Leavenworth Area

Kris and Charlie

We're lovin' Leavenworth....of course it could have a LOT to do with the fact that my youngest brother Charlie is here, and his lovely fiancee, Kris! And of course, Leavenworth is a beautiful town, too. Yesterday we went to Lake Chelan for the afternoon, about an hour's drive or less from Leavenworth. It's just a beautiful, large lake that is home to lots of boat rentals, jet skiers, and picnickers. Charlie rented a boat for a very reasonable rate for three to four hours, and off he and all the girls went, Kris has two daughters and a couple of Kris's childhood girlfriends came along to help celebrate her daughter's 16th birthday....there wasn't enough room for Eldy and I the first time out, so we took the usual photos, and settled in at the park to people watch and picnic.....the lake is against the backdrop of the Cascades, so it was a beautiful setting! They ended up having so much fun we didn't have time to switch drivers. Eldy was ready to shake, rock and roll Charlie off the tube, but we'll have to wait for another time! It was fun to watch people parasailing, ultra light plane flying over the lake , and even a couple of scullers out rowing for the day.....it was amazing to me to see the number of people who rented speedboats for the day who looked like they didn't have a clue how to run the boat. The insurance for that rental boat company must be tremendous. The boats looked very new and there were some awesome choices to pick from. Back in Indiana, you would see a lot more pontoon boats than speedboats out on lakes because they equip them with powerful enough horsepower, you can tow tubers or skiers with ease.

It was Courtney's sweet 16th birthday...we had a great time at Kris's house with family, friends and Kris's relatives....Her kids are great kids! Courtnee is the birthday girl in the center in the photo below, and she just got her driver's license today. Of course we had to trade stories about our experiences that we remembered as early young drivers.....Kris made a wonderful homemade ice cream cake with candy in it. It was delicicious! She ought to sell those cakes, everybody raved about it! Great job, Kris! It was a wonderful day......

We are here for a couple more days. Charlie and I are going on a hike tomorrow! This is a guy who does Iron Man events--bikes, hikes, kayaks, swims and is in fantastic shape. I told him I wanted to go on a BIG hike! We'll see what he comes up with....

Great kids--Courtnee, the birthday girl, is in the center....