Fourth of July in Leavenworth

After more rain during Hoopfest and time spent with extended family over the weekend we decided to pack up and head west for some HEAT and fun for the Fourth of July this year, making this our 1st Family 2013 Summer Adventure! 

We use electronics to keep the volume driveable...Ya gotta do what ya gotta do!

...some still prefer making up their own games.

Who knew it would be this hot!

But we all arrived safely {without melting} at our Icicle Inn ;) in Leavenworth, WA.

Had we known how much our kids would dig the hotel pool, 

we could've just skipped all our other plans.

One of our first stops besides the hotel's ice machine was the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery

Tell us where we're going Asher

We did some bird watching and hiking along the Icicle Creek Interpretive Nature Trail.

Everything "Icicle" in 106 degree temperatures just seemed asinine. I know I know...I am sure this place is all Icicles in the Winter...

Something had to be done about melting in the heat after our morning hike.

We enjoyed a street-corner musician playing the accordion in the park pavilion while we cooled off!

{Close to 2,000 people make this Bavarian Town their home & I just love that all the buildings including the 76 station look German~quaint. It's just as I remembered it 25+ yrs ago when I last visited}

Although we were on vacation, we did not forsake our tradition of hiking on the Fourth of July. Typically it's somewhere on Mt Spokane, but this year we ventured out and tried the none-other...."Icicle River Gorge Trail"  along the Icicle River.

They had to stop for some huckleberry picking!

Some pics tell it like it really is.

After our hike the town's main street aka Front Street shuts down it's entire 2 block existence for Kinderfest: A Free Kid Friendly Carnival on the 4th of July with snow cones, cotton candy, carnival games, popcorn, cake walks, and face painting. Our kids were so excited, and so were we...not having to plan any activities...it was all right there along with Art in the Park.

After asking for a fireman on a fire-truck fighting a fire...the lady got him to settle for a flame ;)

He woke up from morning-hike-nap just in time for some fun!

 Back at the hotel, we got the ambiance of fake icicles while dining from our restaurant view...and we continued munching on those ice-chips so that dad could work up the energy for a round of put-put with Andrew while the rest of us hit up the Hotel Arcade. They really had kids in mind when they built this hotel. There was even a hotel movie theater. We stuck to the free 200+ DVD hotel library...and let the kids pick one each night.

A beautiful view

Despite hitting up the town fish hatchery, the best spot to view salmon runs was actually on our trek back home when we stopped to tour the Rocky Reach Dam Visitor Center.

Chinook Salmon

 

 

All in all we had a great time on our stint in Leavenworth. After surviving Chances are we will be heading off to do some more summer vacation adventures! And live to blog about it.