza, check. It was time to nose around downtown before sunset. Parking was easy, in summer?! The kids found an ice cream shop and we partook. The line was long but it wasn’t terrible. Normally I avoid long lines but eh, we weren’t on a time limit. And, ice cream.
With ice creams in hand, we left to walk around the Waterfront Park Trail. Baby and Maive ran ahead, and Baby started yelling loudly, as Baby does, “RACCOONS, RACCOONS!” Apparently the bridge we were approaching had a family of raccoons crossing over until Baby started yelling, and they scurried back the way they came. When we caught up with Baby and Maive, we all crossed the bridge and saw the raccoons in the tree. Cute little critters! I’m sure they were annoyed we interrupted their evening plans. We continued on and went to the riverfront. The kids played a few minutes on the beach before we called them back, it was getting dark. Time to head back to Sleeping Lady for some swimming.
Raccoons! And some dusk river play.
The pool is so nice! It’s quite large and had four fun color light bulbs in the pool. I like color. The kids jumped right in and enjoyed the pool to themselves. There were a few people in the spa who eventually left, and all seven of us hopped in the spa. It was nearing pool closing time, and we were all ready for bed.
The only negative to the Rookery is there is no space for Brian and I to chill after the kids go to bed. At least not inside. There is a nice deck that we spent time on between the kids going to bed and us going to bed. Bonus of being there in summer. We enjoyed the starry night with minimal light pollution. It always amazes me, that after nearly 30 years, Brian and I can still just talk. We never run out of anything to chat about. We must have spent over an hour outside, enjoying the dark and quiet.
The plan Thursday morning was to hike with our friends. We decided on Icicle Gorge Nature Loop. It’s the same hike we did last time we came in summer, where we hiked with 14 kiddos. It’s a perfect kiddo hike. Mostly flat and just over 4 miles. And there are gorgeous views, bridges, and water access—perfect kiddo hike qualities. After we crossed the second bridge, Maive said, “More raccoons!” I looked over, and sure enough there were three critters. But not raccoons, river otters. The cutest three river otters! Back in the day, when I was a zoo docent, I loved the river otters. Their keeper would walk toward their exhibit and call their names, and they would rush out so quickly, all excited to see her. Animals are the best!
Hikers! And Saige as a dog with her head out of the window.
Eventually we made the loop back to the car. It was lunchtime. Back into Leavenworth we went. This time, we went back to the restaurant we first ate at, our first time in Leavenworth. We really are creatures of habit. They were able to seat all 11 of us, again between two tables. This time we let Blaise sit at the adult table. Only because there were only six seats at the kid table. Laine wasn’t thrilled but we let her get the giant pretzel for sitting there.
We parted ways with our friends to nose around town. We wanted to check out a few of the touristy shops. Of course we bought a few things and I made mental notes of things the kids liked. I knew I’d be back in October in case I wanted to grab holiday gifts. Bags in hand, we were finished with shopping. Back to Sleeping Lady to swim.
Thursday night was low key. The kids went swimming with all the other kids at Sleeping Lady. The pool was busy. All well-behaved kiddos. People left little by little, leaving our four girls (Blaise had gone back to the cabin already) and a young couple with one kiddo, maybe one-year-old. They asked me if all the girls were mine, and I said yes. And that I have a son also, back at the cabin. I love first-time parents. I mean this. Everything is new and fun for them, and the kid always has their full attention. And often times, the they seem overwhelmed with only one kid. I remember those days.
It was getting dark and the kids had been swimming for nearly two hours. Brian and I had plans to meet with the other adults for drinks at the Grotto—the bar building at Sleeping Lady. We sent the kids to the Play Barn with Blaise and Laine in charge. They agreed to watch the kids in exchange for more screen time. I don’t ever want to be that parent that expects the older kids to watch the younger kids. We’ll either pay them or exchange their time for something. The big kids kept us updated and ended up going back to our cabin, which we could see from the Grotto. It’s nice, getting to a phase where we can leave kids behind. It was nice to grab drinks without kiddos, and we’re not even big drinkers. I have maybe five drinks a year, if that. And it’s only when we’re on vacation.
Brian and I spent Thursday evening on the cabin deck again after all the kids went to bed. That was probably the most enjoyable part of the trip for me. Of course I enjoy seeing the kids have fun and spending time all together. But quiet and dark are two of my favorite things, and add in Brian and being outside, it’s a perfect combination.
The Big Dipper between trees.
Friday morning we took it easy. We were in no rush to get home. The plan was to hit up the Alpine Coaster but the majority weren’t into it. It had been a busy summer and it was the Friday before school started, and we had a busy weekend ahead. Instead, we took our sweet time packing up, and we checked out about 10am. I remember this because we stopped at McDonald’s for breakfast, and quickly ordered on the app because it was like 10:24am and breakfast ended at 10:30am. We barely made the cut!
This is the first time we decided to drive home via the 90. We’ve only ever taken the 2 to and from Leavenworth. We were feeling adventurous, haha. It’s a pretty drive also, at least until you hit the 90. Then it’s just the standard drive west we make often enough.
Home again, home again, Unloaded and unpacked, we were ready for the last weekend of summer. The calm before the storm of all things fall.
Mel with some friends at our dog sitter’s house.
jumpingraccoons.com 