Crystal Mountain

So who goes to a ski area at  the  mountain with a 3 year old and 8 month old?  We do!  The kids were great all day and Becky gave Maycen her first ski lesson at Crystal Mountain (6800 feet).  It went well and seemed so weird that they had boots and skis to fit this little doll.  It was so beautiful and we were fortunate to ride the gondola up to  have lunch at the top of this incredibly steep mountain.  Lots of snow, beautiful scenery and a really huge ski area. filled with more black diamond runs than green!

The ski area is located on the back side of Mt. Rainer (14,400 feet), which was almost 100% visible when we were at the top!  Amazing!  It's really unique to have a real mountain ski area so close to the city...we only traveled about 2 hours to get to the ski area. When we got home Bec had fixed a nummy pot roast in the crock pot, so dinner was awaiting us!  So I'm not sure how she really gets all this organized with two little ones!

Today we went to Leavenworth which is a Bavarian town nestled in the Cascades.  On the way up, we had a beautiful, clear view of Mount Rainier.  It certainly puts life and things in perspective when you are surrounded by all this beauty and towering mountains.  While I love the sea, the mountains had been calling for a long time.  

My long-time friend, Carolyn, lives in Leavenworth and it sure seemed everyone in town knew her.  We saw her beautiful home, with spectacular views of the Wenatchee River and had  a fun lunch followed by walking the main street. I didn't need another nutcracker or lederhosen so we mostly did window shopping at these quaint and fun shops with a stop, of course, at the German bakery.  A fun day which was surrounded by a good friend, streams, sunshine and snow-capped mountains.  It's a very rugged area, steep and frankly really hard to describe.  There is lots of bramble here which is a vine, prickly, rose like growth that is abundant along the roads and in the wooded areas.

The rivers and streams are filled with fresh salmon and are clearer than anything we've ever seen before.  No wonder so many people live in Washington!  i thought a wood pecker was outside our trailer this morning, but it was machine gun fire....OK, Gil quickly reminded me where we are!   LOL! On the last propane tank so hoping we don't run out tonight!  It's been getting down to 29 degrees at night....you'd think we were back in Minnesota!