Leavenworth

Besides the Bavarian Ice Fest, Leavenworth offers lots of entertaining winter activities. My friends took their toddlers on a sleigh ride. Oscar and I tried cross-country skiing, which was a little frustrating due to icy conditions and lack of patience, but I had fun. I also enjoyed tromping around on my friend's snowshoes. All the kids enjoyed sledding on the super-slick hills.

We stayed at Sleeping Lady Resort, which has so much stuff on its grounds that you really don't even have to leave the property. It's situated by the Cascade mountains, with a creek running by. Buffet breakfast and dinner are included, so you don't have to worry about where and what you're going to eat every day. The food is excellent, and there are many vegetarian and healthy options, but I think everyone I was with ended up overeating. I routinely took multiple desserts. Yikes.

Unfortunately, despite all my eating I never got a chance to try the fitness room, but I did enjoy the outdoor hot pool. Nothing like stepping on ice with your bare feet before you slip into steamy water under the stars. We all played a lot of games. Sleeping Lady has a bunch you can check out at the front desk, as well as a game room with pool, ping-pong, and tables to play at. I mostly stuck with Bananagrams. The Grotto bar with faux cave paintings is also a definite plus.

I should also mention that the cabin-like rooms at Sleeping Lady are very cool. Oscar got his own loft to sleep in! The ladder was kind of scary, but it was very cozy and roomy up there. We've already booked a summer return trip, so we can see what the summer season is like.

Bavarian Ice Fest

Four hours northeast of Seattle is a famous faux Bavarian village in the midst of beautiful snow-covered mountains. Obviously, this place -- Leavenworth -- was on the top of our list of Washington must-sees. Purely by magical accident, we came on the weekend of the Bavarian Ice Fest, so we got to see ice sculptors, snow sculptures, sled dogs, and lots of faux Bavarian events such as smooshing, which is a race where teams of four strap 8-foot boards to their feet -- like cross-country skiing with four people on the same pair of skis. Chris and I entered the Bavarian mug relay. One person had to run to a hat, put it on their head and say "Welcome to Leavenworth," then run to a table, grab three beer steins in each hand, fill them with ice, spin around, dump the ice, put the mugs back on the table, run to a chair and yodel, and then to their partner, who had to complete the sequence in reverse order. We didn't win.

The village itself is filled with all manner of shops selling T-shirts, cuckoo clocks, beer steins, and all the usual tourist crap. But on the plus side, all hotels, motels, shops and restaurants -- even the McDonald's -- are on theme and have Bavarian-style signage, so you never lose the feeling that you're on vacation. Also, it may be mid-January, but it's still Christmasy. The Christmas trees are still up and decorated, and there are lights everywhere.

I found it interesting that Leavenworth was a former logging town headed to becoming a ghost town in the early 1960s. The citizens Bavarian-ized the town, and voila -- instant tourist destination. Willkommen!