Tourist Information for Leavenworth, WA

We love the mountains! With both of us having grown up in the mountainous northwest, the mountains are our favorite place to be. (Right up there with Walt Disney World and home!) This year we had added incentive to travel to the Colorado Rockies for Christmas: our third grandchild, Alan Hollister Meredith, arrived in mid-December. We flew to Denver International Airport early on Christmas Day where we were met by our son, Andrew. It was good to see him. Our last time with him having been in August for Scotte’s parents’ 60th wedding anniversary.

Andrew and his wife, Patricia, make their home in the small Colorado town of Buena Vista in the Collegiate Mountains of central Colorado. It’s a three hour drive from Denver. In spite of his new-parent sleep deprivation, Andrew was cheerful and talkative. A great chauffeur.

It seemed no time at all and we were arriving at Spring Canyon Camp where Andrew lives and works. Spring Canyon is an Officer’s Christian Fellowship Camp. Located in the heart of the Collegiates at 9200′ elevation. The camp serves military families from all branches. In the winter and summer, families gather at Spring Canyon to reconnect and restore. The camp is beautiful, situated as it is at the foot of several “fourteeners”.

The highlight of the trip was, of course, seeing our kids and meeting baby Alan. We spent loads of time holding the cuddly little bundle, changing diapers (at least Renae did), burping him, comforting him and just getting to know his sweet little self.

As a family we played games (including one that Andrew is developing), watched Christmas movies, ate wonderful cheese fondue, got caught up on Sherlock, and shared dinners with the military families at camp. New Year’s Eve dinner was corned beef and cabbage, potatoes, and black eyed peas. The incredible dessert buffet was prepared by Andrew’s sister-in-law, a CIA (Culinary Institute of America, NY) trained pastry chef and a baker in downtown Seattle, at Yellow Leaf Cupcake Co. Catie served up cannoli, peppermint bark cheese cake and a gluten free cake with caramel Italian cream icing.

Our week with Andrew, Tricia and Alan was wonderful, but too short. Too soon we had to leave for Denver and our Southwest flight home. Before he took us to the airport, Andrew wanted to make sure we had a great lunch. Neither of us have eaten at Chick-fil-A®. Our son was on a mission to make sure we did before we left for the Chick-fil-A desert of Washington State (our nearest is 282 miles away in Meridian ID.) I have to say, “When, oh when, will Chick-fil-A® come to Eastern Washington?”

We’re home now, looking back on our photos and our memories of time shared with family over Christmas in the Rockies.

Main Street, Buena Vista

After leaving Chicago early in the morning on Sunday, we arrived in Denver after an uneventful non-stop flight. After a short ride to the rental car complex we rented our car. The Enterprise rep who served us, Melinda, was friendly and helpful. She gave us her card and told us to contact her if we had any issues with our rental. We were soon on our way to the Collegiate Mountain Range and the lovely little small town of Buena Vista. During our drive we enjoyed the scenery and tuning into various satellite radio stations.

After the 2 1/2 hour drive we arrived to the hugs and kisses of our oldest, Andrew, and his bride, Patricia. We were last here when they were married at Spring Canyon, where they now live and work. Andrew, especially enjoyed showing us all their favorite places at camp. We also enjoyed meeting their 7 month old Shiba Inu puppy, Kuma. He’s a fuzzy ball of energy.

We relaxed and did a little laundry while visiting with and getting to know Tricia’s family better. We (mostly Scotte) worked on a jigsaw puzzle with the family. Their combined efforts finally got the puzzle put together.

Monday was second Thanksgiving for all of us. We were joined at camp by Tricia’s brother and his girlfriend from Colorado Springs. It was all so good. Andrew roasted the turkey in their apartment sized oven and Patricia and her mom, Sue prepared all the side dishes. And there were more pies than I think I’ve seen since I was a little girl and my grandma spread her baked pies all over the washer/dryer in the mud room.

Historic Salida

Tuesday we enjoyed a day of exploring in the small towns of Buena Vista and Salida. They are both great little towns with tons of character. We had fantastically light and airy donuts at Lobacks Bakery. Lobacks is everything you want to see in a small town, local coffee shop. If I lived in BV I’m sure I’d make Lobacks my regular breakfast hangout.

After exploring the few shops BV has we drove down the road to Salida. It’s a little bigger than BV, but no less quaint. We had great wood-fired pizza and house-brewed rootbeer at Amica’s It was delicious. We enjoyed walking around the small town, shopping in a wonderful toy store, Kaleidoscope Toys.
We were also able to find a Christmas gift for our daughter in a friendly little antique shop. I got some fun pictures of an old theater that’s being demolished. The building began its life as a Masonic Temple. We finished out day in Salida with dessert at the historic First St. Cafe. We enjoyed reading about its history and the berry cobbler I had was yummy. We learned from the back of the menu that the Monte Cristo sandwich was originally developed at a hotel that used to sit just across the railroad tracks from there.

The next morning, Wednesday, we said goodbye to Tricia’s family and headed to Denver with Andrew and Tricia. Our plan was to do a little shopping, have some lunch and see the Muppet Movie before our evening flight home. We enjoyed spending a few more hours with the kids and seeing the long-awaited Muppet Movie with them before heading to the airport for our flight.

Lobacks

The final flight on our leg turned out to be the most eventful, but more on that later. We had a whirlwind of a trip with loads of fun, family and food. Scotte and I always like traveling together. Seeing our kids and grandchildren made the trip very special.

First St. Cafe