{"id":1124,"date":"2014-01-26T05:00:15","date_gmt":"2014-01-26T13:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/?p=1124"},"modified":"2014-02-05T18:17:00","modified_gmt":"2014-02-06T02:17:00","slug":"a-winters-tale-of-rebirth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/family\/a-winters-tale-of-rebirth\/","title":{"rendered":"A Winter’s Tale of Rebirth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spring is the conventional time for stories of rebirth–the time of bunnies and baby chicks, tulips and daffodils and cherry blossoms. This story of a town reborn, however, came to me in the winter.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Sleigh Ride.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>

photo courtesy of Sue Cromarty<\/p><\/div>\n

‘Twas the week after Christmas, and my family was in Leavenworth in the mountains of Washington State. One daughter and her family had gone cross-country skiing at Stevens Pass that day. The rest of us were gathering at the edge of a snowy field, preparing for an old-fashioned sleigh ride. <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>

photo courtesy of Sue Cromarty<\/p><\/div>\n

A hefty, bearded man in a cowboy hat and several layers of plaid and checked shirts ushered us onto the sleigh. As befitted someone in charge of two powerful beasts and a sleigh full of people, he was totally at ease as he patted the big percherons\u2019 flanks and then swung up onto his seat.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>

photo courtesy of Sue Cromarty<\/p><\/div>\n

In the beginning, we rode quietly across the snowy field, listening to the sleigh bells, the horses\u2019 plodding hooves, and the crunch of snow under the runners. My sister took photos of the trees and the horses\u2019 butts.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHow many horses do you have?\u201d my son-in-law asked our driver.<\/span><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t hear the answer. Maybe they had too many horses to count. It was a year-round business, those horses\u2014sleigh rides in the winter, pack trips the rest of the year. Leavenworth was a big tourist town. A mock Bavarian alpine village in the Cascade Mountains, a make-believe land of hanging flower baskets and gingerbread architecture that attracted millions of tourists each year with its cute shops and outdoor activities.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Bavarian village in the United States?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The previous day my other son-in-law had asked me if Leavenworth had been settled by Germans. Was that why it looked like a Bavarian village? I leaned forward and asked our guide.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>

photo courtesy of Sue Cromarty<\/p><\/div>\n

He laughed. \u201cNope,\u201d he said. \u201cThe inspiration for it all was this guy, Bob Rogers<\/a>. He was stationed in Bavaria during World War II, and he noticed how much the mountains there looked like our mountains.\u201d Our driver went on to describe how the town had been dying ever since the Great Northern Railway Company had relocated to Wenatchee in the 1920s and the town\u2019s only sawmill had closed down.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then in 1958, Owen and Pauline Watson visited the Danish theme town of Solvang, CA, and the seed of the idea was born. Mr. Watson remodeled his Alpine Electric and Alpine Haus Gift Shoppe.<\/a> The University of Washington Bureau of Community Development helped develop a plan. A committee raised money. And now a town of 1,965 residents hosts more than two million visitors each year. People stay in Leavenworth\u2019s hotels and B&Bs. They go hiking, hunting, fishing, white water rafting and skiing. They come for the Bavarian Ice Fest, Maifest, the Accordian Celebration, Oktoberfest, <\/i>the Christmas Lighting Festivals <\/i>and more. And they shop and shop and shop in the cute little Bavarian-themed stores.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coffee and hot chocolate in the warming tent<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>

photo courtesy of Sue Cromarty<\/p><\/div>\n

After our sleigh ride, we gathered in the warming tent for coffee and hot chocolate and cookies. I grabbed a cup of coffee and warmed my backside at the wood stove. Beside me, a couple from Guam rubbed their hands together and shook their heads. Why in the world, they asked, only half teasing, had they decided to travel to such a cold place in December? I gave my five-year-old grandson permission to take a cookie or two from the tin of Danish cookies, and as I reached for one myself, I thought of the yummy gingerbread cookies we bought the day before at The Gingerbread House. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>

photo courtesy of Denny & Georgeanne Nichols<\/p><\/div>\n

It may not be spring yet, but Leavenworth\u2019s rebirth from a town on the brink of extinction to this lively, prosperous town reminds me of springtime\u2026 minus the tulips and daffodils.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"my<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spring is the conventional time for stories of rebirth–the time of bunnies and baby chicks, tulips and daffodils and cherry blossoms. This story of a town reborn, however, came to me in the winter. A Sleigh Ride. ‘Twas the week after Christmas, and my family was in Leavenworth in the mountains of Washington State. One […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[155,253],"tags":[251,249,247,252,250,246,248],"class_list":["post-1124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-travel","tag-cascade-mts","tag-horses","tag-leavenworth-wa","tag-mock-bavarian-village","tag-percherons","tag-rebirth","tag-sleigh-ride"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Kn1e-i8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2896,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/family\/the-way-it-oughta-be-on-thanksgiving\/","url_meta":{"origin":1124,"position":0},"title":"The Way It Oughta Be on Thanksgiving","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"November 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A Thanksgiving song. 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It\u2019s the ultimate symbol of freedom and peace. And I don\u2019t mean the close-to-the-ground flapping of a robin, and certainly not the perpetual-motion-wings-a-blur of a humming bird. No. I\u2019m picturing an eagle soaring high above it all or a hawk gliding on an air current. 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