{our b&b}
after a quick moment to get settled in our room at the Wild Rose B&B, we headed out to explore a bit and find ourselves some dinner. we stumbled across JR's, a little bar/grill in downtown chelan. dinner was decent, though they must've gone out to catch the shrimp themselves, judging by the time it took them to serve it. after dinner, we wandered around downtown, enjoying the warm night and the clear sky. i love that when the sun goes down, it gets so dark, because chelan doesn't have nearly as many street lights and city lights as seattle. during our exploring, we stumbled across the go karts, bumper boats and mini golf course i used to visit as a kid (bumper boats were the best!) and decided to have us a round on the course. we had so much fun, but the jury's still out on who won that game.
saturday morning, we were up at a decent hour, to enjoy breakfast with the proprietor and her family, visiting for the weekend. over breakfast, we talked with these "locals" about the options for a day's entertainment. it was decided that we'd try to locate the old house i stayed in each year as a child, and then drive up chelan butte drive, to see the city from the top of the surrounding mountains.
we headed out to find the house i remembered... and with only a little struggling, found it, though it was much different than i remembered. (my mom says it hasn't changed at all.)
{my childhood vacation home}
we headed up chelan butte drive, expecting it to only take us a few minutes... 40 minutes later, as we navigated the treacherous, one-lane road, we finally reached the top, marked by nothing other than the end of the road, and a few radio towers and accompanying buildings. the view was spectacular - on one side, you could see lake chelan in it's entirety, and on the other, the columbia river.
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{left: lake chelan; right: columbia river}
on our way down, we pulled to the side of the road, as much as one can, to allow an oncoming car to pass, only to discover that car was mom & bob! they were on their way geo-caching, and one particular cache was located on the top of the butte. they invited us to come along, so we parked our little car and piled into the jag. back up to the top of the butte, we thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of locating this cache using only the GPS coordinates.
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{left: the cache; right: my mom, recording their entry in the cache journal}
locating this cache only whetted our appetite, so we travelled on to find the next, this time located by the columbia river, near a fish hatchery. i was the only one wearing inappropriate footwear {sandals}, so when we discovered that this cache would require some minor rock climbing to locate, i stayed with my feet firmly planted on the ground, while mom, bob & matt went cache-hunting.
after such hard work in the hot sun, we knew it was time for a swim. matt & i ran back to our b&b to grab our gear, and met mom & bob at their hotel. we cooled off in the lake, including playing on some huge inflatable trampoline toys, and then played in the pool, which was almost too warm after swimming in the cold lake. unfortunately, our playtime ended a little too soon - it was time to head back to our b&b to rest and get ready for the wedding.
the wedding was held at Tsillan Cellars {pronounced "Chelan". the "ts" spelling is the native american spelling of the word}, overlooking the lake. the hot sun shone down on us as we waited, an anticipation similar to the groom's, racing through the crowd. the bride was beautiful, the location magical, the food delicious and the company entertaining. i'm so pleased that we were able to be there to witness brian and christi be married. so much drama filled their early courtship, all stung with such an intense love and respect for eachother, that i knew it couldn't end in anything but marriage. i have no doubt in my mind that they will make eachother deliriously happy, and that their commitment to God will strengthen their marriage daily. i'm so excited for them.
{brian & christi - 8.20.05}
sunday morning, we rose to have breakfast with the proprietor & her family once again - this time, a yummy waffle bar, with bacon and amazing homemade pastries. after breakfast, we packed up and said our goodbyes, then headed into town to stock up on beverages for the trip, and have one last galavant:
{matt has a love affair with go-karts}
we got on the road, and headed towards our next destination: leavenworth. making a quick stop at the River Reach Dam, just outside of Wenatchee, we stretched, had a snack and wandered through the museum. then, back on the road. we arrived in leavenworth just in time for lunch. this little bavarian town, nestled in the mountains, is chock full of buildings all built in that swiss chalet style. in fact, we found that you can't call anything by it's name without adding "ye olde" to the beginning, {ye olde mcdonald's} or "haus" to the end {starbucks haus}, or in the best scenario, a combination of the two: ye olde mcdonald's haus. though i wasn't feeling very good, it was nice to eat and walk around a bit. we amused ourselves with the sights and smells of this little bavarian town, nestled in the mountains, for a few hours, and decided at last that it was time to head home. we're talking about returning to chelan next year for a week-long trip, and i really want to include a few days in leavenworth, to take in their annual production of the Sound of Music, performed outdoors. what a charming little town.
our return to seattle was met with our own feelings of reluctance, and even disdain. twenty minutes outside of seattle, we joked about turning around and going back to chelan for the week, but of course, it wasn't feasible. so we arrived home, to two cats that seemed pretty happy to see us.
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