Winthrop, Washington

Last night we went into Leavenworth for a fun little meal.  We chose the Leavenworth Sausage Garten.  We got a couple of German beers and enjoyed a sandwich each with fancy German mustard.  

 

Little bit of a strange place....why is this here and why is it all German themed??  (I actually googled it....in the 1960's the local government simply decided that was a good idea to save the town from decline!)

In the morning,  we found a cool trail along the route out of Leavenworth - the Saddle Rock  trail.  Cool climb up a bare mountain to beautiful lookouts.  This is the view from the base.  Just 1.5 miles up to the top in full sun....

 

I'm going to post a bunch of photos of the view on the way up....it's just beautiful.

View down to the town of Wentachee and the Wentachee River.

Tree with roots exposed.  Not sure how it survives.

View in the other direction - so arid.

The town is large!  I've never heard of it.

Just more views as we ascended.

At the top!

On the way down, I spied another little animal.  This time, Google says its a yellow-bellied marmot.

 

Back on the road, we followed highway 97Alt which Google says is more scenic....mesmerized by the dry barren hills along the road.

 

 

Driving north, we came upon a hydro-electric power plant so stopped by to check it out.

 

 

 Very nice visitor center.

 

 

And cool fish ladder like all the power plants have. 

Scenery along the road....

 

We were interested in the apple orchards.  I guess I always thought Washington State apples were grown in lush, wet, cool forests.  Not true at all!!!  They are grown along the river and irrigated.  Note the green orchards along the bone dry mountains.

More shots from the car.

Really enjoyed the surprising beauty of the drive!