Bavarian Haus, Bavarian Ritz, Bavarian Hotel, Motel Bavaria, Fairbridge Bavaria, McDonalds…it’s just like Sesame Street—one of these is not like the other. The town does have a German feel to it, but there are a few things that are different here: I see people jay-walking (doesn’t happen in Germany), they speak better English in Germany, and, most noticeably, the McDonalds here doesn’t serve beer.
JYD stuck around with us for most of the first day. He was ready to resupply first thing in the morning while Bunny wasn’t even out of bed. I asked Bunny if she would allow me (for the love of god) to do the shopping alone, once again. I considered this a mission critical operation to not get overloaded since it was 108 miles to Stehekin. Bunny, thanks to JYD, had already heard of something new to carry on this leg. I had to get them separated before she heard of the asparagus/papaya/chai tea that would just sound “so delicious” to her. Bunny is very much influenced by the last thing she hears. As it was, if I came back without sweet, iced coffee, I’d have hell to pay. Tea is hot or cold. Coffee is only hot. I don’t mess with god’s order of things.
JYD and I went to two grocery stores before stopping in at McDonalds to make the discovery that this was not an authentic Bavarian experience. I drowned my sorrow in a few quarts of unsweetened iced tea (as god intended) and possibly a large quarter pounder meal to stave away the hunger pains until Bunny could pull herself out of bed and get dressed. I knew it was a mistake to buy those BonBons on the way into town.
I did a little investigating and found the least favorite tourist brewery in town but the most popular with the locals. I thought it only fitting to get Bunny to join me where she usually sends me on a daily basis. We headed to the Dog Hous to check out all the dog themed beers on tap. When JYD finished his visit with his cousin who was camping in the area, he joined us for a pint.
There’s just a couple of drawbacks to the Dog Haus: you have to drink the beer inside even though there is a large picnic area just outside, and they don’t serve food (other than dog biscuits—they are seriously dog themed). We headed up the street to another bar where the beer master is also head cook so we could get a little sustenance. Even with two beer stops, supper, and a quick ice cream stop, we were all back to our hotel before dark. The thru hiker code has been preserved.
Friday morning at 4a, I heard either a semi rolling by or thunder. Since Bunny didn’t burrow under the bed screaming, I assumed semi, but when I got up at 8, it was still raining steadily outside. Bunny and I joined JYD for breakfast and tried to talk him out of heading back to the trail. The weather was cooperating with us. The more we tried to talk him out of going, the harder it rained. He insisted he didn’t want to spend the inflated dollars for a weekend night. He dropped by our room at just before 11 to say goodbye. It was letting up a bit.
When the rain did stop in the early afternoon, we decided to venture out once again for some authentic Bavarian food. Bunny did some investigating and found a place where the waitstaff dressed in old style German clothing and were pissed off at the world for being forced to dress up. The staff was pissed at each other as well. They were behind on clearing tables because of unexpected crowds (even though traffic was backed up at least a mile heading into town), To top it off, almost half of the items on the menu were unavailable. As long as we had beer, the wait didn’t matter. In other words, Bunny found the place that most mimicked an authentic dining experience in Bavaria.
In spite of the touristy theme of Leavenworth, we did enjoy our stay and like the town quite a lot. Bunny had seen a help wanted sign at the local hospital which intrigued me. I would gladly find a job serving beer to fat Mericans while Bunny earned us some real money over the winter. They just didn’t have a need for any nurse practitioners. I guess we’ll have to keep heading north and maybe something better will present itself.
We did hear from Charcoal B and Struggles. They were a day behind us getting into Stevens Pass, but with us taking a double zero, we should catch up with them again heading out tomorrow. They broke down and bought a new tent today while I invested a few minutes to watch a YouTube video on zipper repair. I was able to borrow a pair of channel locks from the hotel maintenance engineer and repair our zippers. It took all of 30s. We still spent a fair amount of time looking for new tents for next year.
We have been on the trail in Washington for a month now. For the most part, we have enjoyed WA more than we expected even though it has turned out to be exactly what we were hoping for on the PCT. This trail is magnificent and excellently maintained. I don’t believe there is near the trail community involved with maintaining the PCT like the AT has, but the track is so much nicer here that I think it doesn’t require the constant attention that the AT does. I’m still amazed and thankful for the tens of thousands of volunteers that donate their time and energy to keep the hundreds of thousands of miles of trails in our country navigable. Without their efforts, we don’t hike. People may think they hike along distance trail by themselves, but it takes thousands of people to give the illusion of self sufficiency.
EFG
Sit back for another soon to be classic episode: