This morning we woke up to snow again - a light fall that had frosted everything ever so subtley. We decided to head back into Leavenworth to have a look through the shops before heading off to Spokane.
The shops were absolutely gorgeous, full of art, Christmas decorations and Christmas themed items, as well as other amazing offerings I had never seen before. And so cheap!! With the recession in full swing, some shops had 50% - 70% off ALL items. I could have bought an amazing chess set for $10US, but decided not to - next trip will be for shopping.
In daylight the town reminded my of Innsbruck in Austria - one of my favorite places in Europe. The mountains which hug the town, the architecture, even the feel of the people. Leavenworth is very much a tourist town, and a place I must return to for a longer stay on our trip next year.
We looked around for an hour or so, and then had to leave as I had a private lesson with Nick scheduled for 4:30pm.
I had decided to take US2 over to Spokane as it had another mountain pass, only this time a lot lower.
Well we didn't have to travel far before the scenery changed totally. The forests and thick snow were gone, giving way to a more barren, but just as breath-taking, vista.
We travelled up into high plains where the land was flat for miles, surrounded by the mountain peaks on the edges. Pine trees were replaced by thick grasses, greens by browns.
We cut it fine, arriving at the selected McDonalds with about 5 mins to spare before my class. Imagine my surprise when I discovered I must have found one of the few Maccas in the US with no wifi!! Just over the road though, was a motel with free wifi. So I jumped into the RV and drove it into the motel carpark and tried to connect there - only to find it was password protected!! Hmm, another motel next door, lets try that. So I drove over there, but couldn't connect due to low signal. Knowing the situation must work out in my favour I decided it must be because I was using the laptop on battery, not AC. So I started the RV generator to give me 110V, plugged in the laptop, and sure enough got a connection out to the internet. Nick had waited for me, and my lesson proceeded without incident. Another example of no such thing as a problem!!
Jordan enjoyed the Maccas playground whilst I had my lesson (by the way for those that know us and our dietary preferences, rest assured we haven't given in to the dark side and Maccas 'food') :-) Actually we are finding it surprisingly easy to eat well with the RV providing a kitchen to cook our own meals. We buy 'meals' here probably once every 3 days just to sample local cuisine. We have our vitalgreens to supplement and are not having any real problems with reactions to the food. Actually in some areas we have found a lot of organic offerings. Unfortunately the USDA has it's own definition of organic here, and so I don't place a lot of stock in goods labelled organic.
It wasn't much further to the camp ground, only 20 miles or so. We arrived safely at the KOA, hooked up, and Jordan was out wanting to play in the snow again! We settled in, and were in time to witness a Spokane sunset before dinner - another amazing finish to yet another amazing day.
The shops were absolutely gorgeous, full of art, Christmas decorations and Christmas themed items, as well as other amazing offerings I had never seen before. And so cheap!! With the recession in full swing, some shops had 50% - 70% off ALL items. I could have bought an amazing chess set for $10US, but decided not to - next trip will be for shopping.
In daylight the town reminded my of Innsbruck in Austria - one of my favorite places in Europe. The mountains which hug the town, the architecture, even the feel of the people. Leavenworth is very much a tourist town, and a place I must return to for a longer stay on our trip next year.
We looked around for an hour or so, and then had to leave as I had a private lesson with Nick scheduled for 4:30pm.
I had decided to take US2 over to Spokane as it had another mountain pass, only this time a lot lower.
Well we didn't have to travel far before the scenery changed totally. The forests and thick snow were gone, giving way to a more barren, but just as breath-taking, vista.
We travelled up into high plains where the land was flat for miles, surrounded by the mountain peaks on the edges. Pine trees were replaced by thick grasses, greens by browns.
We cut it fine, arriving at the selected McDonalds with about 5 mins to spare before my class. Imagine my surprise when I discovered I must have found one of the few Maccas in the US with no wifi!! Just over the road though, was a motel with free wifi. So I jumped into the RV and drove it into the motel carpark and tried to connect there - only to find it was password protected!! Hmm, another motel next door, lets try that. So I drove over there, but couldn't connect due to low signal. Knowing the situation must work out in my favour I decided it must be because I was using the laptop on battery, not AC. So I started the RV generator to give me 110V, plugged in the laptop, and sure enough got a connection out to the internet. Nick had waited for me, and my lesson proceeded without incident. Another example of no such thing as a problem!!
Jordan enjoyed the Maccas playground whilst I had my lesson (by the way for those that know us and our dietary preferences, rest assured we haven't given in to the dark side and Maccas 'food') :-) Actually we are finding it surprisingly easy to eat well with the RV providing a kitchen to cook our own meals. We buy 'meals' here probably once every 3 days just to sample local cuisine. We have our vitalgreens to supplement and are not having any real problems with reactions to the food. Actually in some areas we have found a lot of organic offerings. Unfortunately the USDA has it's own definition of organic here, and so I don't place a lot of stock in goods labelled organic.
It wasn't much further to the camp ground, only 20 miles or so. We arrived safely at the KOA, hooked up, and Jordan was out wanting to play in the snow again! We settled in, and were in time to witness a Spokane sunset before dinner - another amazing finish to yet another amazing day.
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