Summer: Leavenworth

Hello! It is near freezing here, and supposed to snow on Saturday. But heck, what better time to look back at summer? I love winter, all bundled up by the fire with tea, but sometimes summer sounds really good. Like right now when my dorm room refuses to budge above 66.5 degrees F. Boo.

I found these lovely pictures from when I went to Leavenworth last summer. When I was little (and gas was cheaper), my family would hop into the car for an impromptu drive, and often find ourselves 3 hours away, in Leavenworth. It is a quaint little Bavarian village, known for its friendly atmosphere, trails in the summer, and skiing in the winter. 

I had never been to Leavenworth during the summer (for some unknown reason, since summertime is by far the warmest and the prettiest...)... and this was a wonderful opportunity. Usually my family's trips to Leavenworth are more along the lines of "passing through Leavenworth" or "dinner in Leavenworth," so this was the first time we were here to actually spend some time exploring it. I looked up trails to possibly hike, and found events that were in town during our stay.

In the end, we went on three hikes, two with the whole family, and one with just my brother and I. We also went to an outdoor play, which was absolutely beautiful, though I don't have any pictures from it, unfortunately.

The first hike was around Blackbird Lake. It was a nice family hike, but still afforded some lovely views. 

    

This was one of my favorite views (and picture) from the hike. This is the Wenatchee River, and as as you can see, the weather was beautiful. I like the dip of the mountains and the clouds leading you off into the distance in the center of the picture.

I really liked the pure-white-ness (now a valid word and description) of this flower, though unfortunately my camera seemed to lose the details in the center.

We passed these kids having some fun in the water. The boy was very enthusiastic about acting out a scene in his imagination, while his sister was a little more cautious about the water.

Our second hike was just The Brother and me. I'll be posting a separate post about that one, in an effort to keep this from being a gigantic post, and because that hike in itself was one of my favorite memories from summer.

The last hike was a short nature trail:

It was a combination of trees, a river, a plain, and mountains. Here, you can see three of the four. I thought the little cloud in the dip of the mountain made for an interesting composition. Now that I look at it, it reminds me of the Eye of Sauron. Any Lord of the Rings fans?

Hope everyone is staying warm!